How To Get The Most Out Of Each Day

How I use my time has always been important to me. With a proper strategy, I will show you how to get MORE out of each day. Many people will allow the day to get the best of them (WHERE DID THE DAY GO?!) and they will look up and they haven’t accomplished a fraction of the things swirling around in their mind “to do.”

1. Must use CALENDAR that syncs to your phone. I use Google Calendar and sync it to my iCal. By using the calendar I am able to seriously plan my days, weeks and months. First thing I do is plug in ALL standing appointments. I have a few appointments that are the SAME day and time each week. You can set those up as “recurring.” The next thing I do is BLOCK any time that I need for certain things. You should look at your finances monthly. Maybe you use the second Monday of each month to look at the prior month’s bank statement — BLOCK that time. Think about ALL of the things that you KNOW you need to do EACH month and put them on your calendar.
2. Make MONDAYS Matter! I have always believed that you should do your best to get as MUCH work as possible done on the first day of the week. A busy Monday sets the tone for your week. You will be able to get feedback and have 4 work days to deal with it. If you typically go out of the office for lunch each day, make Monday the “work through” lunch day. You’ve had the entire weekend to lounge and relax. Make Monday #BEASTMODE so that if you have an “off” week you know you handled the shit out of Monday.
3. SET TIME LIMITS on EVERYTHING! If you are going to have a conference call, communicate how long the call will be. Nobody has time for limitless phone calls and lunch meetings. When I schedule calls on my calendar (by way of assitant) I like to hold 15-20 minutes for a call. You should even LET the other party know how much time they have. That cuts down on “running late” and “what did you have for lunch” conversations. There’s a time and place for these kinds of things and they usually aren’t during the week when you’re trying to handle business. Getting to the POINT is the name of the game.
4. Do the WORST FIRST. Let’s face it, we’ve ALL wanted to avoid that ONE thing and we get to Friday and it’s still on our list because we are dreading the outcome. These are the things that you want to tackle first. If you have to make a call to say that the thing you promised is actually NOT going to happen, make that call first thing. Do not be terrible and call after hours and leave a message. It’s not cool. Suck it up, scratch it off your list and fly through everything else you need to do for the day.
5. Take advantage of convenience. If you use it often and they have an app, put it on your phone. It’s that simple. I always crack up when people tell me that they don’t want to put their “account” on their phone because they don’t want someone to hack into their account. They few times I’ve ever had my account hacked I was immediately given back the money. Use your apps (especially for credit card payments).
6. Tack a few more productive hours on to your day. If you normally get up at 7:30A to be to work by (let’s just say) 9A, practice pushing that time up a half hour every month until you are comfortably getting up at 5:00–6:00A. By adding an extra hour or two to your morning you can get many of the things done that you’ll be TOO tired to do once you’re done working — we LOSE willpower throughtout the day. I use the time to record podcasts, write posts like this (it’s 7:05A on Labor Day) or to go to the gym (because Lord KNOWS I WILL not make it after work. You can do the same thing when you get home from work. Instead of getting right to making dinner, I’ll sometimes just sit down for an hour and go back through my emails or double back on my “to-do” list. If there’s anything I missed I can clean it up and if there’s anything I want to get a jump on to free up my early mornings (to get ahead) I can do it now.
7. OUTSOURCE. You have to learn the value of your time. If you can get your house cleaned for $75 (I hear Molly Maids cleans 2,000 sq ft per hour) and you can use that Saturday to research or network or RELAX, it’s worth it. You’ve spent $75 on a good pair of jeans or shoes or outing with friends. If you don’t enjoy it and you can reasonably outsource it, get rid it of. You’ll eventually start earning the $75 back with what you can do in that time.

Here are a list of some things I OUTSOURCE:

grocery Shopping: INSTACART * housekeeping: (private housekeeper) * laundry: (private laundress) * scheduling, light errands, calendar management, etc. (personal/professional assistant) * clothing shopping: RENT THE RUNWAY UNLIMITED

Let me know how you’ve been getting more out of your day by dropping me a line at myleik.com! I’m @myleik on instagram & snap!