5 Habits That Will Make You More Efficient
Get more done in less time.
Time flies whether you want it to or not. The good news is that you are the pilot.
If you want to use your time more efficiently so that you can spend time with loved ones, work more on a business venture, or just kick your feet up and relax, try instituting these 5 time management practices. Each will make you more time efficient — but when used in conjunction with each other they’ll change your life.
1. Track your time by the hour in a calendar
What you measure, you can manage.
If you haven’t started tracking your time yet, it’s an important practice to institute. Similar to calorie counting, it’s not something you’ll need to do for the rest of your life — just long enough to get the picture.
After you’ve tracked your time for a few weeks, you’ll start to realize where you’re wasting it, where you’re utilizing it best, and how to optimize.
When I first started tracking my time, I was shocked to find that on days when I worked out in the morning as opposed to going straight to the computer, I actually got more work done. This seemed counterintuitive to me, but it was true in virtually every case. If I really want to have a good work day, I discovered that I need to start an hour later and get a good sweat in the morning.
I track my hours in Google Calendar and try to stay as close to my schedule as possible. Every Sunday I go over my events for the week to come and reflect on the time I wasted in the week past. The weekly review is extremely beneficial when you get started. Just log your days by the hour and you’ll quickly see the big picture.
2. Focus on single tasking
This is a huge one that many hardworking individuals have trouble with, but it’s extremely important.
Single tasking is not cool. Telling people you’re juggling a bunch of projects at the same time has a much more interesting sound to it. The problem with juggling is that your odds of dropping the ball are much higher.
Focusing on one thing at a time is not only more efficient, it can also be very freeing. Block out time in your calendar (as mentioned above) and only focus on the event you’ve scheduled. If you’ve set aside time for reading Medium articles, only read Medium articles. Don’t click on links to the author’s Pinterest page or the latest e-book. If you’ve set time for exercising in your calendar, focus all of your attention on your workout. Don’t try to read emails or update Facebook at the gym.
One thing I want to point out here is that if you do multitask, make sure that one of your tasks is okay running on autopilot. If it can’t take care of itself without your focused attention, you’ll need to go back to single tasking.
For example.
Audiobooks are great. I subscribe to Audible and listen to roughly a book per month with the service. However, to really get into the book and focus on what the narrator is saying, any other tasks I’m doing at the same time must be automatic. Jogging is the perfect example of a task you can complete simultaneously to listening to an audiobook. It requires no thought and all of your attention can focus on the narrator. Lifting weights, however, takes some mental attention. Focusing on your muscle contractions, progress, and form takes away from an audiobook. Therefore, use this rule:
Only multitask if your second task requires absolutely no attention.
3. Wake up early (even on weekends)
You’ve probably heard this one before, but waking up early is truly the ultimate time-hack. If you’re up before dawn, you’re guaranteed a few hours of quiet time when your phone isn’t ringing and the world is still fast asleep. Use this time wisely to get ahead and knock off the most important tasks on your to-do list.
Personally, I like to use this time to check off the things I don’t compromise on. My mornings include writing, outdoor exercise, meditation, and coffee with the Wall Street Journal (in that order). It’s rare that I have a bad day when I start it off this way.
Once I realized how important my morning routine was, I decided to try implementing it on the weekends as well. Unless you’re out late (sleep should be a priority for everyone), try waking up at the same time on weekends as you do during the week. You’ll be amazed at how much you can get done on a Saturday when you wake up at 6 AM.
4. Check your email less
Author Tim Ferriss stresses that you should only open your email a few times a day, to make sure that you don’t interrupt your meaningful work. While not everyone can condition their coworkers to get used to this tactic as he suggests, cutting back on email time is doable for everyone.
Start with turning off email notifications on your phone. Next, move on to only checking email in-between events on your calendar. Sure, you’ll still be checking email at least half a dozen times a day, but it won’t be pulling you away from your designated tasks.
5. Just say no
When you find you don’t have enough time for the most important things in your life, it’s time to start saying the most powerful word in the English language: no. It’s a display of integrity — it’s a message to the world that you have a strict code of ethics that prohibits you from missing what’s important to you. It doesn’t matter if that is your health, your wealth, or your family (or all three)— what matters is that you say no to the things that keep you from what’s important.
The most efficient people in the world have all mastered the art of no. Monitor your schedule closely and cut out the things that take away from your happiness.
