There’s never enough time for anyone to do everything, but you have more than enough time to do something.
You walk through the day thinking of how much you have to do, devise multitasking strategies, but it seems that you’re never really able to complete all the tasks on our to-do lists. Sounds familiar?
Here’s the good news, you can get through the important tasks on your to-do list, if you reassess your time, find and use your lost time appropriately. The truth is that we often find ourselves smack in the middle of tasks, and we end up doing halfway through different tasks, and we’re forced to push forward these tasks. After a week, some tasks remain untouched, and you wonder what you’re doing wrong.
Well, let’s face it: the ten open tabs, dual screens, and back-to-back meetings will not get that task done any faster. There’s only one of you, and you have more than enough time to complete your tasks if only you followed these steps.
Stop cramming everything into 24hours
You get that frazzled feeling and the feeling of always being busy from trying to do everything in 24 hours. No matter how optimistic you are, you will not be able to complete all those tasks in a day. You might have to run into an important meeting in the middle of the day, or you could have an emergency at home. The trick lies in finding ways of doing more in a week, rather than a day. What this means is that you should not be too busy to workout at 6 am every day; instead, you should work out at any time of the day when you have an opening in your schedule.
You might not get time to read every night before bed, but you could sneak in some reading time during the day if you’re a cosmetic consultant and your client cancels last minute. In short, you need to be flexible with your time, and also make use of all the time gaps.
It’s also important for you to start planning your day so that you complete all the important tasks fast. As you already know, poor planning often means that your important tasks turn into urgent tasks, and then you find yourself without any breathing time.
Stop procrastinating
Do you find yourself pushing back the projects you don’t want to do until later? It’s time you stopped. You can stop procrastinating by highlighting your top two/three priorities for the next day before you go to bed each night. Doing this prepares your mind for these tasks, and you will be more prepared to tackle it. You should also start with your day with the hard tasks and then fit in the emails and administrative tasks to your downtime. If you’re not a morning person, schedule those tasks to the times when you’re most productive.
Make your weekends count
It’s not written anywhere that your weekends should only be your death march of chores or errands. If you don’t want to dread your Mondays, do some work over the weekend – give yourself a few hours of focused work, then run your errands. With proper planning, you can still have your work done, fun time, and all errands completed over the weekend. Just make sure the activities you engage in are all worth your time.
What else can you do?
- Learn to say no and manage your interruptions
- Be realistic
- Reclaim your time. For example, read a book or an article on your commute, listen to an audiobook when driving to work, and solve problems during your gap periods.
