How to get more done in less time
Have you been thinking of how to get more done in less time but don’t just see a way around it? Do you ever wish you had more than twenty-four hours in a day? Well, you are not alone. And guess what? Even if you had, it might still make no difference.
The art of maximizing time in itself can sometimes seem like a chore that demands its own time. This can leave us stressed out with little frustrating results.
But be that as it may, is productivity a far fetched thing that only the weirdos know how to bring about? The answer is no. And it does not require a thousand and one things like many have been made to believe; thereby, causing them to give up on trying to be productive when they can’t meet the demands.
There are a few simple things that you can do to set yourself up for a productive day regardless of the amount of time you have. Below are some of them:
You need a schedule
The importance of this cannot be overemphasized. Not having it is like not having a goalpost on a football field while a football match is on. You need a list of the things you want to do; your target (goalpost) for the day. It’s not enough to have them in your mind, other things will occupy your mind and relegate them to the back of your mind. This is why you need to write them out — marked in your calendar and then allotted a specific time in the day.
This will help keep your brain fully conscious of them and forces it to actually come up with ideas and ways to get those things done. If you don’t do this, you might find yourself handling first, what should come last, and also spending more time than is necessary on one task.
Guiltless prioritization
Remember the scale of preference in economics where you arrange your tasks in accordance to their importance and urgency. This is necessary because of the dissimilar nature of most tasks. Some require immediate attention due to a deadline to them or something else, while others don’t require your urgent attention. You need to attend to the urgent ones first, but, read on…
There are those that are not as urgent as others but are very important; and failing to get them done can have grave consequences. It can be in the form of a pitch that’s still two months away or an annual report you know will be demanded in three months’ time. You are not pressed for time for these but you might find yourself panicky when the date for their submission becomes a couple of days away and you still haven’t gotten your act together. In that case, what do you do?
This leads me to the next point…
Find your balance
Given that you’ve two sets of task on your hands; the urgent ones and the important ones. The first will be due for submission in, let’s say, one week’s time while the second will be required in a month’s time.
What you can do is to break down the tasks into daily bits with the urgent one receiving the larger share of your time in the first week.
How do I mean?
Let’s say you need ninety-six hours of deep work to finish your important task but twenty-four hours for your urgent one, you can focus more of your time for the first week on doing the urgent one while giving like two hours per day to the important one for that week.
Once you’ve gotten the urgent task off your hand, you can then divert more attention to the important one. And by that time, the number of hours you need for the important task would have reduced by fourteen. That’s like a day’s work, off!
Get rid of distractions
Don’t cheat yourself by extending the number of hours you have to work. It’s unfair to you. Cultivate an ‘I am at work’ attitude with which you shut out distractions such as unnecessary social media notifications, phone calls, unplanned visits, etc. so you can be able to do serious work.
The truth is: everything that can wait will wait, so, resist the urge to be available every time. You can always return the phone call. In fact, you can set a time when all you do is to return your missed calls.
Allocate time for social media and follow it through.
One more: when while at work, someone asks you, ‘do you have a minute?’ it’s a trap. Assent at your own risk.
Productivity tools can help
There are a number of productivity tools out there that you can make use of to get yourself organized and get more done in less time. I don’t use any though…for now. I am cool with my having my to-do list on my note pad. But hey, if you think you need to go tech on your productivity, you can check out the likes of Trello, Evernote, Todoist, etc.
If you are like me, there might be times when you are on top of your time management game and have everything under control, then, you suddenly fall flat on your face and let different factors pull you in their direction and pace. There’s no cause for alarm. For every time that happens, be it through social media, movies, books, etc, just pick yourself up and…reschedule.
Cheers to your productivity!
