It was not as simple to shift the mindset and focus the energy where it was truly needed. But you should learn how to plan and relax on a Sunday night in preparation for the week ahead. Although the shift in mindset helped, you should experiment to figure out how to best spend your time and energy, as well as what activities could do to help to make the most of the limited time.
Write a to-do list
You can write it on a post-it note, stick it on the fridge, or track it on your mobile devices, depending on your personality. I prefer to use paper and pen, writing them down and sticking the to-do list somewhere visible, such as the fridge door or my work desk, so that constantly reminded of what you need to work on. Every morning, write down what you want to accomplish for the day or week, and you go over it every evening before bed.
Take your time
As a starting point, before we get into any of the tips we will discuss, it’s important to know what you are spending your time on. The simplest method is to keep track of your time. You can do it with pen and paper or in a spreadsheet, but using a time tracking app saves you a lot of time. Using an app will allow you to see all of the data in one place, allowing you to analyze how you spend your time. Is there anything you should devote more or less time to? Can you make better use of your time? What changes can you make to your schedule to better suit your needs?
Improve your time management abilities
Whatever you do, good time management skills are essential. It allows you to accomplish more in less time, achieve your goals, and be less stressed. You should understand how to set goals, prioritize, focus, plan effectively, and manage your time.
Determine your peak productivity and plan your day accordingly
Some people prefer to get up early and are more productive in the morning. Others perform better at night. Determine whether you are an early bird or a night owl – or perhaps a day pigeon that prefers to wake up and go to bed at a reasonable time. Create a schedule that works with your natural rhythm; if you are a night owl, getting up at 5 a.m. will only make you grumpy and inefficient. Similarly, if you are a morning person, you won’t be able to get anything done late at night. Check that 1) your schedule works for you and 2) you get enough sleep.
Spend less time checking emails
You should set a time limit for responding to emails, just like you do for social media. Depending on how many emails you receive, it could be once, twice, or four times per day. Choose those times wisely: don’t waste your best concentration on emails, but rather on a more important and/or more difficult task. Other methods for spending less time on emails include: Making use of templates. If you find yourself answering the same question over and over, create a template instead of typing it out every time. Remember that using the search bar to find an email is easier than manually organizing emails in folders.
Don’t respond if you don’t have to It may seem obvious, but we sometimes need a reminder. Unsubscribe from the newsletter in which you are no longer interested.
Reduce your use of social media
The majority of the time we waste is often attributed to endless scrolling. The only way to combat it is to limit our use of social media. Here’s how it’s done: Examine your screen time and how much of it is spent on social media. Warning: the figures may be unsettling. Disable notifications. You will not only have fewer distractions, Set limits on when you can and cannot check your phone.
Organize similar tasks together
If you need to print multiple items, do so at the same time. If you need to make several phone calls, do so all at once. If you must purchase multiple items, do so in a single shopping trip. If you need to create a week’s worth of social media content, pick one day and do it all at once. You will not only do it more efficiently because you will be in the right frame of mind, but you’ll also save a lot of time on seemingly insignificant tasks that would otherwise add up. Why would you go to the printer and back to your desk 5 times, log in and out, get ready, drive to the mall, and so on? Do it only once?
Understand how to say no.
Saying yes to everything is a surefire way to burn out and overwork yourself, as well as waste time doing things you don’t want or need to do. You shouldn’t give away chunks of your time like they’re free Costco samples; your time and energy are valuable, limited resources that should be treated as such. You can’t always say no, especially at work, but you can say no a lot of the time. Do you know how your gut instinct is to say no, but you end up saying yes because you feel bad?
Conclusion
Even though our lives are frequently hectic, there are ways to spend less time on trivial matters and more time on those we cherish. The most important thing is to improve our time management skills, from learning to say no to always being prepared. It may appear impossible at times, but good organization and discipline are all that are required.
