One simple strategy to claiming an hour back of your day!

Jun 20

I think we could all agree that we all wish we had more time. Time to holiday, time to spend with loved ones, time to get all your work tasks done, time to get the household chores done, time to answer emails, time to tick things off your to do list….

I have been thinking about this a lot lately, as more and more things creep into my life not only am I learning to re-prioritise whats important to me, but I am trying to find simple strategies to create more time in my day to get the most important tasks done.
One thing I asked myself was where am I spending most of my time…wasting??

And it wasn’t hard to realise is was here….On this very laptop I’m writing to you from.

It’s so easy these days to be distracted by emails, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and general surfing of the net, all with the click of a button. Next minute, 30 mins has passed and you havn’t even began to start the one task you opened your computer for!! And what makes it even worse is that we carry the ability to check emails and facebook at any time on our smart phones not even needing a computer! No wonder we can’t switch off…

Whats my one simple strategy to get more time back in your day?!

ONLY CHECK YOUR EMAIL 1-2 TIMES PER DAY.

– not 12 times per day (like most of us do). This way you reply to a whole bunch at once rather than as they come in.

– check at 11am and 3pm, that way you get the most important tasks you need to complete for the day started or completed before you’ve even been distracted by emails. The second check at 3pm is to give you the piece on mind for replying to anyone you wrote to at 11am.

– never check your email just before leaving work. You will be caught up replying, and worst still you will carry that information in your brain (often stressful information) upon leaving and won’t be able to switch off when you get home

– never check your email before going to bed!! Often the information will race around in your brain for hours and you won’t be able to fall asleep.

– Sign out of your email/facebook account. These days we stay signed in to our accounts so that they are even easier to quickly check. Having to physically write in your password and sign back in each time will make it more of a hassle for you to check them.