25/04/16
Time Famine: Manage Your Activity
Hungry for more time?
Time saved can’t be stored in Tupperware(®) to drag out when you crave a few minutes. Instead, concentrate on spending your time effectively. You can’t manage time. You can only manage your activity.
- Limit your to-do list to 10 items. Estimate completion time for the five most important entries. Double your estimate. Now you have a realistic picture of your day. If you only complete five items on your list, don’t add the leftover five items to the next day’s list of 10 to-do’s.
- Review each item, task, form or procedure. Ask, “Does this really have to be done? Can I (we) live with the consequences of not doing this? Could someone else do all or part of the task? Can this task be simplified or done less often?” In another life, I oiled my paneling ever month. It’s been years since I massaged oil into those slabs from the ’70s. They haven’t peeled away from the wall, cracked or creaked.
3. Keep a master notebook, or folder next to you to capture ideas, projects and tasks that pop into your head. Avoid the start-stop-start-stop routine. Preserve your focus and your brilliant thoughts.
4.Fit the means to the end. Is the time you’re putting in worth the payoff? Stop over planning, over-checking, over-researching or over-tweaking. Some purchases such as buying a home or going on an extravagant vacation warrant research and planning. Buying an ice cream cone doesn’t really require you to google yourself silly.
5. Tap your network. Others have dealt with your issues. Delete wheel reinvention, frustration and stress.
Time famine is here to stay, but you can take the edge off your appetite.
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