Time is one of our most precious and finite assets and one of the most important resources when it comes to living up to our fullest potential.
The problem is that most of us spend far too long struggling with things we don’t really care about, rather than talking about or taking care of the things that are important to us.
In this post, we’ll take a look at some simple strategies you can use to save lots of time every single day! First and bonus tip, give yourself a specific amount of time to do a task — if you give yourself 3 hours to do something, it will take you 3 hours… so give yourself 30 minutes and see what happens.
Wake Up Productive
It’s important that you get enough sleep so waking up at 4am to start work is not the answer here. However, you can make your morning more productive by reducing feelings of sleep inertia {defined as: a physiological state of impaired cognitive and sensory-motor performance that is present immediately after awakening. It persists during the transition of sleep to wakefulness, where an individual will experience feelings of drowsiness, disorientation and a decline in motor dexterity.}.
To do this, try using a ‘daylight alarm’. This is an alarm that wakes you up with a simulated sunrise. This is a very calming way to wake up that is good for your biological rhythms.
Don’t Go Back to Sleep!
Using the same idea, try coming around slowly. To ensure I always get up on time, I always make my first step to check my phone. This is something that many ‘gurus’ will tell you not to do, but actually it’s a very easy small step that is perfect to rouse you just enough to avoid you going back to sleep.
Why not use that addiction to your advantage?
Let’s be clear, I didn’t say check your phone and obsess over Facebook or email, just check your phone enough to wake yourself up to reality that a new day is starting and you need to get a move on and tackle it!
Use Automation
Automation is big in the blogging and online industry, but let’s just for a minute think about how we can automate our everyday life.
What can complete tasks for you. In this case specifically, we’re interested in machines and devices that can perform boring tasks for us. Things like robotic vacuum cleaners, dishwashers and washing machines.
Each little thing you can get automated will be something you don’t personally have to do yourself, and that will add up to time spent on something else. What will you try to automate in your life? Leave me a comment and we can chat about how to make that happen!
Multitask
Certain tasks lend themselves very well to multitasking. A perfect example of this is driving to work and calling a friend. If you need to catch up on some great podcasts, then why not do this at the same time as another task that doesn’t require your full attention?
This way, you have killed two birds with one stone and spent half the time that you normally would. It’s also a great pick me-up! 🙂
Prep and Pick-Up
This is a broad strategy that can apply to any task. Simply put, do the preparation first and then ‘pick up’ from there. For example, this might mean that you prepare your gym bag the day before so that all you have to do in the morning is pick it up and go! The same can go for school lunches, kids bags, the car bag, and even prepackaging food for a quick lunch or dinner prep!
Let’s start today and spend our time where we really want to be, cultivating the life we want to live, rather than talking about the things that aren’t important to us.
Life is full of possibilities, but not endless time. I hope you’ve enjoyed these tips and would share this post if you did!
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