Getting the most out of every day

‘If only I had an extra hour every day’

‘My day is taken over by meetings and emails’

‘Life just keeps getting busier’

Many of my clients talk about the challenges in managing the daily workload. In our always-on society, there is a drive for immediacy and we face frequent interruptions during the typical day. Arriving earlier and work and leaving later rarely solves the problem, something I learned the hard way! But the good news is, there is a lot you can do to improve your personal productivity. Here are 3 levers which should help you to get more out of every day.

1.    Take control of the time available

Productivity guru Jason Womack[1] talks about the 96 fifteen-minute blocks that make up every 24-hour day. Working smarter and managing your time can free up some of those 15-minute blocks, leaving you with more time to focus on your most important projects. For example, reduce hour long meetings to 45 minutes or split your To-Do list into short tasks (things you can get done in 15 minutes) and larger projects and plan your time accordingly.

2.    Prioritise your most important tasks

Make sure your to-do list focuses on your real priorities – your critical activities are both important and urgent tasks that you need to pay attention to right now. You also need to consider your important goals – things that are important but not urgent. Because they lack immediate urgency, the temptation is to prioritise other less important tasks. You can free up some valuable time by removing, reducing or delegating the distractions and interruptions. Learn to say no!

3.    Focus and don’t waste the time available

So, now you have freed up some time and you understand your priorities. In order to get things done you also need to focus. Look at your calendar, have you allocated enough time to your most important tasks? If not make some changes. It helps to consider

·      When are you at your best? This is when you should pay attention to your critical and important tasks

·      Is your working environment conducive to focusing on your most important projects? If not what can you change?

·      Switch off email alerts as these distract you from your priorities

If you work on these three areas - your time, your priorities and your focus – you can transform your personal productivity! 

Click here for a link to the full article on my website

https://envisionbusinesssolutions.co.uk/2018/03/getting-more-out-of-every-day/