How can I save more time?

Hmm, why do I feel at the end of the day that I was busy all morning, all afternoon, and yet my 'to do' list looks... well, looks like I made friends with it and decided to keep it forever and ever in my task bar.?? Sounds familiar?

Well, I decided to embark on my journey to improve my performance as a senior key account manager at HireRight??, and inspired by the 48-hour day book (available in Polish only, at least from what I know) I came across a daily-audit exercise, which looks like this:

You just have to make sure every minute is covered and you write down everything you've been doing all day. I mean, at work, that is. Preferably do this exercise bi-weekly on a chosen workday.

What I've discovered? ?

• Most of the time I react to things that need to be taken care of, no detailed planning. I mostly react rather than dictate my priorities for the day.
• I can surely work faster, as I read few emails too many times instead of finishing what I'd started. ??
• No planned breaks! ??
• Distractions all over the place!! That includes daily chores at home, randomly checking teams or my phone, getting in and out of "the zone"
• A lot of time is spent on who knows what? ??♂?

Putting this into perspective now...??

If I waste just 15 minutes a day, that's 75 minutes weekly, 300 minutes monthly. 5 hours. More than a half of the business day.

If I manage my reporting tools better, and just decrease it form 60 to 45 minutes daily, that means... Well, 5 hours can be assigned to rela... other responsibilities, of course.??

I made a deal with myself - on weekly basis I'll be posting an article on my findings from that book to share value, and also motivate myself to actually discover where that 'unknown' time goes to. If I don't, I'll randomly choose a contact from my LinkedIn list and send $200??. Don't be surprised if you get a random PayPal deposit, and to my Clients: No, it's not a gift to swing the deal!!!

I challenge you to do a similar exercise and share in the comment sections below whether you also have an 'unknown' column that makes you wonder if some of our time at work simply gets lost (with x-files tune playing in the background??).