Each day for a few weeks, I’ll give you a new tip on how to get more done with the same hours you already have. Here’s the next tip:
Dumb-Down After You Eat
For most people, the worst time to do any kind of ‘brain-work’ is shortly after eating.
You know why this happens, it has to do with your body’s need to divert blood from the brain to the stomach for the energy-draining digestion process.
Despite knowing this is how our body works, it’s easy to totally forget about it and dig into something that requires a lot of concentration and focus right after lunch.
This usually results in not-so-great results.
As with most things, the first step to solving the problem is to become aware that you’re doing it. Think about your personal work habits and the things you typically do after eating, and where possible, only take care of things that require minimal brain power.
For me, that means a short nap occasionally, but if that’s not an option, there’s always checking email, clearing your desk, reading the news, and so on.
Each day for a few weeks, I’ll give you a new tip on how to get more done with the same hours you already have. Here’s the next tip:
Keep A Tangent Log
No matter how hard you try to stay focused on the task at hand, sometimes a little voice inside your head just won’t leave you alone, so to shut it up, you allow it to lead you off on some unproductive tangent.
It’s reminding you about something you need to get at the store, or it’s sharing with you a great idea you don’t want to miss, or it gets really annoying and starts singing a song that you haven’t heard in a while, but you remember you love and you don’t want to forget again.
Since there’s no removing yourself from your voice, at least you can pacify it without letting it derail you altogether.
All you need is a pen and paper.
As you focus on the task at hand, anytime that little voice urges you to fire-up your browser to look for something or to get up, go to the kitchen, and add potatoes to your grocery list, instead of obeying it without argument, write down what your being told or reminded to do, then at the end of the day (or during another break), go through the items your list and take action on them.
Don’t let the voice interrupt the flow of your work.
Each day for a few weeks, I’ll give you a new tip on how to get more done with the same hours you already have. Here’s the next tip:
Be Unproductive Every Once In A While
That’s right, occasionally do a whole lot of nothin’ and have a good time doing it.
Doing nothing is easy, but sometimes you do it while feeling guilty inside that you’re ‘wasting your time’ because you have so much to do. This usually is the result of simply being unproductive whenever the mood hits (which is what we often do, such as after you eat, or after checking your email).
The trick to really enjoying your down-time is to plan it ahead of time, and make sure you’re productive when you need to be productive.
Each day for a few weeks, I’ll give you a new tip on how to get more done with the same hours you already have. Here’s the next tip:
Purposely Turn Off The TV Occasionally
There’s no doubt that watching TV can be a great way to relax, just as long as you keep it under control.
Think about this; When you watch TV, you’re involved in an activity that requires very little action from you (other than flipping channels). In other words, it’s something that puts your brain in a mode that represents the total opposite of taking action. Do it enough, and your brain could get stuck in that mode – not a pretty place at all!
Spend a little time and decide what shows you really want to watch, set aside specific blocks of time to watch them, and give up the mindless channel-surfing.
I can’t stress the importance and effectiveness of this enough!
Each day for a few weeks, I’ll give you a new tip on how to get more done with the same hours you already have. Here’s the next tip:
Simplify Your Life
When you simplify your life, you eliminate a lot of time and resource-sucking stuff that does nothing but drag you down. One of the best ways of simplifying is to trim down on all the things you can potentially bring into your life that will require your time to use or maintain.
The problem with trying to ‘have it all’ is that once you own it, you almost feel obligated to use it all regularly in order to justify your purchases. This mindset takes a lot out of you, and it’s really unnecessary.
When you really think about it, do you really need 4 magazines a month about the same topic, or could you get more out of digging deeper into your favorite magazine and dumping the rest?
Do you really need that shiny new gadget that will require time to learn how to use, or is the similar gadget you bought just 6 months ago still good enough?
Identify the things in your life that are complicating it (especially material stuff), and eliminate them!
Each day for a few weeks, I’ll give you a new tip on how to get more done with the same hours you already have. Here’s the next tip:
Plan Tomorrow, Today!
The more you prepare yourself for anything, the more likely you are to follow through with doing it. This includes your daily schedule.
Every day, before you wrap up your work day, write down the 3 most important things you want to accomplish the next day. Don’t just make a mental note about them…write them down!
Leave the list in the middle of your desk (or wherever else you’ll easily see it in the morning).
For ‘extra-credit’, take a little time while you’re creating your list to gather together any supporting items you may need to make achieving tasks on your list possible.
For example, if one of the items on your list is to balance your checkbook, then get your checkbook, your bank statement, and a calculator and place them next to your list.
Do everything you can to prepare yourself for accomplishing the tasks you’ve written down and you’ll be more open to taking action when the time comes to take care of them.
Each day for a few weeks, I’ll give you a new tip on how to get more done with the same hours you already have. Here’s the next tip:
Create And Use Checklists
Anytime you can offload things you need to remember from your head onto paper (or your computer), the more you set yourself up for taking action.
Your brain hates stress, and having to remember all the details related to preparing your taxes, or everything you need to schedule, reserve, and buy for a vacation just weighs you down.
Checklists help you get rid of a lot of this stress by acting like a ‘mini-blueprint’ you can easily follow anytime you need it, without the worry that you’re forgetting something important.
For any process or sequence of actions you perform on a regular basis, take a little time to create a checklist for it and use it as needed. It may take a little time to create initially, but it will save you gobs of time and energy in the long-run.
If you need a bit of inspiration when creating your checklists, just search Google for some ideas. For example, to create a travel checklist, begin by searching Google for travel checklist. You’ll find plenty of ideas for things to add to your own.
