Have you ever wondered how you can gain just a few more minutes a day or how to feel more effective with the time you have?TIME is the most limited resource we have. Keep reading on how to save more of it.
Tony Robbins says it best "Achieving your goals isn't about what resources you have- it's about how resourceful you can be with what's available to you."
Time Batching: This is a very easy time management hack that allows you to do a lot of the same things together at a set time. An example for me would be instead of shooting our social media photography multiple times during a month I would block out a whole day to just shoot all the looks we need. This reduces stress and ups my productivity. Instead of breaking the shoots out and trying to take a few photos in a couple of hours which would require a quiet a few hours of pulling props, securing locations, setup, breakdown etc.. and then me in between photos trying to answer emails and texts. This allows me to have a whole day to just shoot and focus solely on that. Another great example is EMAILS...I'm trying to get better about this one as well. Instead of checking your inbox 20 times a day check it once or twice. I try to do an early AM & PM check. This makes you more productive when you are solely focused on the one task in front of you instead of jumping from an email response to answering a phone call or problems solving with an associate.
I've always been all about multi-tasking (I think that's part of being a female). If I'm getting a blowout or pedicure you can always find me with my laptop or iPhone in my hand and you better believe I'm getting caught up on responses to DMs, texts or emails. These are great times to batch work. If you are a person that has a lot of conference calls during the week what if you scheduled them all on 1 day? That way you know all day you are going to talk and knock out all your calls. If you try batching let me know how it works for you.
Airplane Mode: Turn your phone on airplane mode when you are answering emails, writing a blog post, at an in-person meeting or when doing any task you don't want to be distracted. This will really make a difference. True focus allows you to get your work done in a more efficient time.
Hire Out Your Weakness: Yes, I said it. Spend money! This will make you money and will make you happier. What's your week point? Is it managing your calendar, paying bills, laundry, grocery shopping? Hire someone (shameless plug- Tick Tock Concierge) to take over those 1-2 tasks that you hate doing and that will allow you to do something else more effective during that time spot.
Calendar: I know calendars aren't for everyone, but if you want to be effective with your time you need to be using one. Every day I block out my day with what tasks and appointments I have. Color coding is also very helpful when I am glancing quickly at the calendar. I use yellow for personal appointments and red for work.
My time blocking might look something like this: 6-7am: Coffee and reading 7-8am: Emails 8-9am: Shower 9:30-11am: Marketing Meeting 11:30-1pm: Lunch with Alec 1pm-3pm: Invoicing and scheduling 3-5pm: Emails 5-6pm: Workout and so on...Time blocking allows for every minute of the day to be accounted for therefore there is no wasted time. Every minute has a purpose.
I hope these 4 simple tips help you streamline your life and save you time. If you ever want to evaluate your life and how to save time please contact me. Look for part deux on time saving coming soon.
Cheers,
KEC