There is no such thing as 25 hours in a day, and people who say they have got an extra hour on their day are simply using some tricks to get that extra time while doing effective time management. It is no genius work to these tricks. Anyone can do these and get some extra hours while doing effective time management.
Here are seven few tricks which would be helpful:
Take a deep breath and relax your mind:
The mind always tangled up with many thoughts and ideas. They may be similar or contradictory, even irrelevant clutter. So the first thing you have to do is to take a few deep breaths and meditate. This will help your brain and body get more oxygenated blood and hence more energy to work with. Let me give you an illustrative example.
When we jump into the water, it has ripples and splashes in different directions; we can’t see what is underwater. We try to stay still, and when the water becomes still, we can see other fishes and flora underwater. Similarly, it is essential to have a clear mind to see your goals and tasks to be done.
Write it all down on a page:
Now that you have clarity in your mind and thoughts, all you have to do is jot it down in a notepad or a journal. This will untangle the thoughts and tasks in your mind and increase the chances of getting done all of the work. Having it all written down will enhance your creativity, too, as it will declutter your mind and give space to new ideas.
Maintaining a journal will keep you on the track of what is done and what is pending. But the limitation is that you don’t know which tasks to do first, so keep on reading the tricks. All these tips will work together as all are cogs in a machine.
Organize your surroundings:
Studies have shown that people whose room is messy can’t get many tasks done than those who had their room organized and clean. The problem with an unorganized surrounding is that the person can’t get their attention to the critical tasks and get easily distracted.
When you see so many dishes at a buffet, you get confused because all are delicious, but you can’t eat them all at once. A similar situation happens when you get work done in an unorganized place; you see so many tasks at once and don’t have an idea which one to do first. So declutter and organize your surroundings, whether it is physical or mental space, even your digital area for the sake of a clean environment.
Use the Eisenhower method:
Eisenhower matrix or technique is a process of filtering out different tasks according to their importance and urgency. This matrix has four boxes: Do it now, Decide to do it later, Delegate, and Delete.
These four boxes are based on the degree of importance and urgency, whether low or high. For example, there are two tasks at your hand: Submit a project of 5 pages by tomorrow and to buy a gift for your friend’s birthday, which is just two days away. Now check which one is more important and urgent than the other, and you will know which one to Do it now.
Clear the tasks which can be done in minutes but take up hours:
You have the list of all the tasks to be done in a day. Now what you have to do is see which ones have taken up much of your days but have a low fulfillment in a day’s work. Work like cooking up food or commuting to work or college, these take up so much time but don’t have the optimal benefit. So it is better to do some of these tasks together to have some extra hours up your sleeves.
Things like taking up calls, checking out your inbox, or even watching TV/ Internet can be done together if possible, as they don’t have much potential but take up 2-3 hours. If not completely cutting them down, you can reduce the hours and do them together.
Prioritize and multitask:
This trick is essential and beneficial as you have to prioritize your tasks and know that the important and urgent tasks rank number one when you are completing the day’s work. It is essential to know that the time you are taking isn’t going to waste.
Day-wasters like driving to work or cleaning your room can be combined with wearing a Bluetooth calling device while doing all this and taking up your calls too. This way, you are not wasting much time separately. Making some things your top priorities gives you a sense of control and power and motivates you to complete all the tasks, making you more productive.
Plan ahead:
This part can be done for the next day or coming week or even the next 4 months. It is imperative to prepare your upcoming tasks in an organized and prioritized manner so that you wake up with a goal in mind.
Productivity and creativity come when you are willing to do work by internal motivation and to come up with better solutions for your problems. Planning is the half work done when it comes to getting some more time on your hands. If you have all the submissions prepared and planned for the next six months, the ‘thinking’ part of these tasks has been thought through and can be done easily when the time comes.
To be Effective and Assertive in life- It’s all about effective time management