We all have 24 hours in the day, and yet it seems that some people are able to get so much more accomplished than others. What’s the secret? It’s all about efficiency.
There are all kinds of ways of being more efficient and making better use of your time. The goal of this blog post isn’t to recommend one or the other, but simply to get you thinking along new lines.
Delegate: The fact is, not everything needs your personal attention. A lot of phone calls, emails, grocery chopping, and house cleaning can be done by other people. Granted, assistants and personal services cost money, but in the bog scheme of things you will need to decide how much your time is worth. How much money could you earn with the time you would spend washing dishes? How valuable is the rest and relaxation you would miss out on by mowing your own lawn?
Multi-task: While there’s no such thing as “true” multitasking as far as mentally challenging tasks go, you can certainly educate yourself while exercising (podcasts and eBooks) or conduct business while eating (business lunch). Find ways to kill two birds with one stone whenever possible.
Low-information diet: I mentioned this one a few weeks ago, but it’s worth repeating. In his best-selling book The Four Hour Workweek, author Tim Ferriss talks about the “Low-Information Diet” and “Selective Ignorance”. Essentially, he promotes purposefully limiting the time we spend reading the news and learning about things that do not impact us in any way whatsoever. He says:
It is imperative that you learn to ignore or redirect all information and interruptions that are irrelevant, unimportant, or unactionable. Most are all three.
Let others act as research assistants for you and let them tell you all about world events over lunch or coffee – they will be MORE than happy to share what they learn, believe me.
Learn to say “no”: Your physical and emotional energy is finite, and yet there are people (I call them “energy vampires”) who can’t grasp that. Every conversation with them leaves you drained. Or sometimes you get lots of invitations, but you simply can’t accept them all without sacrificing something else. That’s where the ability to say “no” comes in. Sometimes you will have to disappoint people and you won’t feel good about it, but when the alternative is being too tired to enjoy time with our family or too stressed to be efficient in other areas of your life, the choice is clear.
I hope these tips can help you to find ways to be a little more efficient each day.