Time Management Tips - Adding Hours To Your Day

It doesn’t look like you are going to have a twenty-five or twenty-six-hour day in the near future! Twenty-four is as far and as long as your day is going to get. But, with a little skillful time management, you can actually manage to squeeze out a couple more hours in your day. And this requires a great deal of discipline and self-awareness, so that you can understand whether you are actually being efficient or just filling up your days with worthless activity. Here are a few tips on how you can get the maximize your day:

1. Prioritize Work

The most important part of time management is learning to prioritize your work. You not only have to do your chores faster, you also have to do them right. That is why you have to evaluate each of your work activities and then prioritize them according to the actual value of each. Not only will this help get your work done more efficiently, you will end up saving time as well.

2. Get Rid of the Big Chunks

One of the first things you need to do is get rid of the big chunks of time that are not being used properly.

  • Take your television viewing time for instance. Cut it down to only those shows that you absolutely enjoy watching. Otherwise, steer clear of the idiot box.
  • Follow a similar pattern with the Internet – don’t waste time just surfing if you don’t have concrete work to do. Check your emails at specified intervals and not when you just feel like it.
  • Another big chunk of time can be saved if you cut down on your game playing – so put the X-Box away.
  • Now, cutting down on your work isn’t easy. But if you can manage to maintain or increase your productivity, then this will not seem like such a big deal.
  • You can even outsource menial tasks like household chores to help reclaim a few hours in your day.
  • Try and be as tidy and organized in your personal and workspaces, this also helps save time.

3. Regain Crucial Gap Time

Did you know that you spend between two-five hours everyday in “gap” time? Gap times are those between meaningful activities but aren’t long enough to get more done. For example, commuting to work, waiting in line, cooking, commercial breaks in television programs and small breaks in your schedule are all gap times. You can use these gap times to do more meaningful things.
  • Like read whenever you have a few minutes to spare. So keep a book handy at all times. Or make cutting of long articles that you want to read and read those during these gap times.
  • Listen to music on your radio or iPod when you are driving or walking.
  • You can even use this time to solve problems or come up with new ideas to make other spheres of your life easier.
  • Or just focus on what you are doing at that particular time to enjoy it completely.

4. Figure Out What is Important and What is Not

The most crucial step is to recognize what work is important and what is not. This will help you focus on your priorities and relegate the lesser tasks or chores till later. You can try out the following and see for yourself:
  • Get an auto-responder for your email messages and use concise yes and no answers.
  • If you are watching television, then you could tape in advance and cut commercials to save time.
  • Similarly, skim over unimportant material when you are reading for information. Instead focus on ideas and concepts that are necessary to understand.
  • You can try to plan your workouts and meetings ahead of time so that you can save time in that too.

If you follow these steps and tips – and you can implement these immediately – you can surely add at least a couple of hours to your day.