How often do we catch ourselves thinking that we constantly live “on the run”, try to redo a bunch of things at the same time, and still have no time to do anything. Here are a few tips to help you better cope with any business at work or at home.
10. Record all cases
Even if you have “not the head, but the House of Soviets,” you can hardly remember (especially - in the right order) all the things you want to do in a day, a week, a month ... So just don’t load your head with what can be written. Moreover, when you see in front of you on paper how many little things (as well as not at all small things, and not at all small things) you need to do, you will quickly understand what you can afford to spend your time on, and what not, and As a result, focus on the most important tasks and perform them efficiently. By the way, today there are a lot of scheduler programs, and in addition, you can set up sound alerts on your phone and computer, tied to the exact time and date, which in time will remind you of the most important things.
9. Do the most important thing first
So I don’t want to take on complex, energy-consuming (or especially “brain-breaking”) tasks right in the morning. And we first grab onto some small, routine matters that absolutely do not help advance to our main goal, simply because it is much easier to fulfill them. Thus, really important things are postponed until later, and as a result, we still do not have time to finish them during normal working hours, driving ourselves into another time trouble, we are forced to stay in the office overtime or take “homework” for the weekend. And all that was needed was to start with an important one (!), And then the working day itself would have lined up in a completely different way.
8. Make a plan for the day from the evening
When we come to work very often, we hardly remember what we stopped at yesterday and where we should start today. Save time and your own nerves: make a to-do list the next day since the evening, and then you don’t have to rack your brains on what to do first, and then what, because you have already set all the priorities, and now you can focus on the main thing, not bogging down in secondary matters. In addition, when you already have a clear plan for the whole day, you know exactly what time you definitely take, and what other unplanned things can be built in, because they also happen.
7. Strive for multitasking
Do not grab at once for several things at once, - alas, you are not Julius Caesar (who, they say, had the rare ability to effectively “steer” both the army and the Senate, and all this - not directly leaving the dining table). It is better to do one thing, but well, than to perform many different tasks, but somehow. Do not jump from one business to another and vice versa, concentrate only on the most important. And, if possible, eliminate all factors distracting you from work: turn off Skype, social networks, loud music, try not to run every half hour for a smoke break, “for a seagull”, etc.
6. Get up early
Scientists have long proved that in the morning our brain works much more actively than in the evening (and even more so at night). Use this - try to get up early and, accordingly, start your own business earlier. You can specifically talk with your boss so that he allows you to come to work, for example, not at 10, but at 8 (and leave, respectively, also not at 18.00, but at 16.00). And then, in an still empty and quiet office, you better be able to concentrate and have time to do more (and better). But at the same time, of course, you will have to go to bed early (at least not on the day when you need to get up), otherwise, sleepy and yawning, you will not be suitable for the high-quality performance of your duties.
5. Go in for sports
You are undoubtedly aware that a lack of physical activity leads not only to a general deterioration in health, but also to a decrease in attention, lethargy and other unpleasant things. Nobody forces you to pull pood weights and run marathons. Just try to keep your body in good shape: at least do exercises (15-20 minutes in the morning or in the evening is enough), walk more, use the elevator less often, etc. It requires nothing but willpower. And then, after a very short time, you will feel how much more energetic your body and brain began to work.
4. Exclude “not doing” from the to-do list.
If you constantly repeat the situation “I take on more than I can do, and therefore, as a result, I do not do all the things from the list,” is it worth it to review this very list? It is possible that you are not a bad employee at all, just not as often as you should, ask yourself the question: is it necessary to do this at all? Or: should I do it? Or maybe you just do not know how to say no when it is necessary? Keep only those matters that are truly important, and ignore everything that can be ignored. And then discover a significant increase in free time. And one more thing: if you can’t do something today, then don’t think about it today.
3. Be proactive
The term “proactive” in psychology means a person who takes personal responsibility for his life, that is, does not “go with the flow” and does not look for the reasons for his successes or failures in people and circumstances around him. Such a person chooses what to do and what not, what is important to him and what is secondary. In practice, this means that you can always (and should) have your own plans in addition to those set by your superiors. If you are driven into some uncomfortable or limited conditions - do not be afraid to set your own conditions or framework in response.
2. Save files immediately
Very simple, but very important advice. The better you think of your own system for saving important information, the easier it will be for you to find and use it later on. Try to refuse paper media to the maximum - all kinds of notebooks and diaries. Keep your records and projects in electronic format - this saves a lot of time and also allows you to quickly access the necessary documents. By the way, maybe some especially important files should be saved in several places at once? Laptops and tablets tend to break at the most inopportune moment, and flash drives are lost ...
1. Change activities
Puzzling over the same problem for too long, we lose the freshness of our eyes and, as a result, our productivity is significantly deteriorating. If you can’t find a solution either immediately (“offhand”), or even after considerable effort, just get distracted for a while, switch to some other business. And then, quite possibly, returning again to that unresolved issue in a couple of hours, you will suddenly see that you tried to get to it in a too complicated way, but in fact everything was much simpler there. A change of tasks (and sometimes a change of scenery) during the day helps to maintain a high creative potential.