Have you ever wished that you had even one extra hour a day to accomplish more? If you're like me, there just never seems to be enough time to get everything done. Often, my daily schedule is filled from 8am to 8pm and some tasks that are not urgent continue to get pushed back.
I recently read an article by Jason W. Womack in Entrepreneur Magazine that offered some very useful insight on time management. Jason reminds us that we all have little pockets of time in our day that when used efficiently can add up to significant additional accomplishments over the course of a week or month. Even 15 minutes can make a difference.
Think of all the situations in your daily life that require you to wait. For example: waiting in line, a meeting that starts late or is cancelled, a delayed flight, waiting at the doctor's office, picking your child up from school or an activity, etc. Instead of perceiving these situations as time wasters and becoming frustrated, if we are prepared for them we can use these brief opportunities to accomplish more in our day either for business or personal tasks.
In the article, Jason writes, "To every meeting I attend, I bring one or two magazines and letter-sized envelopes. I also have a few sticky-notes handy. If I have a little extra time, I will read through the magazines looking for two types of articles: Ones that I am interested in. Ones my clients may be interested in. (Of course, often they're one in the same.)" This is an excellent example. You could also use the time to write or develop future topics for a blog post, eBook, report or business article. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of possibilities!
Jason goes on to suggest that another great use of this extra time is to work on learning something new. He says," Are you learning a piece of software? Bring your computer (or smart phone) and watch a YouTube tutorial. Are you learning a new language? Bring flash cards (paper or digital) and use that "found time" to go through bits and bytes of information. Have you added a new piece of technology to your toolkit? Print out and bring the first five to 10 pages of the instruction manual and a highlighter so you can scan those first few pages to see if there's something you can learn in the little bit of time you have."
Whatever your situation, we can all learn to increase our productivity by being aware and prepared for the daily opportunities to gain more time in our day!
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Resource: Need More Time? Wait Just a Minute, Here It Comes by Jason W. Womack
I recently read an article by Jason W. Womack in Entrepreneur Magazine that offered some very useful insight on time management. Jason reminds us that we all have little pockets of time in our day that when used efficiently can add up to significant additional accomplishments over the course of a week or month. Even 15 minutes can make a difference.
Think of all the situations in your daily life that require you to wait. For example: waiting in line, a meeting that starts late or is cancelled, a delayed flight, waiting at the doctor's office, picking your child up from school or an activity, etc. Instead of perceiving these situations as time wasters and becoming frustrated, if we are prepared for them we can use these brief opportunities to accomplish more in our day either for business or personal tasks.
In the article, Jason writes, "To every meeting I attend, I bring one or two magazines and letter-sized envelopes. I also have a few sticky-notes handy. If I have a little extra time, I will read through the magazines looking for two types of articles: Ones that I am interested in. Ones my clients may be interested in. (Of course, often they're one in the same.)" This is an excellent example. You could also use the time to write or develop future topics for a blog post, eBook, report or business article. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of possibilities!
Jason goes on to suggest that another great use of this extra time is to work on learning something new. He says," Are you learning a piece of software? Bring your computer (or smart phone) and watch a YouTube tutorial. Are you learning a new language? Bring flash cards (paper or digital) and use that "found time" to go through bits and bytes of information. Have you added a new piece of technology to your toolkit? Print out and bring the first five to 10 pages of the instruction manual and a highlighter so you can scan those first few pages to see if there's something you can learn in the little bit of time you have."
Whatever your situation, we can all learn to increase our productivity by being aware and prepared for the daily opportunities to gain more time in our day!
- - - - -
Resource: Need More Time? Wait Just a Minute, Here It Comes by Jason W. Womack