Are your days hectic? Today, I'm going to show you how you can save time to complete new projects, develop your business or improve your personal life.
As a workaholic, organization and productivity are subjects close to my heart. So here are nine tips for freeing up your time. All you have to do is choose the method that suits you best. And at the very end of the article, I'll show you some techniques that work surprisingly well in terms of productivity.
1. AUDIT YOUR DAYS
Whatever the situation, the strategies for improvement are as follows
Audit the current situation and identify areas for improvement.
Draw up an action plan.
Implement it.
Study the results, optimize and adjust.
So, how do you check your current time management? The answer is to use Toggl, a small, free tool that can be used online or installed on your computer.
It's a time-tracking tool. By simply pressing play/pause, you can see how much time you've spent on a particular task.
To audit your days, set yourself the challenge of using Toggl every day for a week. The idea is not to pass judgment on your work, but simply to obtain data to analyze the way you work.
You can see the percentage of time spent on each task. 20% for answering e-mails, 70% for social networking, etc.
Time tracking is tedious, but very easy to understand. You can also see how you string micro-tasks together over the course of a day (without realizing it). For example, it looks like this:
20 minutes of social networking.
10 minutes e-mail.
1 hour content creation.
20 minutes social networking.
1 hour of meetings.
10 minutes e-mail.
30 minutes content creation, etc.
I found that I was still spending a lot of time replying to messages on social networks when I recently did another little audit. I really enjoy this activity, but as CEO of TheBBoost, I need to reduce this time to continue managing my team, creating content and optimizing the company's strategy.
2. USE BATCHING TO SAVE TIME
Once you've identified how time is used in your business, you need to analyze the results.
If you often juggle a series of detailed tasks throughout the day, you'll soon realize that it's more efficient to group similar tasks together. As we often say, when it comes to organization and productivity, nothing beats batching!
How to use batching to save time? :.
Plan three hours to create content.
Schedule back-to-back meetings.
Set aside time to reply to social network messages twice a day.
Optimize your time by beating the clock:
Reduce distractions.
Focus on the task in hand.
Save energy (constantly switching from one task to another is exhausting).
Free up time.
Reduce mental workload.
Work with peace of mind.
In my case, for example, I record several podcast episodes in a row. It takes a lot less time than fumbling around.
3. Set aside time slots for tasks.
For example, to find the time to develop my business, I need to set aside a (non-negotiable!) time slot in my diary. Set a time frame. This can be a few hours, half a day or a whole day.
This block of time can be devoted solely to developing your business. No last-minute meetings are allowed.
This technique may seem a little harsh and extreme. But when time is at a premium, it's a sine qua non for progress.
Think about it, you shower every day, you brush your teeth (by the way, your oral health will thank you. all these actions are part of your daily routine. We agree that these behaviors are absolute, non-negotiable priorities. Now, the same goes for those task-specific slots.
4. ACTIVATE SINGLE-TASK MODE TO SAVE TIME
I don't know if anyone feels like they're super productive because they're always multitasking, doing multiple things at once - creating content, answering phone calls, managing 20 notifications, etc.
I want you to know that this is the worst thing in the world (no, I'm not exaggerating at all 😅). This way of working is very misleading because it gives you the impression of being extremely productive!
In reality, it's just your brain jumping from micro-task to micro-task, inevitably losing efficiency and concentration.
So stop multitasking, turn off notifications and go into monotask mode. Better still, switch to deep work mode - an hour, two hours or even 25 minutes. But concentrate as much as possible.
We often underestimate the power of concentration. Thanks to this concentration, we can sometimes complete a day's work in an hour.
So the key to saving time in a day is to activate the single-task function, turn off all notifications and stay focused.
5. GET UP OR GO TO BED 30 MINUTES EARLIER
This tip is definitely my favorite.
If you need to work on a certain project and, despite your best efforts, you're running out of time, you can get up half an hour earlier or go to bed, whichever suits you best (to find out your chronotype, see here).
For example, I used this technique when I wanted to improve the management of my personal business finances. I regularly woke up half an hour earlier to learn about stock market investing and crypto-currencies.
6. LEARN TO MAKE SACRIFICES TO FREE UP YOUR TIME
To save time, you have to prioritize your work, but above all you have to learn to make sacrifices. Yes, I know this is the least fun part and maybe the part you don't want to hear about, but I know it.
Many of you have lots of projects, lots of ideas and lots of motivation. But you have to accept that you can't do everything at once.
Prioritize the tasks that seem most important to you. Then let go of the rest, by deleting or postponing other projects.
If your business is your priority today, then it's your priority! Maybe instead of vacuuming every day for a few months, you'll only do it once a week. That's okay, you'll still be able to do it. Or maybe you won't launch a YouTube channel for the time being and will concentrate on developing podcasts and prospecting. That's fine too!
7. OPTIMIZE THE LOW POINTS OF YOUR DAY
Listening to podcasts or taking an online course is an optimal way to pass the time. These moments can be the equivalent of public transport, housework, preparing a meal, etc. In my case, I optimize the little gaps in time (don't tease me, I'm looking at you!).
In my case, I optimize the little gaps in time (don't tease me, I'm looking at you!) .
8. TAKE MORE TIME FOR YOURSELF!
This time-saving advice may seem counter-intuitive or contradictory.
If you want to save time for your business, you also need to know how to save time for yourself. The point I'm trying to make is that more isn't always better.
It's good to prioritize and optimize, but you also need to learn to take breaks.
It's fine to work a lot, to rush around, to get only four hours' sleep because Aline said we should get up half an hour earlier in the morning, but to decide to get up an hour earlier.
Let me explain. Knowing how to take breaks is a great way to recharge your batteries, so you can work even more productively and efficiently🚀.
To be honest, I know I can work 15 hours a day with no problem, even during rush periods (like the launch of my flagship training program, BSB Academy).
But does that mean I'm super efficient? No, it doesn't! Does it mean that if I take two hours for lunch during the day, I've wasted my time? No, it doesn't! In fact, I save time. Because I come back to work feeling great, and I don't have to work overtime for hours on end.
9. APPLY THE 80/20 RULE TO BOOST YOUR PRODUCTIVITY
Finally, here are a few tips for increasing productivity and efficiency.
The rule of thumb is that 20% of actions produce 80% of results. Its message is to work on efficiency rather than quantity.
This is exactly what I've been talking about: taking breaks and time for yourself. Taking 20% more break time can increase productivity by 80%.
Bear in mind that you don't necessarily need a lot of time to develop your business: 30 or even 40 minutes a day is enough. Of course, you have to accept that your business will take off in proportion to the time and energy you devote to it.
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