Want More Free Time? Try These Tips.

DoMyStuff.com If you want to have more time for important things, you must learn to delegate or move through your to-do-list quickly. DoMyStuff.com is a marketplace where you can post your chores, errands and projects within your zip code and others will bid on them. Whether it is house sitting while you are on vacation, shoveling snow in your driveway or preparing that spreadsheet for your next meeting; you select the qualifications for the bidders and when the work is finished you provide feedback on the quality of the service you received. If you are in need of some extra income, it is also a great site to find work.

Stop Mutitasking
While you may think you are good at doing a lot of things at once, study has shown that the only time we can effectively multitask is when we are doing things that do not require thought. Things like; walking and talking, eating and reading or singing and taking a shower for example. When we do multiple things at one time we are actually slicing time, handling one task at a time and then quickly bouncing to another. Not only are we bouncing physically from task to task, we are also bouncing mentally; causing our mind to rapidly move between tasks, focusing and refocusing. When this happens study has shown that we lose .07 seconds for every shift in focus. This lost time adds up quickly and the likelihood of errors increases by 50 percent according to the Brain Center for Applied Learning Research.
The best way to stay focused is to schedule blocks of time for each task and remove as many distractions as possible. Turn off the ‘You’ve got mail” notifier, put your phone on silent, and hang a do not disturb sign on the door are but a few. Stay focused on one task until completion and then move on to the next.
Focused periods of work reduce stress and improve effectiveness. People who “Push” their brain in an attempt to get more done usually experience more anxiety and stress than those who stay focused. This behavior also often leads to increased anger and depression which may also contribute to stress in your relationships.

Get Some Mid Day Rest. A NASA study showed that a 26 minute nap improved pilot’s performance by 34%. Taking a ‘Power Nap” may give your brain and body the time it needs to reenergize; making you more productive and efficient. A word of caution; Make sure you get permission from your boss before implementing this tip otherwise it may back fire on you if they hear you snoring in the middle of the day.

Quick tips:

• Buy all the same socks of each color and you will no longer have to spend time matching them. Just grab any 2 white, black or brown and they will work.
• Clean out your wallet every evening. Looking for the receipt from last week that fell out at the video store is a waste of time.
• Get a coffee pot that has a timer, make it the night before and set it to brew 15 minutes before you get up. You are usually slower and more apt to make mistakes when you first wake up. Besides; smelling that coffee first thing in the morning is a great way to get you out of bed.

Do you have any time saving tips? How about leaving them in the comment section for others to pick up?

Recommended Reading: Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy. 21 great ways to end procrastination and get more done in less

In the meantime
Make it a Great Week!

Bob

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The 80/20 rule! Which side are you on?

My last post was about making sure we take responsibility for our life and the direction it heads. Today I want to share the Pareto Principle with you. You may know this as the 80/20 rule. 8o% of the world’s wealth is held by 20% of the population. It can also be applied in this manner; 80% of the joy and success in our life comes from only 20% of our efforts. Think about the amount of time you put into your relationships, your joyful activities, hobbies and service to others; the things that make your life significant and meaningful. Then think about how much time you put into cleaning, finding things, playing games when you have work to do, non profitable discussions, TV shows and the like. Most people will see Pareto’s principle applied here as well.

12 Steps for the Workaholic (part2)

If you haven’t read Steps 1-6 Read this first.

Step 7: Become an expert at managing your time. Always do the most important tasks first; these are the ones that would make you stay late if you didn’t get them done. Getting them out of the way first will improve your chances of being able to leave on time.
Step 8: Become a master at delegating your work and training others. You WANT to make sure you are not the only one with the skills and knowledge or you will be the only one that gets called upon to handle those things. Also, know when to keep your mouth shut. The more people know what you can do, the more they will call on you. A know-it-all can quickly become a do it all.

12 Steps for the Workaholic (part1)

Before I begin sharing steps to help workaholics let’s define what a workaholic is.

If you stay late finishing up a task because you want to, not because you have to and in doing so you miss your child’s birthday party; You might be a workaholic

If you go on vacation and can’t enjoy the sunset without checking your blackberry. You might be a workaholic.

If you check your email during your child’s ball game, in the middle of the night or during meals. You might be a workaholic.

If you take your cell phone, PDA and Laptop on vacation; You might be a workaholic.

If you call the office even though you left your number for emergencies just to see if everything is OK on your days off; You might be a workaholic.

My name is Bob and I’m a Workaholic

It didn’t happen overnight. As a matter of fact I didn’t even see it coming but in my quest to live a more fulfilling life I have come to find out that I am indeed an addict. Like most addicts, the drug of choice is usually not very harmful if consumed in moderation. However when the product takes control of your life and you begin to sacrifice other more important things to get another fix, then you have a problem.

My drug of choice was work.

Become Success Minded!

Employers don’t like whiners, gossipers or complainers. None of those traits bring improvement to a bad situation and as a matter of fact, they cost companies money in lost productivity. The only thing that corrects problems or changes poor performance are solutions. That is where your mind needs to be.

If you are going to simplify your life you need to make sure you spend more time focusing on positive productive thoughts than entertaining negative destructive ones.

If you come across something that isn’t working or is causing a problem, instead of just bringing a complaint to your employer, try bringing with it a few ideas that will solve the problem. Employers are looking for people that think for themselves; the kind of person that sees a problem and corrects it immediately whether they caused it or not. Comments like “It’s not my job”, or “I didn’t do it” are not what employers want to hear. They look for successful results and the more problems you can solve, the more successful YOU will become in the process.

Simplifying Success on the Job

I have read a few statistics that say the average worker in America is only productive for 4 hours out of the typical 8 hour day. At first I denied the validity of those figures; that is until I did some investigating myself. It seems that the other 4 hours is spent being on hold, in non-productive meetings, waiting for someone, daydreaming, in non-work related conversation, reading non-work related magazines, surfing the internet for non-work related information and sending and reading personal email.

If you want to stop staying late or taking work home and put yourself in a position for advancement and/or a raise, you must make sure you are as productive as possible at work.

First Steps to a Simplified Life

After reading a few comments on my quest to stop the busyness and begin to live a more enjoyable simplified life I find that I need to expand my definition of what a simplified, less busy life is to me and exactly what I will be quitting.

A simplified life is where I identify what is most important to me and then do my best to make sure I spend the majority of my time and money achieving and maintaining those things.
Getting rid of the busyness is identifying and eliminating (or quitting) as many of the tasks and purchases I make that will bring stress or distance between me and the items I deem most important.