Let’s face it, many of us feel crunched for time. We have a variety of activities and tasks that seem to need our attention on a regular basis. Whether it is getting kids to school, managing family activities, preparing meals, as well as getting our jobs done, sitting in on zoom meetings, or dealing with an ever-growing stream of emails and social media notifications. It seems that just when we feel that we have climbed over one hill of work, another mountain range of tasks seems to face us.
Many people are feeling overwhelmed and frustrated as they feel a lack of ability control of their daily affairs. It seems like we need to be working 20 hours a day. Many people just to get to sleep and then wake up at 2 in the morning with their minds spinning, worrying about all they need to do the next day. We think we could achieve control if only we could get more done in less time.
The good news is that there are ways that you can feel in control and get more done in less time. Here are three things you can do that will enable you to accomplish more in less time
Firstly: Planning with lists and priorities. It might seem silly but many people don’t have a plan when they have to accomplish a large amount of work. This is why they feel overwhelmed. Analyzing the situation and developing a plan to get through your workload starts with listing all the tasks you will need to do, putting a time estimate to them and prioritizing them. Once this is done, it is much easier to come up with a strategy to get the most important accomplished in a timely fashion. Brian Tracy in his book Eat that Frog talks about doing the most difficult tasks first. “If you eat a frog first thing in the morning, everything else seems easy”
Secondly: Delegate more. As leaders we often don’t delegate as much as we should and as a result are struggling to get work finished in a timely manner. We have a variety of reasons for this attitude including; a belief that no one does it as well as we do; we don’t want to bother our staff with undesirable jobs; we think it will take more time to train someone than to do it ourselves. Unfortunately, we can continue to come up with these excuses for years before we realize that our lives would be much easier if we trained someone to do these onerous tasks, allowing us to get more of the important jobs done in less time
Thirdly: While it might seem counter intuitive, taking time to think and meditate has been proven to help leaders be more productive. Henry Ford was known to take regular breaks during the day where he would stop and think. Surprisingly, blocking time for this in your schedule will help you accomplish more in a shorter period of time.
Life is too short and precious to occupy most of it in frustration and busyness. However, if we treat our tasks less haphazardly with the intention of getting the important jobs done, we will be less stressed. By setting priorities and avoiding distractions such as social media notifications and interruptions that waste our valuable time, enables us to better acknowledge ourselves and our accomplishments. It is possible to get more done in less time but it takes concentration and disciplined leadership skills.
Dave Fuller, MBA is the author of the book Profit Yourself Health and an Award Winning Business Coach. Still Stressed? Email dave@pivotleader.com