Some tips to help you be more productive and provide yourself with some free time or get another job done….
At work
Take Two (20+ minutes)
“If someone calls or stops by your workspace and after two minutes you don’t know why, ask!” says time-management consultant Jana Kemp, author of NO! How One Simple Word Can Transform Your Life. “Do this every time someone interrupts you without a clear purpose, and you’ll save huge amounts of time.” A simple “Now, what can I help you with?” steers the conversation straight to the point, helpful especially with people you know are windbags.
Single-Task (30+ minutes)
Email is a huge time suck, and not just the reading and responding: anytime you’re interrupted, you have to gear up again and refocus. “If you’re not waiting for something specific or in the middle of a real crisis, you don’t need to respond to email in real time,” Kemp says. Start by turning off your alert sounds, then vow to check your inbox only once an hour (or even every two hours, if you can stand it).
Reduce Loitering (20+ minutes)
If you have lollies and a guest chair in your work area, you’re not only luring a stream of hungry, distracting visitors but also inviting them to hang around forever. “Lose the lollies and the chair too,” Kemp advises. Or pile it full of projects! But you love being the office socialite? Fine — just pile your chair when you really need to work, and leave it open when you have time to spare.
At the gym
Do Less, Get More (20+ minutes)
If you normally work out for, say, 40 minutes, start exercising harder for half the time. “Everyone thinks more is better, but better is better,” says fitness expert Rachel Cosgrove, author of The Female Body Breakthrough. “Shorter workouts at a high intensity can be more effective anyway.” This boosts your metabolism, sets the bar higher for your next workout, and buys you a chunk of free time. Win, win, win.
Be a Weekend Warrior (30+ minutes)
Rather than ratty gym clothes, wear stylish athletic gear you can run your errands in. As you cross things off your to-do list, work up a little sweat: Park your car far away, and take the stairs instead of the escalator. But make sure a trip to the gym is in your schedule too. Focus on what Cosgrove calls a “maintenance” workout: “Do one set of strength training—just enough so that you won’t lose everything you’ve worked so hard for.”
Skip the gym (60+ minutes)
Skip the gym altogether by dropping one or two workouts from your week. Cosgrove swears that many people work out more than they need to or even should. “In truth, daily workouts can make your fitness routine less effective,” she explains. So if you work out five to seven times a week, Cosgrove hereby orders you to dial it down a notch: “You don’t get results from your workout, you get results from your recovery.”
When hanging out
Watch Smarter (15+ minutes)
Change the way you watch at least one TV show. Don’t get upset, we promised we wouldn’t deprive you, right? However, if you record a favourite show instead of tuning in when the network tells you to, you can skim a few minutes off the top by fast-forwarding the ads. (Of course, if you can identify one show you’re willing to ditch altogether, that’s a big chunk of time every week to spend on some other guilty pleasure… the choice is yours!)
Make Yourself Scarce (20+ minutes)
Everyone has at least one friend, relative, or neighbour who is a real “time vampire”: If you give her a minute, she’ll take an hour or more. If you don’t want to drive a permanent stake through your relationship, you can decide, once in a while, that you simply won’t take that person’s calls, answer her emails, or submit to a schedule-sabotaging coffee date. Your vampire will still be there tomorrow, even if you don’t call her back today.
Do the Walk and Talk (30+ minutes)
Using a hands-free headset at home is a time-saving tool par excellence. The phone can be an evil machine that wastes more time than any other, or it can be a wonderful device that lets you chat happily with your mum or best friend while you fold laundry, scrub the tub, and straighten up the living room! Now that’s productive multitasking.
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