Did you know you can actually “Do More in Less Time”?

It’s the dream of every small business owner…that elusive 4-hour work week we hear about.

The truth is, most of us do not spend time planning our day to work when we are at our peak, which results in a lot of wasted time and less productivity. Yet, you then find there are some days you are so on the ball it is scary how much you can accomplish.

Believe it or not, if you focus on working when you are at your best, you will, in fact, be able to do more in less time.

How does this work?

There are two pieces to making this happen in your day:

1. Identifying when and how you are wasting time.
2. Develop a strategy to overcome wasted time and plan to be productive.

How do you identify your wasted time?

Well, it’s not rocket science but it does take some dedication to figure out. The best way is to choose two ‘normal’ work weeks and keep track of your time and the work done and NOT done to be able to identify what is really happening.

Keeping track means more than the work done and not done. It also means paying attention to your environment and learning what other aspects might be playing a part in your lost time.

Pay attention to the food you eat, the time of day, your routines leading up to work and after. You will also want to record other pieces like how you feel, think, and what you say and do all day as well. Outside factors can make a big dent or boost in what is working or not for you. Being able to recognize any patterns will help you develop the strategies to work though it and with it.

Recognize the issue and create a Work-around Strategy

Once you know what is not working and also have a list of how everything happened on the best days, you will then know what affected you. Now you will need to make changes and use a strategy to work through the issue areas and glide through your day completing as much as possible.

The way I like to do this is by taking the list I created and looking at where you went downhill…what happened? How did you get off course (this is why taking note of your environment and how you feel is important in the data gathering aspect)? Then, look at what knocked you off. You want to plan for how to overcome that roadblock and implement a strategy to make certain you do not get derailed and, instead, succeed in getting done what you need to.

Here is an example of how this can work.

A common issue when you work from a home office is friends and family who don’t respect that you are, in fact, ‘at work’. When looking back at your notes, you discover that seven times a week you lose time because a good friend or family member called to ‘talk’. This got you off track, distracted you and, in some cases, took over 30 minutes. As a result, this delayed other work in getting done. At the end of the day, there was a project not even started because you simply ran out of time.

The Issue: Friends calling to Chat.
The Effect: Work not started or project behind, which for some can affect income.
The Strategy: Reduce these calls.

How?

1. If you DO answer the phone, be clear to friends that you are at work and will have to call back after dinner (i.e., when you are done with your workday). “Hey Jenn, it’s great to hear your voice but I am in the middle of a project and will have to call you back later – probably after dinner.”
2. If you have call waiting and know who it is, DON’T answer the phone. Instead, call back when you are not working – i.e., return the call outside work hours (best practice is to do this after dinner). “Hi Joan, I saw you called me today when I was working so I thought I would check in with you now that I am free (or finished for the day).”

In both of these examples, you are prepared on what to say (you have created a strategy to deal with them) so it will sound natural and won’t hurt their feelings. You are subtly letting them know you are in the midst of work and will call after the day is done. Most people will respect this (and learn after a few futile attempts) that when you are at work, you are ‘at work’.

So, keep track of your day, your work and learn what is happening and how you are being effected. Once you have this knowledge, you need to look at how it effects you – from a variety of angles – and then work out a strategy to deal with the issues as they happen. Once you start planning out to “Be more Productive,” you will see a difference in the results you produce.

Please let me know if you try this and how it works!