How to Find More Time In Your Work Day
Look over your calendar for the past year to find meetings, conferences, committees and other work obligations that took a large chunk of your working hours but were wastes of time., Limit the amount of time you spend corresponding to email...
Step-by-Step Guide
-
Step 1: Look over your calendar for the past year to find meetings
Resign, withdraw or do whatever is necessary to avoid wasting time by participating in the future.
If your job requires you attend, think of ways you can multi-task while you are there.
Send someone else to attend in your place if you feel the company should be represented. -
Step 2: conferences
Some workers report spending over an hour each morning to deal with the contents of their inbox.
Each time an employee is distracted by an email, reads it, and returns to the task at hand, approximately five minutes is wasted.
Unsubscribe from newsletters and other communications that are not necessary for your work.
Raise the screening level of your email spam filter to keep more email out.
Send less and reply less to receive less email.
It is not always necessary to reply to all emails you receive.
Sometimes simply replying with a "Thank You" keeps the email conversation going and wastes time, long after business is concluded.
Turn off audible and visual new mail alerts unless your primary job is monitoring email.
Check your email at regularly scheduled times during the day to handle new messages, instead of dealing with each message as soon as it trickles in.
Alternatively, you can change the interval at which new emails appear in your inbox.
Increasing it from every 5 minutes to every 30 minutes could save you up to 80 work interruptions each day.
Deal with, delegate or delete each email as it comes in.
Keep stored emails filed and organized so you do not waste time later trying to retrieve them. , Stick to the agenda to ensure that the material is covered during the allotted time, and adjust your schedule if actual time needed varies from your original time estimate. -
Step 3: committees and other work obligations that took a large chunk of your working hours but were wastes of time.
-
Step 4: Limit the amount of time you spend corresponding to email.
-
Step 5: Schedule meetings with a start and stop time that is realistic for the amount of material you need to cover.
Detailed Guide
Resign, withdraw or do whatever is necessary to avoid wasting time by participating in the future.
If your job requires you attend, think of ways you can multi-task while you are there.
Send someone else to attend in your place if you feel the company should be represented.
Some workers report spending over an hour each morning to deal with the contents of their inbox.
Each time an employee is distracted by an email, reads it, and returns to the task at hand, approximately five minutes is wasted.
Unsubscribe from newsletters and other communications that are not necessary for your work.
Raise the screening level of your email spam filter to keep more email out.
Send less and reply less to receive less email.
It is not always necessary to reply to all emails you receive.
Sometimes simply replying with a "Thank You" keeps the email conversation going and wastes time, long after business is concluded.
Turn off audible and visual new mail alerts unless your primary job is monitoring email.
Check your email at regularly scheduled times during the day to handle new messages, instead of dealing with each message as soon as it trickles in.
Alternatively, you can change the interval at which new emails appear in your inbox.
Increasing it from every 5 minutes to every 30 minutes could save you up to 80 work interruptions each day.
Deal with, delegate or delete each email as it comes in.
Keep stored emails filed and organized so you do not waste time later trying to retrieve them. , Stick to the agenda to ensure that the material is covered during the allotted time, and adjust your schedule if actual time needed varies from your original time estimate.
About the Author
Tyler Green
Experienced content creator specializing in practical skills guides and tutorials.
Rate This Guide
How helpful was this guide? Click to rate: