If you go to bed every night feeling like you didn’t do enough, you’re not alone. Lots of people are just not able to meet the expectations they set for themselves.
A recent study suggests that during an 8-hour workday, most office workers are productive for less than 3 hours. To do more, you need to make your time count rather than sacrifice more of it.
We all complain about not having enough time to do our work. I don’t think we really have an issue with time, but rather how we use it.
Write down your goals and take a look at them once or twice every day. It can serve as a reminder to keep you on track.
Focus on the most important activities first. You might be tempted to get the easier tasks out of the way before you focus on the more difficult ones, but putting first things first is an important step on your way to an efficient life.
Rather than having a set time for everything, list out your daily/weekly tasks in your schedule based on priority and get started on the most important one, you can’t move to the second item or anything else until the first item is done.
You also need to remove any distractions and focus completely on the task at hand until you are done. Then you can move to the next item.
Here are a few simple things you can do on a Sunday evening to get you prepared for the week.
- Make sure all items in your office and home are back in the proper place.
- Do your laundry and other cleaning so you can start the week with a clean slate.
- Make lunches for the following day and plan meals for the week.
- Write your to-do list for the week, including prioritizing your tasks and adding in appointments.
- Lay out your clothes for the morning.
- Go to bed at a realistic time, so you can get up early and start fresh.