How To Get More Done: 7 Simple Ways

2023 Author: Amber Richards | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-22 00:24

More and more, girls are not looking for long articles and the results of years of research on personal effectiveness, but simple and quick tips that will help them do more. It is fashionable to call such advice life hacks now. To put it simply, these are the "tricks of life" or useful tips that help solve everyday problems, while saving time.

We talked about the secrets of effective time planning with an expert in time management for women, Ekaterina Bespyatykh. Let's take a look at seven basic life hacks, thanks to which you can free up precious minutes and hours for what is really important to you.

Cases for 5 minutes

In 2001, the first edition of the book "How to get things in order" was published. David Allen, the author of the book, offers one of the life hacks - tasks for 2 minutes. According to the expert, this method can be extended up to 5 minutes. What is the essence of the approach?

When a small business appears in your life that takes less than 5 minutes of your time - do it right away! What could it be? Let's look at examples: wash the dishes immediately after preparing dinner, unload the washing machine immediately after washing, call and congratulate a colleague on his birthday (as soon as you remember this), make an appointment with the desired doctor. Etc.

So we unload our head and memory from a huge series of thoughts about what we need to do. But there is an exception here too: if suddenly you remember that it is important for you to call and talk to one of your relatives, but at the moment you are at a meeting, then mark this task in your diary in order to complete it later. Our key goal is to get things done that won't take more than 5 minutes as quickly as possible (or move them into the plan) to get them out of my head. Thus, we will be able to concentrate on more important and large-scale tasks.

Dedicated Day

Each of us has situations when a large number of household chores accumulates (pay utility bills and taxes, take things to dry cleaners and ateliers, go to the MFC for help and other relatively simple tasks that nevertheless require time).

To clean up all the accumulated cases not related to work, it is worth setting aside a special day for this. For example, one Friday every two weeks. The day before, you need to think and clearly formulate all the things that you plan to do on that day. Yes, it may not be the most enjoyable Friday experience. However, such small everyday tasks will not knock you out of the main work schedule for the week.

The key task of the day

The same life hack, by implementing which, you can become much more effective in achieving your goals. Every morning, ask yourself the question: "What is my highest priority for this day?" That is, what can you do today to get one step closer to your big goals and dreams? Of course, this does not mean that the rest of the to-do list can be safely left off - no. But you have a key task - ideally you should concentrate on it first of all, and then on everything else (read also: “How to overcome fear of a new task (and solve it effectively)”).

Method "Pomodoro"

Those who are even slightly interested in the topic of time management have probably heard of the Pomodoro technique. How did it appear and what is its meaning? An Italian university student, Francesco Cirillo, tried to prepare for the exams, but, as is the case with all students, he could not begin to prepare. And then he decided to try to study at least 10-15 minutes a day. But for this he needed an independent judge. It became a kitchen timer in the form of a tomato - hence the technique got its name.

The method modified by experts lasts 30 minutes: 25 minutes of work and 5 minutes of rest. Before starting the timer, you must make yourself a list of work tasks. You can do this in your diary, electronic planner, or just on a piece of paper. Then set a timer for 25 minutes and start working. The timer call will signal that you need to switch to 5 minutes of rest. At this time, it is desirable to distract yourself as much as possible. If your work mostly takes place at the computer, then you can get up and walk around the office, drink a couple of glasses of water, call someone close to you for a couple of minutes. But at the end of 5 minutes, you sit down to work again.

Rituals

Every morning can start as we like. Either calmly, smoothly and measuredly, or in a terrible hurry (feverish gathering of children in kindergarten, and the spouse to work, cold breakfast and coffee on the run).

If you are striving for the first option, then rituals can come in handy - constant actions that need to be repeated from day to day. This can also be referred to as a “day setting”. We wake up one hour earlier than all those close to us, and enjoy the silence alone with ourselves. Taking our time, we take a shower, do some exercises (for those who like walking, this can be exercise on the street), read the new chapter of the book, check the plan for the day and, finally, enjoy a delicious breakfast in silence.

What is it for? In order to start your day right and create a mood for yourself. Try doing this once or twice a week to get started. If you like it, start introducing these rituals into your daily habit.

Weekly plan

As all time management experts say - both for women and men - there should be a plan for the week. It should become for you a kind of support that allows you to see your life a little more fully and move towards your goals in perspective. Of course, unplanned affairs and meetings will arise - this is normal (after all, in the 21st century there is no place for tough time management, especially for women). But there must be a certain frame of the week.

It is convenient to make such a plan on Sundays, including in it all matters relating to various areas of life. For example, on Monday and Wednesday, you can schedule a trip to the gym, set aside Friday evening for a date with your loved one, and the weekend for a trip to your parents. Everything must be included in this schedule - from work meetings to visiting a beauty salon. You can add to the plan during the week.

Detox from the Internet

In our age, information comes literally from everywhere - social networks, instant messengers, e-mail. In a matter of seconds we can contact any person, call or write. Of course, we are used to it, but still sometimes we want to take a break from the endless streams of information and be alone with ourselves, our family, our thoughts and desires.

A detox from gadgets is ideal for this. For example, if you decide to set aside Sunday for this, then warn your loved ones on Saturday that you can only be contacted by phone call. In all other messengers and social networks, you will be unavailable the next day.

Imagine you have 24 hours of free time to read books, communicate with loved ones, walk and picnics in nature, meet friends or a young man. After all, for yourself - bubble bath, SPA, massage - is endless flipping through the news on Facebook worth giving up?

Of course, you do not need to try to implement all seven life hacks in one day - this is impossible. First, pick one or two that appeal to you the most and try to get them into the habit. As soon as you bring them to automaticity, try others.