Five steps to a more productive life

A recent Entrepreneur article argues many professionals aren't using their time wisely, a problem that can be remedied with a good dose of common sense.

To help professionals find more time in their day the following five tips are offered:   

• More deadlines – break projects into smaller pieces by creating deadlines that are prioritised in terms of their importance
• Focus of revenue – delegate all tasks that don't generate revenue to ensure time isn't wasted on lower-value tasks
• Reduce email checking – only check email every 90 minutes and respond to easy email queries immediately to avoid rereading them
• Cut corners with technology – take the time to learn the time-saving but often underused shortcuts offered by software programs
• Focus on training – when staff are adequately trained or have access to organisational resources they will interrupt you less

Comments

[David Bueford]

I really support turning off email for a portion of the day. Reading those can take you down several rabbit holes at once. The first half of most days I turn on my out office message. “This is David I’m in the office today but won’t start checking messages until 12:30. If you need immediate help call me at my extension” This has really helped my focus and productivity.

[Steve Prothero]

The other key one is to delegate and communicate with your team and your boss. From my 30 plus years of managing teams and other managers a key issue is poor delegation and communication where managers still want to do it all themselves.