Three Simple Ways to Save Time

There are three ways to save time once you know how you spend it. You can eliminate or change some of the activities; you can reduce the time taken over them; or you can rearrange them to make better use of the time. In practice, you will want to use a combination of all three.

First, mark all the activities you do that are time wasting - that extra cup of coffee before you start work; reading that irrelevant magazine; talking to Fred in the next office for half an hour, and so on. All these activities could be eliminated entirely. If you can't bring yourself to cut out unnecessary activities in one go, then ease yourself into it. Take that cup of coffee to your desk and drink it while you start work; save the magazine as a treat for the end of the day; have an occasional lunch with Fred and a long chat over it.

Keep a note of the change you are making in your diary. Tick it every day when you have done it - that way you reinforce the habit.

Eliminating all time-wasting activities does not mean that you should eliminate all non-work activities. Your leisure time is important for relaxation and recuperation. Just ensure that it takes place out of work hours and that the leisure activities you choose are ones that you really want to do. Taking a tap-dancing evening class is no fun if you are only doing it to keep fit. Going swimming or playing tennis to keep fit might suit you better, while you take a line-dancing class for fun.

Changing your activities is part of time management practice, as I have shown you. If you are filling your time with activities that do not help your work or contribute to your own personal life goals, why do them? If you are doing too many unproductive things, then find a different way of doing them or eliminate them.

Jill, an advertising executive, found that she was spending more time wining and dining clients than working on accounts. Her creative skills were being used less and less. She knew that meeting clients was important and that a meal was often the best way to do so. She decided to set strict time limits to the meals and, when due to meet one client on two occasions, to send her assistant for the second. That way she cut her meal dates by half but still flattered the clients by turning up for the first meal. Her assistant also benefited by more experience of dealing with clients.

Check your use of time
Here is another way to discover how much time you are spending on unimportant activities that contribute little to your day.

Take your diary or timetable for a week and some coloured pens. Choose a different colour for each type of activity. Use a red pen to highlight all unimportant activities or wasted time. If your diary has a lot of red in it, you are wasting a lot of time. See if you can eliminate some of this 'red' time. Next, rearrange your activities so that like activities are grouped together. This is a more efficient use of your time. So, for example, you would do all your letter writing in one half hour in the morning instead of ten minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon.

If you get a page with different colours on every line then your work is fragmented. However, if the result is broad bands of colour then you are already managing to consolidate your work and group like activities together.

How much time do you control?
Your time log will show you how much of your time you have at your command. Mark all the occasions that you were interrupted by other people, whether by visits or phone calls. How much of your work was dictated by other people's priorities? Once you know this you can take steps to ensure that your priorities prevail. Take steps to stop this unproductive use of your time.