How To Get More Hours in Your Day

By Karen Susman

While it's technically impossible to get more hours in your day, here are some ways to get more day in your hours. We all waste time we can never get back. We waste time by:

• Not planning.

• Not prioritizing, thus spending big time on small matters.

• Not delegating, thus spending big time on matters that others could do better than you.

• Not listening, thus doing things wrong or doing the wrong things right or doing the wrong things wrong. This necessitates time-consuming repetition of instructions.

• Not being timely thus necessitating time wasted being on hold explaining to the power and telephone company why your monthly bill wasn't paid on time.

• Not doing it now.

• Not creating systems to simplify repeated procedures.

• Not knowing when good enough is good enough.

Over-commitment and procrastination give us a sense of getting a lot done while eating up loads of time. Don't confuse being busy with being productive.

What to do? Here are a few ideas:

1. Watch one hour less of television a day. That will give you an extra fifteen, 24-hour days a year.

2. De-clutter. Get rid of the mess, the extra copies, the past issues, and the books you don't read or have read and won't read again, extra pens, pencils and junk. Also, de-clutter your commitments, associates and habits that spawn stacks of emotional junk.

3. Don't wait to get all your ducks in a row before you get started.

4. Do the best with what you have and then go back and correct any errors. Writers, for instance, are encouraged to get something down on paper without stopping to check spelling, grammar, or syntax. All those interruptions of the creative process are like an acute case of mental hiccups.

5. Don't do meetings in person. Conference calls and email can save drive time and provide a concise beginning and ending to meetings.

6. Face-to face has many benefits, but isn't always necessary.

7. Break the seminar junky habit. Pick and choose conferences carefully. Factor in travel time and other costs in your decision.

8. Perhaps you can save time and money by purchasing the conference CDs and listening in your car.

9. Develop a list of five-minute tasks and ten-minute tasks. When you have a few minutes to spare, pick something from the list. Write quick tasks on strips of paper and put into a job jar. Instead of hanging on the refrigerator or cell phone, close your eyes, pick a task and work feverishly for five minutes.

10. Maybe you've got more energy than you're giving yourself credit for. We've all been exhausted and unable to do one more thing. Then the phone rings with an offer to go dancing or to the movies. Perhaps our favorite aunt is in town unexpectedly and wants to drop by in the next 30 minutes. Suddenly, we're energized, bustling and ready to boogie. So, next time you're convinced you're done for the day, take a big slug of water, stretch and scurry around. You'll harvest an extra hour or two of productivity.

11. Be hyper-aware of how, who and what wastes your time. Reduce those timewasters and you'll add hours to your day.

12. Don't forget to have fun. Fun is energizing and approaching life with a hardship attitude drags you down and wears you out.

Now get busy.

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Karen Susman is a Speaker, Trainer, Coach, and Author of 102 Top Dog Networking Secrets. Karen works with organizations that want to maximize performance. Programs include Humour at Work; Balance In Life; Networking Skills; Presentation Skills; and Building Community Involvement. Order new guidebooks on humour, networking, time management, and community involvement by calling 1-888-678-8818 or e-mail Karen@KarenSusman.com. www.KarenSusman.com.

Published in Networking Today, February 2007