| t | From the following online article: <a href="http://www.mensjournal.com/expert-advice/eight-ways-to-save-time-20130408">http://www.mensjournal.com/expert-advice/eight-ways-to-save-time-20130408</a> | t | |
| <p> | | |
| <h2><a name="Eight_Ways_to_Save_Time">Eight Ways to Save Time</a> | | |
| <span align=right class="section_edit_link">[<a href="/tbwiki/Eight_Ways_to_Trick_Time?action=edit§ion=Eight_Ways_to_Save_Time">edit section</a>]</font></span> | | |
| </h2> | | |
| <p> | | |
| You can't change the number of hours in a day, but you can fill them more | | |
| efficiently, with less stress and mental effort. You've likely heard this | | |
| before, and perhaps your past efforts at time management have been, well, a | | |
| waste of time. But most people's attempts to increase productivity get derailed | | |
| by two virtues of modern living: technology and options. Today's onslaught of | | |
| tech - smartphones, iPads, search engines, social media - is fragmenting our | | |
| attention spans, gumming our mental gears with useless facts, and turning us | | |
| into surface-level thinkers. At the same time, all the communication choices we | | |
| have today - email, IM, text, Skype, or Gmail chat - are thwarting | | |
| efficiency. But we don't have to give up technology to regain control. "You | | |
| need to set expectations of yourself and other people," says Daniel Markovitz, | | |
| a blogger on time management for the 'Harvard Business Review.' "You need to | | |
| say, 'Here's the Bat Phone number. Use it if there's an emergency. Otherwise, | | |
| leave me alone to do my job.'" Here are eight ways to manage time. | | |
| <p> | | |
| <h3><a name="Finish_Simple_Tasks">Finish Simple Tasks</a> | | |
| <span align=right class="section_edit_link">[<a href="/tbwiki/Eight_Ways_to_Trick_Time?action=edit§ion=Finish_Simple_Tasks">edit section</a>]</font></span> | | |
| </h3> | | |
| <p> | | |
| Always complete easy tasks, like reading a memo - never switch between small | | |
| projects. "The mind holds only about seven pieces of information at a time," | | |
| says Carnegie Mellon psychologist David Creswell. "If you switch to other | | |
| tasks, those pieces of information get scrambled and need to be relearned. It's | | |
| a complete time waster." Bottom line: Don't try to do two simple tasks at once. | | |
| <p> | | |
| <h3><a name="Break_up_Complex_Tasks">Break up Complex Tasks</a> | | |
| <span align=right class="section_edit_link">[<a href="/tbwiki/Eight_Ways_to_Trick_Time?action=edit§ion=Break_up_Complex_Tasks">edit section</a>]</font></span> | | |
| </h3> | | |
| <p> | | |
| Complex tasks like building a budget differ from simple ones: You can complete | | |
| them more quickly and efficiently by breaking them up. Creswell found people | | |
| who had to complete challenging tasks did so more effectively when they took a | | |
| two-minute break and worked on something completely different - for example, | | |
| doing a crossword when trying to finish your taxes. "Your brain is | | |
| unconsciously processing information during distractor tasks, and it does a | | |
| better job," he says. "Even a two-minute period of checking email can have a | | |
| beneficial effect." But note he's not advising multitasking here - always | | |
| learn the contours of a problem thoroughly before distracting yourself with a | | |
| menial task for a few minutes. Also, choose something completely different from | | |
| your main project. "The more distinct it is, the better," he says. | | |
| <p> | | |
| <h3><a name="Build_Willpower">Build Willpower</a> | | |
| <span align=right class="section_edit_link">[<a href="/tbwiki/Eight_Ways_to_Trick_Time?action=edit§ion=Build_Willpower">edit section</a>]</font></span> | | |
| </h3> | | |
| <p> | | |
| Willpower is key to efficiency - and just like the muscles in your body, if | | |
| you exercise it more frequently, you can improve it. Florida State University | | |
| psychologist Roy Baumeister found that making people perform simple willpower | | |
| exercises - like using their nondominant hand to open doors or brush their | | |
| teeth - strengthened their focus during more important tasks. "When you | | |
| practice overriding habitual ways, you are exerting deliberate control over | | |
| your actions," says Baumeister. "If you can get people to do willpower | | |
| exercises like these, it will improve how well they manage their time and help | | |
| them develop the willpower to make better decisions." Hone your willpower by | | |
| breaking a routine like driving the same way to work or by giving up a bad | | |
| habit like junk food for a week. Willpower gets depleted when you use it too | | |
| much - which is why judges and surgeons, who make decisions all day, begin to | | |
| make generic or underinformed ones later on. Avoid making major decisions after | | |
| a series of hard choices. When possible, make the toughest decisions when your | | |
| willpower is strongest - in the morning for most, says Baumeister. You can | | |
| identify this time by experience, he says. Are you more likely to forgo a | | |
| workout in the morning or afternoon? Do you get more done at work when you | | |
| first get in or before you leave | | |
| <p> | | |
| <h3><a name="Develop_Google_Discipline">Develop Google Discipline</a> | | |
| <span align=right class="section_edit_link">[<a href="/tbwiki/Eight_Ways_to_Trick_Time?action=edit§ion=Develop_Google_Discipline">edit section</a>]</font></span> | | |
| </h3> | | |
| <p> | | |
| Gorging on all the data available today has made us a nation of distracted | | |
| thinkers. How many times have you searched for an answer online only to find | | |
| yourself wandering through a hyperlink forest, gobbling up factoids, switching | | |
| from LinkedIn to Facebook to email? Research shows when people look for an | | |
| answer on the Web, they visit too many sites when only one or two would do. | | |
| Limit your searching to what you need for a project. Whenever possible, turn | | |
| off all other technology, like email and your phone, when completing a project | | |
| on your computer. | | |
| <p> | | |
| <h3><a name="Keep_a_Calendar,_Not_a_To-Do_List">Keep a Calendar, Not a To-Do List</a> | | |
| <span align=right class="section_edit_link">[<a href="/tbwiki/Eight_Ways_to_Trick_Time?action=edit§ion=Keep_a_Calendar,_Not_a_To-Do_List">edit section</a>]</font></span> | | |
| </h3> | | |
| <p> | | |
| To-do lists are ineffective because they lack context: Research shows people | | |
| leave the most difficult tasks undone at the end of the day. Instead, Markovitz | | |
| advises laying out blocks of time for each task. "I tell people to have a | | |
| healthy relationship with their calendars," he says. "How can you prioritize if | | |
| you don't know how much time you have? You need to make mindful decisions about | | |
| the finite amount of time you have to work." Blocking out time provides | | |
| structure and gives you micro-deadlines to complete tasks. Leave a few empty | | |
| spaces for inevitable crises and interruptions, and to make room for tasks that | | |
| may take longer. | | |
| <p> | | |
| <h3><a name="Pull,_Don't_Push">Pull, Don't Push</a> | | |
| <span align=right class="section_edit_link">[<a href="/tbwiki/Eight_Ways_to_Trick_Time?action=edit§ion=Pull,_Don't_Push">edit section</a>]</font></span> | | |
| </h3> | | |
| <p> | | |
| Most of us are bombarded with emails, calls, and requests that don't | | |
| necessarily need our attention that moment - or even that day. "People push | | |
| information on us when it's ready, not when we need it," says Markovitz. | | |
| Instead, Markovitz suggests pulling information when needed rather than | | |
| passively receiving it anytime. How to pull, not push? If a project is | | |
| complicated and involves multiple people, talk about it instead of emailing. | | |
| Don't constantly check and respond to emails - process messages in batches, | | |
| like once every three hours. Create an email signature that says you don't have | | |
| time to respond to everything, and if it's urgent, to call. The same goes for | | |
| meetings: Do you really need to be there? "You need to set expectations," says | | |
| Markovitz. "You need to slow down the avalanche of information coming at you." | | |
| <p> | | |
| <h3><a name="Limit_Your_Choices">Limit Your Choices</a> | | |
| <span align=right class="section_edit_link">[<a href="/tbwiki/Eight_Ways_to_Trick_Time?action=edit§ion=Limit_Your_Choices">edit section</a>]</font></span> | | |
| </h3> | | |
| <p> | | |
| While you can't change the number of decisions you make for your job, you can | | |
| limit daily choices at home. For instance, President Obama wears only blue or | | |
| gray suits to curb unnecessary decisions. He also uses "decision" memos with | | |
| three check boxes: agree, disagree, and discuss. "Too much choice is | | |
| paralyzing," says Sheena Iyengar, a Columbia University business professor. | | |
| "You walk into your office and a bazillion people will come at you from every | | |
| side - emails, calls, meetings. Ask yourself: Are you being proactive or just | | |
| reacting? If you're reacting, then half the day goes by before you say, 'Wait a | | |
| minute, what am I supposed to be working on?'" Establish routines that let you | | |
| focus on what you need to do first. | | |
| <p> | | |
| <h3><a name="Prep_the_Night_Before">Prep the Night Before</a> | | |
| <span align=right class="section_edit_link">[<a href="/tbwiki/Eight_Ways_to_Trick_Time?action=edit§ion=Prep_the_Night_Before">edit section</a>]</font></span> | | |
| </h3> | | |
| <p> | | |
| While it's important to get a good night's sleep, the time just before bed is | | |
| ideal for getting your thoughts together for the next day - and not just | | |
| because it lessens what you have to do tomorrow. Scans of sleeping people show | | |
| our brains work on solving problems when we're not awake, so reviewing a little | | |
| work before bed helps imprint on your brain exactly what needs to be solved. | | |
| "We've all had that aha moment in the shower the next morning," says Creswell. | | |
| "That's because you've let the unconscious mind operate organically on the | | |
| imprinted information." But avoid overly stressful projects before bed, which | | |
| may cause you to toss and turn with worry. And don't work on anything with a | | |
| screen within an hour of bed: Studies show the blue light in screens can lead | | |
| to fitful sleep. | | |
| <p> | | |