Submitted by Sabina Hitchen on | 0 Comments
So you want to be a less busy person? Good news, we're here to help. Like anything in life and business, creating successful habits is something we get better at by practice, and if you're in a not-so-happy place feeling overwhelmed and perhaps even less productive than you should be, you may want to try a few of these solutions on for size.
Can We All be Less Busy? YES!
Though there is no magic pill to swallow or switch to flick to add more than 24 hours to your day, the good news is that becoming a person who doesn’t feel overwhelmed, busy or unable to complete your to do list doesn’t have to be your description anymore.
Becoming less busy is all in your control and we’re going to give you strategies and changes you can begin doing now and when you do, you’ll start seeing more pockets of time open up in your day almost immediately. Let the strategies begin!
Strategy #1: Break Bad Habits That are Making You Flustered and Over-Busy
1st Step: Use a Time Log
Assess your current schedule via a Time Log to identify "time wasters," discover when you work best, and observe interruptions. Keep a time diary in the same way that people who are trying to lose weight keep a food diary. There’s a reason these tactics are such a staple of Weight Watchers – they work. Keeping a time log for a week and include everything that works its ways into your schedule will immediately draw your attention to where you’re wasting time. You will begin noticing your “Peak Productivity Patterns” when you feel like you’re on your game and you work the best. These are the moments you’ll want to schedule your most difficult work and really pack in tasks.
2nd Step: Do the Hard Tasks & Things You Don’t Want to do First
We spend countless hours in our weeks by procrastinating and avoiding tasks that seem like they’ll be stressful or unpleasant. Here’s the trick: they are usually MUCH worse in our mind than they are in real life, and you add too much time to your already packed schedule by doing other things instead of them. We often create work instead of doing immediate the work we need to do, that could benefit us the most in the long run. The more you make doing your hardest tasks first and make it a habit this a habit the less stressed and less busy you’ll become.
3rd Step - Stop Multi-Tasking
Sure sometimes there are moments when multi-tasking is the answer, but overall you should try to focus on only one thing at a time. Multi-tasking not only causes brain fatigue but it often results in 7 or 8 half finished tasks (that can stretch on as half finished for weeks) as opposed to 1, 2 or 3 complete tasks a day. Giving up multi-tasking will actually save you time, and save you from stress and mistakes due to “brain splitting”.
Strategy #2 – Learn How to Say No in Three Steps – it will be the Most Powerful Lesson You Ever Master
1st Step - Say No
Say no like a good handshake: politely and firmly, without an apologetic "no" (which is like a weak handshake), and without a "no" that is accompanied by with excuses or lies. Remember - this means saying no to requests directly and not agreeing to unrealistic timelines on projects (from work to kid’s bake sales) that will cause you to shuffle your schedule around and become more busy.
2nd Step - Is The Request "On Goal"
Ask yourself if the request is in tune with your personal or professional goals. If it is not, and you are feeling pressed for time in general, say no. No debate. Agreeing to do things we don’t have time for, don’t have interest in or things that don’t further our personal or professional desires simply sucks time out of our lives that we don’t have to spare.
3rd Step - Stop and Think
Learn to pause before answering anyone’s requests, and tell them you’ll get back to them. This is a great baby step on your road to saying no. We have become a society that is used to instant gratification and fast answers but I encourage you to take time to breathe, think clearly and answer emails, texts, or in person requests at a later date.
Strategy #3 Become a Master & Commander of Your Time
1st Step: Eliminate Interruption
We are on interrupted on average 8 times an hour which can lead to a loss of up to three hours a day of doing whatever it is we love! These comes from social media, phone calls, emails, unnecessary meetings and so forth. Find the culprits in your life and stop them! Whether you decide to turn your phone off or take the email alerts off your home screen and only check them once an hour, you need to find ways to make your time sacred, and stop the constant interruptions.
2nd Step: Create a To Do List the NIGHT BEFORE
Studies of highly productive and low stress people find that they do a couple of powerful things.
a) They plan their day out the night before, so that they can dive in first thing in the morning and not waste time and stress out planning in the morning when they should be accomplishing things.
b) They are realistic and accept that even on their to do list, things will change, things won’t always get done, and life will go on. Don’t lose time freaking out if you have to amend your to do list
FINALLY - Schedule in time for yourself and time for the things that relax and re-energize yourself
Stick to these as if they were important board meetings or doctor’s appointments. Machines and athletes need to rest and recharge and so do you. You’ll often find that you get more clarity and more done when you’re spending less time at your desk or pounding the idea repeatedly in your head. The brain at rest is a powerful thing while pushing yourself too much will only lead you to illness, mistakes and other things that in the end will work against your quest to be less busy!
Go forth and be LESS busy!
