How to Get More Done
Whether you’re employed full time or you stay at home with children or elders, I’ll bet that you struggle to find time to handle everything. It can be frustrating to always be busy and to never feel that you’ve accomplished much. Allow me to offer a few suggestions to help you to be more productive.
• Honor the Sabbath day. God commanded us to take a day off once a week. I don’t believe the Sabbath has to be on Sunday. Maybe your weekend is Tuesday and Wednesday, then choose one of those days for your Sabbath. Trust me, if you can’t get all of your work done in six days, you can’t get it done in seven days. When you make a concerted effort to do what God says, He will honor your efforts.
• Stop trying to multitask. You can’t! When you think you’re multitasking, you are spending a few seconds or minutes at a time on one activity and then switching to another activity for a few seconds or minutes. You’re not working efficiently on either task. If you’re going to balance your checkbook, don’t try to talk to a friend or help your child with homework at the same time. Work on one activity exclusively, and you will be more productive.
• Take a few minutes before your week begins to think about the three most important tasks you need to complete the following week. Focus on getting those tasks done first and then add the next three “must do” items to your to-do list.
• Schedule only 65% of the available time. Things ALWAYS take more time than we think, and there will always be interruptions. Let’s say you have all day Saturday from 10:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. That’s 10 hours, so you only want to schedule 6.5 hours. If you complete all your tasks, that’s great. If you don’t complete all your tasks, you won’t feel so overwhelmed because there are dozens of things undone. Get into the habit of building margin into your schedule.
• Accept that sometimes, good enough has to be good enough. Everything does not have to be done with excellence. For instance, if you need to manage your money, go to the grocery store and get laundry done on a Saturday, you might not have time to thoroughly clean the house. In that case, why not just clean the kitchen and bathrooms and let everything else go until the next weekend?
• Turn your cell phone face down. There are very few urgent text messages and emails. You don’t need to know every time you receive one. Put the phone face down, handle your business and then turn it face up and respond to text messages and emails. If someone really needs you, he or she will call you.
As I have begun to make these changes, I get more done, and I have more peace and margin in my life. To get more done, quit trying to do so much! Which of these tips will you try this week?
