How to Get More Done
When I was in private practice, I routinely worked after 8:00 on Friday nights and often for several hours on Saturday. During one particularly busy time, I worked for 21 straight days without a day off. During this period, I gained weight and was diagnosed with pre-diabetes. It was a crazy-busy time. American women are usually employed outside the home, and once we return home, we are responsible for shopping, meal preparation, child care and elder care. Consequently, we wonder how to get it all done. Let me offer a few suggestions for how to get things done.
• 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. I have a Facebook friend whose husband is a pastor. One Saturday this friend posted that she was enjoying her Sabbath. Maybe your weekend is Tuesday and Wednesday, then choose one of those days for your Sabbath. Trust me, if you can’t get it 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. 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. Just work on one activity exclusively, and you will be more productive.
• Take a few minutes on Sunday night 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.
• 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?
