planning

How To Find The Time Stealers And Stop Them Cold

What do your fondest dreams look like? Are they filled with success? If you are not seeing those dreams come true, try as you may, you might have a thief in the midst.

A thief? Yes. That is what a time stealer is – a thief! Time stealers rob your days of productivity. Days of lost time can lead to weeks and, before you know it, even months. Find the time stealers today and stop them cold. Put productivity back into you life and get back on track to reach those fabulous goals.

Tip: What you are looking for is not the unexpected interruptions – such as your child being sick and needing your attention. What you are looking for are those avoidable time-stealers – like browsing Pinterest for an hour – that should be put off till a better time or eliminated all together.

To discover just where your time is going, keep a time log. Time logs help us to step back to see the big picture. Are you losing time on the same activities every day? Are those activities of value or should they be eliminated? And, if they are of value, is there a way to control them so that they don’t eat up the time you should work? First identify, then decide. The time log won’t make choices for you but it will give you a view of what is going on.

If productivity is low and you are not achieving your goals fast enough, you may have time stealers in the way. Find them and get back on the road to #success! #tips Share on X

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How To Make A Time Log The Old Fashioned Way

1. Gather your tools: paper and a pen or pencil. Do not make your time log electronically. All too often we get on our smart phones or tablets and that is where our time stealers lurk! Put the devices aside and write it down.

2. Write the day and date at the top of the sheet.

3. Keep track of what you do all day long, by times.

For example:

9:00 am poured cup of coffee
9:05 am checked email and answered some
9:30 am answered phone call
9:40 am checked Twitter etc.
9:45 am let the dog out
9:50 am ordered dog food from Amazon
10:00 am wrote checks to pay bills
11:00 am ordered more checks online

4. Evaluate. At the end of the morning, and again at the end of the day, take a look. Did something swallow up your time and take you off course? What was it that you should have completed and did not get done? If you stay with logging your time long enough, you will start to find some patterns that, when changed, will improve your productivity.

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How To Keep A Weekly Time Log

Another method is to keep daily or weekly overview logs. Rather than chart every minute of the day, write down your daily accomplishments.

When you are keeping this kind of log, first make a to-do list. This list records what needs to be done daily or weekly. As you complete a task, check it off on your list then write it on the weekly time log with the day it was accomplished. At the end of the week, look at your to do list and compare it with your “done list.” In theory, they should look the same. When you get good at it, you will start getting more done than you had expected. Add those bonus achievements to your log.

So, what time stealers are in your life? Have you found a good way to handle them?

Enjoy!

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Top 10 Ways to Be More Productive and Free Up Your Time

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What is “productivity” anyway? Simply put, productivity is getting more done in less time. For those of us who are way over-booked, a little free time would be a lovely thing to have. Am I right? So, let’s talk about some simple ways get some.

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1. Plan Your Day the Night Before. Before you go to bed make sure to sit down with your planner or calendar and write a to-do list with tasks for the next day. Identify the goals you want to achieve, the tasks you need to finish and schedule your time. This works for two reasons. First, since you wrote it down you can now lay aside the planning and get a good night’s sleep. Next, when you wake up in the morning you will be ready to go – no floundering around wondering where to start!

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2. Find The Right Planning System For You. It doesn’t matter whether you use a notebook or a mobile app to keep on track. Find a system that fits your style. If you are all about technology, Google calendar is a simple FREE app you can use from your computer and on your phone.

My mom had a simple method. She used sticky notes on the bathroom mirror! Hey, we didn’t try to change her. Mom was a major league organizer. You just don’t mess with success!

3. Know Your Internal Time Clock. What time of day do you operate best? Early morning just as the sun rises? Later at night, when the kids have gone to bed? Make best use of the time of day that finds you more focused and energetic. Save the “mindless” work for times that your energy levels may be running low.

4. Set Priorities. Let’s say you are more productive in the morning. Do you get up and spend an hour checking email? That may not be the best use of your time. Change it up. Identify the most important jobs to get done first. (Remember, you’re planning this all the night before.) What accomplishments will make the biggest impact on the success of your day? Focus on those tasks during high-productivity time.

5. Set Goals and Milestones. Goals keep us motivated. Goals give your work meaning and purpose. A milestone is simply a mini-goal. Milestones mark the path along the way.

Example: let’s say you are writing a book. Some milestones might be to finish the outline and then finish the first draft. Next, edit the book. Milestones are like road-markers. They help keep motivation high. You have reached the goal when the whole book is written.

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6. Be On The Lookout For Disruptions. The biggest productivity busters are those sneaky interruptions. You know, when the phone rings, your child knocks on the office door, or you glance at Facebook in the middle of a project. Ugh. Got to love them but so much time can be lost! Just be aware.

Top 10 ways to be more productive and FREE up your time! #tips #success

Guard your time. Hang up a “do not disturb“ sign. If you are writing online, sign out. Write in notebook or a Word document, uninterrupted, first. That’s right, leave the internet and WRITE! When it is ready to go, sign back on, copy and paste it into your blog or web-page and do your formatting. One of my friends is a very successful, high-earning blogger. She sets apart half a day every week to simply write. No internet. No distractions. It works!

7. Set a Timer. Using the timer on your cell phone, or better yet, a food timer will help you to stay on schedule. A food timer is better because you can turn OFF your phone! No distractions, remember? If you must complete your work by a certain time, setting a timer will help you to relax and stay in tune with the task at hand. Set it with a little “wiggle room” after it rings so that you are not rushing to your next appointment.

Wish you had more hours in a day? Here are 10 ways to be more productive and FREE up your time! #tips Share on X

8. Keep a Pen and a Notebook By Your Side. If you are one of those people who always has ideas coming, instead of getting distracted by that new idea, jot it down in your notebook. This also works well when you remember something that you want to do or must do. Just jot it down on the paper and get back to the task at hand.

9. Schedule Admin Tasks for Down Time. Just like you have a more productive time of day, you also have a low-energy time when it is harder to stay motivated. That time is perfect for administrative tasks. For many, it is the afternoon. Catch up on paperwork. Set up your list for the next day. Now, leave it. Put your work aside and spend quality time with family and friends.

10. Skip “Perfect!” “Perfect” isn’t real and perfectionism has robbed many a talented person of their productivity. You can get so hyper-focused on making every detail “just so” that the day will run away from you. So, get a lot done and go back later to fine-tune.

Reaching goals and milestones feels great and that free-time you are about to come up with is even better! My best advice – savor each moment.

As for me? I am about to take one of those free-time moments – pour myself a great cup of coffee and stare out the window at a beautiful blue sky!

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What makes YOU most productive?

Share it with us in the comments!

Enjoy!

10 Little Things To Replace Before You Really Need Them

Bandaids – boo boos happen. Keep an assortment of the most popular sizes in stock for paper cuts, scraped knees and other little injuries.
Batteries – I never thought I would see the day I would need AAA size batteries, but I do. Those tiny little houses of power run my new TV remote and my flicker candles. Now I keep a supply in stock along with the standard AA, 9-volts, C’s and D’s. Smoke detectors take 9-volts, you know.
Birthday Candles – really? Seems like we should know when to replenish the supply. We all have calendars! But there have been times in my own home, and when visiting others, where we had the cake with the birthday girl (or boy) patiently waiting on the other side but no birthday candles could be found. Keep them in supply and remember where you put them. LOL! (PS. When celebrating birthdays at other people’s houses, be a “friend-indeed.” Quietly bring a box along in your purse in case of emergency!)
Checks – more and more people are paying bills online. When you do have to write a check, though, will you have any? Order a supply now.
Fasteners & Tape– I wasn’t sure what to call these. All I know is that they matter. What I am thinking of is paper clips, safety pins, staples for your stapler, thumb tacks, rubber bands and tape. All are used to fasten things. All are so helpful when you have them and it can be a problem when you don’t. I’ve used bobbi pins for paper clips and it just isn’t the same. [Should we add bobbi pins to this list, too? Paper clips don’t work well for hair, either!] When it comes to tape, PACKING TAPE is the item I used to regret not keeping in the house. I learned my lesson and always have a roll on hand, now.
Furnace Filters – granted, this is not one of those cheaper purchases but it does fall into the “not often purchased” category. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a new one on hand when you need it? Today was a first for me. I actually had a new filter on hand. Felt great!
Light Bulbs – we’ve already talked about this one but I might add that having the more obscure bulbs available is really nice. I am talking of outdoor floodlight bulbs, appliance bulbs and novelty bulbs. Again, you can do this piece by piece instead of making one big purchase but that’s what your list is for. Buy them and check them off as you do.
Matches / Lighter– back to the birthday party. You found the birthday candles and now how do you light them? These days it is very possible to have a party without a smoker in the group (yipee!) Keep some matches or a multipurpose lighter in the house.
Postage Stamps – people don’t use the postal service nearly as much as they used to but when you do have a greeting card to mail or a bill to pay, isn’t it annoying to have to wait to buy a stamp? Keep a supply in your home along with envelopes.
Razor Blade Scraper – if you haven’t painted a window lately, this little tool may not be on the radar. I need one about every two years when the registration on my car is up. Soak the old sticker on the windshield with some window cleaner and use a razor blade to get it off – or not. I’ve learned to keep one of these babies on hand for times of need!

10 little things to replace now before you need them - you will be glad you did! #tips #organizing #momlife Share on X

What other every day items that we don’t buy often should be added to this list?

Enjoy!

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