How to Save Up to 1 Hour a Day!
August 17, 2008 by Dr. Letitia Wright
Filed under Wright Ideas
There are a few things that can help any business save time, move fast and smoother. Here’s my short list:
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- Check lists I love check lists. Even though I have taped over 250 shows, I always have a check list for each show BEFORE I get to the studio
- Templates each invitation has a template which is quickly customized with the name of the guest and the tape date
- Plan your day Planning my day makes sure I have enough time to get everything done.
- Use a Timer Occasionally I use a timer to see how long tasks actually take. Then I can plan my day better. If I know a tast usually takes 15 minutes, I can fit it into a 15 minute slot of what would have been down time.
- Proper Delegation By delegating the right tasks to the right person, you move a lot faster.
Did I miss anything? Whats your favorite time saver?
What I tell my clients is to plan “up to” 50% of their day and leave the other 50% for interruptions. If you knew what an interruption was, it would be on your calendar. And if you know how long an interruption takes, please give me your crystal ball, because I don’t know either.
Some people can only schedule 10% of their day, because that’s what their business is about. Write “everything down” on 1 calendar for personal and business, even including household chores. Don’t schedule everything you plan to do that day, because on average, people get 1-2 hours of interruptions a day. Just opening up the mail and you see something–oops!–another interruption and you probably have to respond to that piece of mail.
Here’s a simple rule:
If a task/project is something you’re use to doing, double the amount of time you “think” it’s going to take. If it’s something “new,” triple that time. Why? Because you get interruptions when trying to complete a task and/or project.
I agree with Dr. Wright. Use a timer to time yourself to see how long it actually takes; but at the same time, use a timer to remind you to start and end a task you’re doing.
Remember, “If you can’t find it in 30 seconds, it’s in the wrong place.”
On December 31, 2007 I decided to trash my calendar and not be a slave to a
calendar anymore. Up until then I was operating on Plan A and as of January 1, 2008 I am
on Plan B. What is the difference? For me Plan A is short for Plan Anal as in anal retentive,
and Plan B is short for Plan BE. What do I mean? My focus is to spend 80 percent of my
day just BEing?connecting, creating, and living in the moment.
All of this was inspired by a Jerry Seinfeld movie, ?The Bee Movie,? combined
with my experience. Note that although this is the message I received, usually it is
different for others. The movie is a fun and entertaining movie about bees and their
everyday lives from a bee?s perspective. After the movie, I contemplated what the message was for about an hour and a half, and then it hit me. I was driving and I noticed
the line in the middle of the road, and it was yellow and black just like a bee. And, then
I knew that I came into this world to just BE.
Since then, that message is constantly evolving into a way of life for me. In its
simplest form, there are three types of people for this system. First, you have people on
the right side of the road. They do things the right way. They follow rules and/or set the
rules. Next, you have the people on the left who are the rebels of the group. These are
the type of people that are in the U.S., and drive on the left side of the road, and if they
are in Europe, they drive on the right side of the road.
A lot of times they think they are unique, but they are just doing the opposite of
whatever the people on the right do. For me, I grew up with a dad who is on the right,
and a mom who is on the left. I found myself most of my life just bouncing back and
forth from left to right.
I?m not saying there is anything wrong with this because I definitely learned a lot
about myself and others on this mission.
The third group is the BE group, and these people follow their intuition and
live in the moment. For me, living in the moment is BEing free no matter what your
economics, relationships, health, career, or educational conditions are.