There are only so many hours in a day, and it's common to feel like it's just not enough. There's so much to do between various kinds of commitments, and that's before you even think about the time required to take care of yourself. However, rather than try to do everything at once, the best thing to do is often to rethink how you use your time. By working smarter and not harder, you can gain back some of your precious time and use it however you see fit.
Whether you want to save time at work, at home, or in other areas of your life, there are plenty of ways to use your time more smartly. Take a look at these suggestions to see if you can start getting some of your time back.
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Delegate Tasks
No one can do everything on their own. You need the help and support of others to get things done. That's why knowing how to delegate tasks is so important, and it's something you can do in every area of your life. At home, you can make sure everyone has their chores to do. If you still feel like you don't have enough time, you should consider booking scheduled cleaning from a cleaner to help you out. If you're a leader at work, you can delegate tasks too. Of course, you shouldn't always need to delegate. There are times when others should be expected to take the initiative and work out what needs to be done.
Schedule Your Time
If you don't already have a proper schedule, you could find that it really helps you out when you're trying to save time. Creating a schedule forces you to look at what you really need to do and how long it should take, as well as how you currently use your time. You can probably identify areas where you're wasting time on certain tasks or where it could make sense to do some tasks consecutively. You can create schedules for home, work, and other things that you might be doing during the day or week.
Learn to Say No
Sometimes you just need to say no to something. Whether it's an unnecessary task around the house that doesn't really bring you any value or an expectation at work that you don't have the energy for, saying no is good for you. You can't always decide not to do something, but you can usually identify various things that are not essential. It's important to be able to turn something down if you want to have time for yourself. This can mean compromising on certain outcomes, but it's often worth it if you really value your time.
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Do Small Tasks as You Go
Do you get frustrated with spending hours doing housework or going through your emails? These tasks can take up a lot of your time if you try to do them all at once. Breaking them up into smaller tasks doesn't necessarily mean they take less time, but it can certainly feel like it does. You can use small tasks to fill in the gaps between others things, whether it's quickly wiping down a surface when you go through a room or shooting off an email just before you go into a meeting.
Complete Tasks Faster
Some things just need to be done, but they can take longer than they really need to. Finding time to finish tasks faster can be a great way to have more time for yourself. There are often ways to save time when you're completing a task, starting with where your level of "good enough" lies. Being a perfectionist can have its merits, but if you're able to settle for a little less than perfect, you could get many things completed much faster.
Use Tech to Save Time
Technology can be an excellent time-saver. It can be used in many ways to make tasks faster or even automate them. From using appliances like a dishwasher at home to scheduling your work tasks to complete automatically, you could save a lot of time with the right tech. There are apps for your phone that could help you save time or certain gadgets that you could find beneficial. By exploring how technology can help you, you could find that you get a lot of your time back.
When you feel like you're short on time, there are plenty of ways you might be able to reorganize your life and get some of it back for yourself.
