12 Quick Tips to Add an Hour to Your Day
Add an hour to my day? “You have got to be kidding” is probably your first thought.
Most people seem to want more time in their day. I am sorry, you can’t wave a magic wand and make the day longer. There are things, however, you can do to save time. There are things you can do to maximize what you accomplish with your time. In essence, you can add an hour, maybe more, to your day.
This will require a change in your habits, but many of these strategies are self-rewarding.
Once you see the benefits to be gained, you’ll be motivated to continue. Oprah even agrees with some of my points!
I think she would agree with my list. I hope you could find at least one useful hint on my list.
Follow these tips to add at least an hour to your day and accomplish more:
1. Put things away when you’re done with them.
Rather than creating clutter that gets in your way and is emotionally distracting, put things away when you’re done using them. Tell yourself that a task isn’t complete until everything is picked up.
2. Do easy things during your least productive hours.
Everyone has a time of day when their physical or mental energy is low. Schedule easy tasks during these times. It can be a good time to read emails, file papers, or tidy up. This is not always totally possible. You may be at a job or managing your children when you are most productive. Do the best you can with this. Just do not do the hardest task when you are the most exhausted. You will only need to redo that task, and THAT is not good time management.
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3. Do your most challenging tasks during your most productive hours.
Likewise, you have a time of day when your focus and energy are high. Do your most challenging tasks during this time.
4. Reduce the amount of time spent on low-value activities.
You might be surprised by how much time you spend watching TV, surfing the internet, or texting friends. Putting this time to better use can easily add an hour of productive time to your day.
5. Batch your activities.
Answer all of your emails at once. Pay all of your bills twice a month. Remember that it takes time to switch tasks and regain your focus.
6. Make use of waiting time.
If you’re stuck in traffic, make your phone calls. If you’re waiting at the doctor’s office, deal with your email. Waiting for your child to get dressed? Clean up the kitchen. When children return to school, have some homework you can do while you are waiting in the pick-up line.
7. Track your time.
The average person has little idea about how they spend their time. Track how you spend your time for a week. At about every 30 minutes, record how you spent the last half-hour. Divide your activities into different categories and see how much time you spend on each. I know. This seems like a pain and a waste of time. It is not. Some people actually have to do something like this at their jobs. The idea is to see where you spend your time. Think of this as the time management equivalent of keeping track of what you eat if you are trying to lose weight. It is difficult to fix something if you do not know where the biggest kink in the process is.
8. Schedule your day.
Make the most of each day by making a schedule and sticking to it. Decide the most important tasks that need to be done and do those. You’ll waste less time and add at least an hour to your day. This is the goal. There will be hiccups in the plan, but if you establish a plan then you can work on letting your family know your plan. People need to know when YOU need time.
9. Go to bed earlier.
Most people don’t accomplish a lot in the evening. Shorten your evening by going to bed earlier. You can add hours to your morning by getting up earlier. There are very few high-achievers who don’t get up early every day. This may not seem possible now, but even a half-hour earlier would be helpful. If you make better use of your waiting time, or stop doing tasks you really don’t need to do as often as you do them, you might actually be able to get more sleep,
10. Eliminate distractions.
You may not be able to do much about your children, but you can eliminate other distractions. Turn off your phone. Use white noise to drown out distracting sounds. Close all of your computer windows and tabs other than what is needed. If you can get more accomplished each hour, because you are not checking Facebook, Twitter, your phone, or your email, you’re adding a lot of time, maybe even hours to your day.
11. Get help.
Ask for help at work. Give your spouse or children some tasks to do at home. Is your mother constantly asking you if she can help? Give her something to do.
12. Paying people to do tasks can be productive.
- Hire someone to mow your grass.
- Hire a cleaning service.
- Buy your groceries online and have them delivered.
- Pay someone to run your errands.
Yes, I know that these things cost money.
The question you need to ask is how much is your time worth? You need to figure that out. Have you a job that pays, just for example, $10 per hour? If you want, you can consider your time is worth $10/ hour. If you spend $5/hour hiring someone to cut your grass, you are actually ahead, because that $5 allows you to do work that is worth at least that $10/hour. Your goal is to be productive. You cannot be productive if you are doing a lot of “cheap chores”. Your time is worth more than what you might pay someone. If your time is worth $10 an hour, why spend an hour doing a $5 an hour chore?
Do you really value your time?
Pay your children or a neighbor’s child. If you cannot afford that, can you barter something? Maybe you can cook two batches of a meal and swap that for something that would help you. Someone who mows your lawn might really appreciate a free meal that he or she does not have to prepare. Maybe you can swap child care times with someone who will clean your house. The possibilities here are really endless and limited only by your imagination.
The length of a day is fixed.
After sleeping, there are a finite number of hours left. You can’t make the day longer, but you can get more out of each day. Get as much out of each day as you can. The more effective you are at using your time, the more success and free time you’ll enjoy.
Check out some of my other blogs on time management.
Is procrastination always a bad thing?
If you found this helpful, please share it with someone you think would also find it useful. I would appreciate it. Your friend might appreciate it too.
Have you ever lost points on an assignment because you forgot to do something?
My assignment checklist can help you remember the details.
Check it out! It is FREE!!!!
If you have any questions or comments, please leave me a note.
Until next week,
Valerie
Providing information and tools to help harried adult college students earn their degrees without losing their sanity.
updated 3 July 2023