No matter how much progress is made in society with new technologies that are intended to enable us to accomplish more in less time, it still feels like there is never enough time to get everything that needs to be done.

But imagine for a moment that you had the ability to extend your day by an additional hour or two. In what ways would you put that time to use?

Although it is impossible to gain more time, the following time-saving strategies can help you make better use of the time you do have:

1. Eliminate Unnecessary Chores

It’s possible that you simply have too much on your plate!

Consider giving every aspect of your life a close inspection in order to ascertain whether or not there are any activities in your life that are utterly pointless.

There is a good chance that there are a few things that you can remove from your life without experiencing any unfavorable consequences.

2. Delete All of Your Profiles On Social Media

Platforms for social media can be useful, but at the same time, they are excellent ways to squander time.

There is a substantial amount of evidence to suggest that engaging in activities on social media can be detrimental to one’s mental health.

Think about getting rid of your social media profiles and making more of an effort to talk to your loved ones and old acquaintances.

Why not try the old-fashioned way by calling them up or visiting them in person?

3. Disable Notifications

Is it absolutely necessary for you to be updated in real-time on every text message, email, and program activity?

Switch everything off, and then check in every few hours to see if you’ve overlooked anything significant to see if anything has changed.

4. Don’t Strive For Excellence

Certain responsibilities call for one’s undivided concentration. Some people do not.

It is not required that you organize your closet with the same degree of meticulousness as a surgeon conducting a liver transplant.

Consider how thoroughly a task needs to be completed.

Then carry it out with the amount of effort and attention to detail that is commensurate with that evaluation.

5. Consider how to Complete Tasks Effectively and Quickly

Are you certain that the route you’re traveling to work is the most efficient one?

Are you doing a thorough job of cleansing the house?

Consider every activity that you carry out on a routine basis and look for ways to complete them more quickly and effectively.

6. Outsource Certain Tasks

It is possible to outsource a significant portion of your daily existence.

Although no one can eat, sleep, or work out for you, you can hire others to do a lot of things for you, including a lot of different things.

It is possible to hire someone to do your cleaning, laundry, mowing the lawns, driving, shopping, cooking, doing your taxes, and building a new deck for you.

It’s possible that you have a spouse or children who can help shoulder some of the responsibility.

7. Make a Plan for The Day

If you don’t have any time-saving strategies at all, even a mediocre one is better than nothing.

Consider the things that you have to get done, and write them down.

If you stick to your plan, you’ll find that you’re able to get more done each day in the same amount of time.

8. Keep Track of the Time

Where exactly are you squandering your time? How do you manage to fill all of your spare time?

If you’ve never given your time management much thought before, you might be astonished to find out where it’s going.

Spend at least a couple of days keeping a log of the activities you perform and the amount of time you expend on each one.

Pay special attention to the amount of time that is spent engaging in amusing activities such as using your electronic devices.

9. Take into Consideration When You Eat

People tend to underestimate how much time eating actually requires.

You are responsible for going grocery shopping, preparing the food, eating it, and then cleaning up afterward.

That’s a significant amount of time if you consume three meals a day.

Some dishes can be prepared ahead of time, or make less complicated meals.

Instead of roasting a chicken, making mashed potatoes, and washing pots and pans, you could just enjoy a sandwich and an apple off of a paper plate instead.

This will take significantly less time.

Go to the store and buy foods that require little effort to prepare and almost no cleaning afterward.

Also, try to limit the number of times per week that you go shopping.

It’s possible that each journey to the grocery store will take an hour or more.

Learn How to Be More Productive!

Everyone has exactly the same 24 hours available to them each day to conduct their lives.

It is helpful to find additional time that you can put to whatever use you see appropriate.

It could be a typical day consisting of a relaxed and carefree schedule or one that is extremely hectic.

You can’t make a day last longer.

However, you can generate additional hours for yourself by being more productive and efficient.

One of the best time-saving strategies is to eliminate activities and responsibilities that aren’t necessary.

The post 9 Time-Saving Strategies for Every Day appeared first on Create the Best Life.

Most people think that time management is hard to learn when it comes to setting priorities. This does not have to be the case.

In fact, when you learn to manage your time, you will find that all the priorities get handled, and you begin to realize that not everything is an emergency.

How to Organize Your Life!

There are ways to organize yourself so that you manage all your tasks that need to be done, and you may even find that you are able to finish them without feeling rushed or overwhelmed.

Wouldn’t that be a dream?

Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has some great ideas when it comes to time management. He has come up with a grid that is very effective.

This grid provides an opportunity to look at each item you have to do and then decide on which part of the grid it belongs to.

Covey designed the grid using different colors reflecting how urgent or not urgent tasks are and where they belong on the grid.

Although this image of the grid does not show the colors he used, here is how you can get the idea of what he was trying to do with the grid.

• Purple needs to be done ASAP
• Green needs to be done, but may need some planning or research
• Pink is for items that need to be done by others
• Light green is all the unimportant items that we often use to procrastinate (for example, watching TV).

The advantage of having this grid is that it is a great way to create a daily to-do list. You will then prioritize all the items you need to do with the idea of assigning importance or not.

You can use this grid by deciding what items you will take care of first. However, make sure that you don’t just do the urgent items as you might end up missing something that is important but not urgent.

How to Eliminate Urgency in Your Life

When you focus on items you have assigned the green color to, you are able to reduce the number of purple (urgent) items you have to deal with.

When you say no to others asking for a commitment, you can eliminate any items assigned the pink color by getting others to do it for you.

The upside of this grid is that when you have control of your time and the items you need to take care of, you will eliminate anything assigned a light green color.

The reason? You won’t need to procrastinate anymore. Isn’t that a great idea?

How to Learn to Say No!

Do you remember that as a child, you were corrected every time you said no! Unfortunately, as adults, we have a hard time saying no. Most women can relate to this!

Using the grid, you can determine whether you should say no or not to something.

If you have a request from a client that is only going to take a few minutes and is not really important, you might decide to still do it.

Also, if it’s something you really like doing, you can always do it once you have done the urgent tasks.

Evaluate Your Time Investments

Now that you have the time management grid, you can take some time to re-evaluate all the items you have to take care of each day.

You can decide which ones are urgent and which ones are not.

Knowing what’s important to get done by you in a timely manner and items you can assign to someone else will help you prioritize your workload.

When you prioritize all you have to do each day, you will be able to carry this plan through in the months to come.

It is important to assess each task, decide where it needs to go on the grid, and then you will be able to just complete the tasks based on their priority.

Learning to use this grid system regularly, you will become more adept at managing your time, and that is a good thing!

How to Set a Schedule and Then Stick to It

Most of us find it hard to follow a schedule when it comes to time management. This is particularly true for people who work for themselves.

However, when we set a schedule to follow when we work for ourselves, it means that we have a better chance of being successful.

One of the best ways to get things done is to have your schedule written down. It makes it easier to see your tasks, but more importantly, you know what you need to get done.

Here are some ways to have your schedule easily available:

Use Your Cell Phone: our cell phones are really like little computers.

Most people have their entire life in the palm of their hand when it comes to using a cell phone.

It comes with a notepad and calendar so you can easily track your schedule.

There are even reminders that you can use with alarms.

This is an easy way to keep you on track!

Use the Google Calendar: most people have a Google Gmail account.

This is another powerful way to keep track of your schedule.

The other good thing about the Google Calendar is that you can access it from any of your devices.

Another way to use it is to have different calendars for different parts of your life.

You can even use color-coding. One last good thing about this, you can print it off or even sync it to your cell phone.

Now you don’t have any more excuses!

Use a Project Management System: There are a number of different project management systems available. These types of systems are good for people who like to outsource tasks to others.

They can also send emails to remind you when the task needs to be completed.

Use an Old Fashioned Day-Timer: this time of scheduler has been around for decades, long before any technology. Lots of people still use them.

The only downside is that if you lose it, you will lose all the information on your appointments and tasks.

Use a Whiteboard: another choice that is perfect, especially if you have a wall in your office where you can hang a whiteboard.

This way, the tasks are front and center, so you can’t miss what you need to do. You can also erase the tasks as you finish them. This is a great idea on how to manage your time.

Final Thoughts:

It is going to require a commitment on your part if you are going to set a schedule and then stick to it.

This doesn’t mean you can’t be flexible with your time. It just means that you can do what is required of you and save less urgent tasks.

Being flexible means that if something comes up, like a family emergency, you reschedule your tasks for another time.

When you write down your schedule of tasks that need to be taken care of, you are able to see what needs to be done.

The results are that you are better able to manage your time and improve your life. And that is a very good thing!

Learn how to use Stephen Covey’s Four Time Quadrants to Maximize Your Productivity Video:

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