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Get More Done With a 25-Hour Day

  • Open 25 HoursThe Find: 25 tips to help you find that elusive, and much needed, 25th hour of the day.
  • The Source: the Zen Habits blog
The Takeaway: It's a Friday afternoon in August right before a long holiday weekend here in London, and facing a huge stack of work, a manager could get to wondering: how can I find enough time in the day to get this all done, enjoy life and work on that important project I've been putting off forever? For the time being, manipulating the time-space continuum continues to be sadly unfeasible, but there are other ways to squeeze another hour of productivity into your day - and Zen Habits rounds them up.

They range from the obvious (wake up earlier, check email less) to the inspired. Some of the best from the folks at Zen Habits:

  1. Make an appointment right after work: this works especially well if you have to meet someone else, such as a workout partner or other group or team or coach or partner. You'll be sure to meet the appointment, which means you won't stick around work too long, and you'll be sure to finish all your tasks on time so you can leave on time. This makes you more efficient in the afternoon especially.
  2. Get to the point: while I'm a fan of long, slow conversations, if you're trying to make time for goals, you need to whittle down needlessly long conversations -- especially if it's just with a co-worker who isn't a close friend.
  3. Search, don't file: I used to spend a lot of time filing all my computer files and all my emails into nice, organized folders. I'd spend time every day doing this. Now, I just archive everything, on computer and email, and search when I need something.
  4. Educate others: is there something that other people submit to you that you routinely have to edit or reformat? Teach these people (maybe with an FAQ or tutorial) how to do it right or how you need it so you don't have to make changes.
Check out the complete list for more ideas. Here at BNET1 we endorse them all except number 15.

The Question: And other ways to squeeze another hour of productive activity into your day?

(Image of open 25 hours a day sign by thraxil, CC 2.0)

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