Seize the day - Teil 2

Hier meine Auswahl der nützlichsten Tipps vom Eintrag "80-ways-to-steal-valuable-minutes-for-your-work-day" auf WiseBread:

• "Establish an early morning no interruption time. Use the first hour or two of work to work on things that require focus. You'll get more done. Email, phone calls, and interruptions have a way of expanding to fit the time we allow them."
• "Exercise - It sounds counter-intuitive. You have to spend time exercising. But, research has shown that exercise boosts cognitive function, creativity, problem solving and productivity. In fact a NASA study showed employees who exercised daily worked at 100% efficiency after 7 hours, while those who didn't saw a 50% drop, meaning it took them twice as long to accomplish the same thing. So, exercise, in effect, creates time."
• "Batch & Focus - Multitasking kills time. Again, sounds counter-intuitive. But, every time you switch your attention, there's a cognitive ramp up time. It can range from a few seconds to a few minutes. So, if you constantly cycle between checking email, IM, twitter, texts, voicemail, calendars, blackberries, apps, scores, stock quotes, news, current projects and more, then respond to each, the time you lose to incessant ramp-up becomes substantial. Instead, minimize time lost to nonstop cognitive ramping by batching your time and focusing on individual categories of tasks with intense, yet discrete bursts of attention."
• "Call - We've become so accustomed to doing everything digitally, trading flurries of emails, IMs and texts, we sometimes forget that we can get the same thing done in a fraction of the time with one or two quick phone calls."
• "One way to see a boost in productivity is to be explicit about your work when interacting with your coworkers, boss, clients, and vendors. Wear your progress on your sleeve. Be open and honest and leave politics to those who work in the Capitol building. Notify the people who are dependent on you of your status, especially when a glitch or event changes your deadline. When you communicate well and manage others' expectations, you help them to better manage their time. When others do the same with you, you can better coordinate your schedule and efficiently complete your work."
• "If you work for yourself or work from home, set strict office hours. This is an important rule for you and for everyone else in your life. These boundaries keep you at your desk and productive throughout the day and also remind people that you are a professional. When you're done with work for the day, clear your desk, hit the do-not-disturb button on your phone, turn off the light, and close the door."
• "Schedule creative time blocks. You can't be on top of you're creative game with endless interruptions. Personally, my best chapters, posts and strategic plans need about three hour time chunks for me to roll around in them and tie together the best parts. Undivided attention is the best time-bender there is."
• "Another tactic many of my clients use is the 'touch once' principle, which means they resolve things the first time they encounter them...whether opened email or a telephone call. If you avoid parking things in 'to do later' piles, whether actual or virtual, you free those minutes for more constructive work."
• "It has been said before, but I'll put it out there again—close email, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter for big chunks of your work day. "
• "Overall, you probably know for yourself what makes for a productive day and what is mainly distracting. Under most circumstances, it is your choice."
• "Be clear on what's important. It takes time up front to decide on priorities, plan, and set goals, but it saves you time during the day. Knowing what is really important makes it that much easier to say no, to kill off distractions, and to delegate to others."
• "Write up tomorrow's to-do's before I leave the office today. I find that if I have a clean lined paper (physical or digital) of the most important to-dos for the next day, I can hit the ground running when I get into work the next day."
• Before taking a break, get your workspace ready for the next "batch" of work. Get those phone numbers ready, pull up computer programs, and anything else that you might need for the next work session.
• Early on I learned my "productive cycle". I'm most productive in the mornings and late afternoons, and my mid-afternoons are pitiful. So, I block my time accordingly to make the most of my energy. I write and do intensive tasks in the morning, and in the afternoon I'll catch up on email and friends.
• Keep your todo list simple, and don't waste time playing with new tools, etc. There's always going to be shiny programs that promise to make your day faster and more efficient. Stick with one, and learn to rely on it.
• When I'm getting nothing done, I relocate to a coffee shop. Relocating helps me kick the doldrums and mentally gives me a fresh start.
• Try taking more breaks. You might be surprised at how much more focus you'll have for the entire day. Even small, five to ten minute breaks can be enough to keep that productivity surging the entire day.
• Don't put things down, put them away. It's mentally taxing to have cluttered areas around your workspace and home. Putting stuff away the first time saves minutes and improves your productivity.
• Don't plan too much into your day because, inevitably, Murphy's Law will happen. Make sure you've got a bit of buffer time to "expect the unexpected".