Tips for freeing up time in your weekly schedule

Get ready to be your most efficient self. With most of us spending eight hours or more each day at work, there are a range of daily behaviours we can tweak, even just slightly, to free up time in our schedules. By automating as many of our daily tasks as possible, we can focus on more important things. Here are six time saving practices you can try.

Adjust your work hours to suit you

Are you a morning person or a night owl? If you find you’re most productive in the morning, talk to your employer about moving your working day to start a few hours earlier. You will enjoy a quieter office where you can really dig into your work, and a faster commute.

Get the important tasks done first

Pick the top 2-3 things you need to accomplish today and get them done first, even if they’re not the most exciting or glamorous tasks. You may think you will have the time to get them done in the afternoon, but if urgent work pops up and must be prioritised as it often can, the day can get away from you quite easily. Furthermore, try batching similar tasks together when planning out your day. This can save you time as it will minimise disruptions to your concentration.

Block out your time

Big project with looming deadlines? Book yourself into ‘meetings’ where you solely work on the project. You wouldn’t skip an important meeting would you? Clear your schedule, don’t let others book meetings in during this time, and work exclusively on the project, report or task – whatever it may be.

Learn to say no

We all receive numerous requests each day, and all of them are demands on our time. But if those requests are not in line with our priorities, then we are usually biting off more than we want to chew. While often it is in our capacity to help others, there are other times where deadlines are tight and falling behind is inevitable. So politely say when it is out of your capacity to assist with another’s work – your coworkers will understand because no doubt they’ve been in a similar situation before too.

Remove yourself from distractions

Is your team or office area naturally quite chatty? If your workplace is an environment where employees are required to collaborate to get the job done, but you prefer the quiet, relocate to a meeting room or see if you can work from home. Your efficiency is most important, and your employer should support you in this.

Delegate where practical 

If a task needs to be done, but it’s not one of your most important tasks and it can be done by someone else, delegate it. Whether it’s within your workplace to those with less demanding schedules or through outsourcing, finding others who can do the task as well or even better than you can help in the short and long term.

Blink… and the day is gone. What do you do to take the stress out of time management?

This article was written by Jelena Milutinovic and Megan Baker on behalf of the Australian Institute of Business. All opinions are that of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of AIB. The following sources were used to compile this article: Business Insider; Lifehacker and Zen Habits