Apr 30, 2016
Time Savers
This month’s theme is Time Management and you can get the free
worksheet at AffirmationPod.com/TimeManagement
What gets measured, gets managed.
Before we apply ways to save time, it can totally help to first measure your time...cuz we often don't accurately recall how much time we spend on any given task.
3 ways I measure time
1. A short timer
This timer sits on my desk and is always set to 8 minutes. This is for tasks like paying a bill, making a purchase on Amazon or posting on social media.
If this timer goes off and I'm not done yet (or got sidetracked) I either start the timer again for another 8 minutes or leave the task and come back again later.
2. A long timer
This timer sits next to my short timer but is set for 45 minutes. This is for longer tasks like editing podcasts or working out - yeah, I do both in the same studio office.
When the timer goes off, I get up and take a break from editing or I simply stop working out. I keep my workouts to 45 minutes so I still have time to complete my other tasks for the day.
3. Rescue Time
This is a program I use which logs how much time I spend on my iMac computer, including a breakdown of the time on each application.
For this episode, I checked my usage for the last ten weeks. My computer time ranged from 10 - 21.5 hours per week and I averaged 17.5 hours over the past ten weeks.
The program again is Rescue Time - there is a paid version but I just use the free version. It emails me once a week with a summary of my computer usage and I can also log in at anytime to check where I'm at.
Now for my time savers!
1. Voice to text
I mostly use voice to text for text messaging. It saves a ton of time! As a bonus, it's also easier on my next because I can have the phone up instead of facing down (I'm always looking for health hacks!).
It does feel strange when you're first doing it. Especially because I need to say the punctuation, e.g. "new line" "question mark" "exclamation mark" and everything isn't perfectly transcribed but even if I need to edit it, it takes less time than typing it all out.
2. Keyboard Shortcuts
On my iMac, in my Keyboard Preferences, I have shortcuts set up to help me save time, especially with repetitive tasks like adding the metadata to the podcasts episodes.
3. Getting a Jumpstart
I'm not a big morning person so this is extremely helpful for me. I do whatever I can the night before to get a jumpstart on tomorrow. Here's a list of 10 things I do the night before:
- lay out my clothes
- lay out the kids clothes
- prepare snacks
- prepare lunches
- fill out forms
- make lists (grocery etc)
- pack items that need to come with me (e.g. items to return with receipts attached)
- flag emails that I'll need
- put the address and directions to a new place I'll be going to
- put jackets and shoes by the door if they aren't there already
The sister episode to this one is Episode 75 Worksheet Series - Time Management Worksheet
Want More Episodes Like this One?
Episode 282 A Sense of Control When Things Feel Out of Control
Episode 280 Healthy Escapes During Trying Times
Episode 276 Feeling Overworked
Episode 195 Getting Out of a Bad Mood
Episode 185 Patient with the Process
Episode 153 Dealing With It
Episode 149 Feeling Triggered
Episode 123 When You’re About to Freak Out and Lose It
Episode 86 Affirmations for When Stressed Out