All home – based professionals have one thing in common, no matter what type of home – based business they have. All of us could use more time. There always seems to be a shortage of time, and we often feel like there are not enough hours in a day. While we can not create additional time, there are things that we can do here and there throughout the day to help us reclaim some of the time that we waste.
Some of the things that we think are our greatest time savers can actually be big time wasters. For example, multitasking may seem like an efficient way to get things done but more often than not, you either do both things slower or the quality of one or both of the tasks is affected. You may think that advances in technology make it possible for us to get more done than ever before. Technology is a great productivity tool, but there are many ways that it can waste our time too, such as checking emails too frequently or getting sucked into Facebook, YouTube, or even reading the news. By avoiding multitasking and setting limits on how many times a day you check email, you can reclaim some of your time. Get even more time back by setting strict limits on how long you spend on recreational technology use like Facebook and YouTube.
The way in which we handle household responsibilities can also be a time waster. Going to the grocery store multiple times each week and running other errands almost every day can make it seem like you spend way too much time in the car. Save time by making a meal plan and grocery list each week and shop only once. You will not only get all of the food you need in one trip to the store, you will save money and you will also not have to spend time deciding what to eat at each meal every day. To save even more time, write down a list of errands that you have to do each week and see whether you can get them all done in one day while following a logical route or spread them throughout the week by tacking them on to trips that you will already be making anyways.
With a little effort, you can waste less time each day. You can use this time for work if you want to, but make sure to use some of it to do something nice for yourself once in a while. After all, the found time is a result of your diligent efforts.
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