List your priorities: I know, I know, “No! Not lists!” Yes, my friends, lists. While it does take some time to get accustomed to making a list each morning, the benefits in the long run are well worth it. You’ll be able to face the day confident in your ability to finish your tasks at hand, and you will not be wasting time racking your brain on what you need to do.
Tackle important tasks first: Go ahead and get that big project or email out of the way first thing in the morning. You’ll find that by tackling your biggest problems first, all the small tasks and issues will go by much more quickly and easily.
Schedule doctor appointments wisely: Visits to the doctor’s office are never fun. Mainly because you tend to spend a lot of time in the waiting room. Try to avoid scheduling appointments at 10am and 2pm, typically the busiest time of the day. Instead, shoot for the earliest appointment available.
Organize your calendars: You probably have a Gmail calendar, an in-office calendar, and maybe even a desk calendar. It you can sync them to each other, great! If not, make sure all of your information is consistent between them. There’s also such a thing as too many calendars, make sure you’re not overly saturated in them.
Wear headphones while working: Entrepreneur and designer Marius Ursache wears headphones to help stay on task. It helps block out distractions while you focus on your work. You’ll have to test it out to find what type of music best motivates you, but two popular choices are classical music and ambient/electronic music. The less lyrics the better, typically.
Get more sleep: You’ve heard us say it before, and we’ll probably say it again; sleep is very important. Not only can it bring more happiness to your day, but a good night’s sleep can help you maintain your focus during the day, result in less time spacing out.
Making the choice to take back your day is not an easy one. It requires dedication to the task at hand. Making the choice organize your calendars will probably seem overwhelming at first, but practice makes perfect. And while making lists everyday might take more time in the beginning, you will find that once you get into the habit of making them that it becomes almost second nature after awhile, and that is when the time savings come in.
