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Top 10 Smart and Lazy Ways to Save Your Workday
Posted by Gina Trapani at 4:00 AM on February 21, 2008
If you leave the office most nights feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and behind on everything you've got to get done at work—even though you just spent 10 hours there—you're letting your workday get away from you. It's too easy to let the hours you spend at the office get stolen by meetings, email, interruptions, and impromptu co-worker chats that leave you saddled with busywork and too distracted to get the important stuff done. But with a little thought, you can leave work feeling accomplished and complete instead. When it's time to take back your workday, there are a few dead easy strategies that can help you focus on your tasks, firewall your attention, and reduce your workload so you can get out the door feeling light, free, and done. Photo by rochelle, et. al.
10. Make a lunch or dinner date (to create a deadline).
Ever wonder why your co-workers who are parents get out of the door on time every day like clockwork? It's because they've got to pick up the kids at daycare by a certain time. If you feel like you've got all day to get things done, you're more likely to get sucked into stuff that's not that important. But a deadline will light a fire under your butt and keep your eye on the clock. If you know you've got a spouse at home expecting to see you by 6:30, or a buddy waiting for you at the gym, you're more likely to stay focused, get your stuff done, and get out of your chair on time.
If you can take lunch on your own schedule, this same strategy works midday, too: make a date with your co-worker or friend to have lunch at a set time, and use it as a deadline for getting your morning tasks done.
9. Write down the first thing you have to do tomorrow morning and put it on your keyboard before you leave the office.
The sad reality is that if you let it, your workday will get away from you without one single task getting checked off your to-do list: unless you make it your personal mission. The best time of the day to GTD is first thing in the morning, so make it easy on yourself. Every evening, before you leave the office, write down the single most important task you've got to get done the next day. Leave it on your desk, with any support material you need to work on it, so you can get rolling first thing. The best way to start your day is accomplishing something instead of fiddling around with email. (See more about how to set yourself up with a small, doable task here.)
8. Don't check email for the first hour of the day.
Author of Never Check Email in the Morning Julie Morgenstern suggests waiting for one hour before you open up your email inbox in the morning. Instead of thoughtlessly reading email first thing, work on that task you laid out for yourself in #9. Accomplishing something out of the gate sets the tone for the rest of your day, Morgenstern says, and once you've launched your email client, you're "open for business" and paying attention to incoming requests.
Note: If you do business with folks in different time zones, this guideline can be very difficult to follow, especially if you know you've got new messages over night. But let's be realistic: a one hour email delay won't kill anyone. You can do it.
7. Decide NOT to do one task on your to-do list and cross it off.
It's not always the boss who's putting pressure on us to get things done and assigning us tasks: sometimes we take on little projects and to-do's because they seem like a good idea for one reason or another. If you've got a to-do list a mile long with items that have been sitting there for weeks? Chances are there are a few you can cross off right this moment because they're not worth doing after all. A "good idea at the time" isn't always a good idea. If you've assigned yourself busywork that isn't that important, simply opt not to do it—that's the fastest and lowest-effort way to get it off your plate.
6. Edit that email you're writing down to less than five sentences.
No one likes to get long-winded email, and email's not the appropriate place to have extended conversations. The shorter your email is, the more likely you are to get a response. Designer Mike Davidson instituted a personal email policy that no message he sends is more than five sentences, which saves himself and the recipient time. Give it a try. If your message has to be longer, pick up the phone and call instead.
5. Cut someone off.
When chatty Cathy's yapping your head off, or that passive meeting leader is letting things go off the rails in the conference room for too long, speak up. Don't be rude, of course. A polite but business-like, "Can we get back to the agenda?" or "I hate to cut this short, but I've got an appointment" or "This seems off-topic for this meeting--can we move on?" can save you hours of wasted time at the office.
4. Book a meeting with yourself.
If your head is spinning with all the stuff you've got to get done and the interruptions keep coming, you need some alone time. If the hours of your day keep getting stolen by meeting requests and drive-by interruptions, box out an hour or so every few days specifically to regroup and get organised. Literally enter the meeting with yourself on your calendar, and if you need to get away from your desk, book a conference room as well. Take your project list, to-do list, and calendar with you to the room and spend that time deciding what, when, and how you're going to tackle all the stuff in your work life, as if you're a boss meeting with your assistant. (GTD'ers know this technique as the weekly review.)
3. Master the art of the qualified yes.
Don't be a yes-man or woman by default. When you have a choice (and most times you do), instead of automatically saying yes unconditionally to incoming requests, qualify it. Ask for more information like the deadline or requirements. See if it's something that can be put off till a later date or done by someone more available or better-suited. Merlin Mann's recent talk at Macworld, Time Sinks and Attention Burglars, has a fabulous section on negotiating incoming requests and qualifying your yes'es so you don't give away your time so easily.
2. Block out distractions and set a timer.
When your brain is frozen in a solid block of paralysed procrastination around a task and you're letting yourself get carried away by distractions like email and instant messenger, it's time to take out the big guns. Turn off your email and IM client, grab a kitchen timer, set it for 10 minutes, and work until the beep. Then, take a break. Wash, rinse, and repeat. I swear by this technique, which got me through writing 400 pages of the Lifehacker book when all I wanted to do was crawl under the bed and hide. If you give yourself an easy deadline (it's only 10 minutes!) and make it a race with the clock, you'll unfreeze your brain and break through your blocks.
1. Do a free jot brain dump.
When you're so stuck in a rut that your brain can't even grok the concept of a to-do list and you have no idea where you are or where you should be, it's time to do a serious regroup (while going easy on yourself). Take a piece of paper and a pen, go to a quiet place, and free jot for 10 minutes. Make lists. Mind map. Free associate ideas. Rant. Write down whatever comes to mind to get your juices flowing. When we get hung up on busywork and crushed by overwhelm, our brains can't take it any more. A last-resort, free-jot brain dump can re-focus the big picture: what's important to you, what your biggest problem is right now, and what your next step is.
Regular brain dumps and mind maps are a great way to boost creativity and get started on projects, but they're also an effective last resort strategy for those really bad days that have reduced you to a twitching mess of dysfunctional information anxiety.
How do you reclaim your workday and get yourself home at night feeling accomplished and clear? Let us know in the comments.
Tags: distraction | email | feature | lifehacker top 10 | procrastination | productivity | top
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
thisluckyguy
Posted 5:27 AM 21/2/08
Feeling overwhelmed, too much on your plate...the first thing to do is to get control of your negative thoughts and feelings. There is a simple technique for that, you can find it here...
[www.reddeerblog.com]
(and it doesn't involve running away to a tropical island with the secretary, although that sounds good to)
Eduardo
thisluckyguy
rmrf
Posted 5:27 AM 21/2/08
#8 - just miss some emergency email and you have a good chance to get fired. :(
rmrf
klumsy
Posted 5:27 AM 21/2/08
sweet stuff.
klumsy
monster79
Posted 5:27 AM 21/2/08
#11 Cut back on reading Lifehacker at work (sorry Lifehacker!)
monster79
Scott K.
Posted 5:27 AM 21/2/08
#11 Don't log into Twitter :)
Scott K.
baconner
Posted 5:27 AM 21/2/08
um... quit?
baconner
jarhead
Posted 5:27 AM 21/2/08
Regarding #8 - an impossibility if you own a Blackberry... Pavlov's dog... I'm just saying...
I really need to learn the whole brain dump trick... I wake up way too many times at night thinking of things... drives me crazy...
jarhead
Jarick
Posted 5:27 AM 21/2/08
What about those of us who only do mindless busywork all day?
Jarick
subtle
Posted 7:33 AM 21/2/08
This is the one great thing about my job: I have one or two deadlines every day that have to be met no matter what. There is no homework. The next day, I start again. (I work at a newspaper.)
subtle
Posco Grubb
Posted 7:33 AM 21/2/08
I can vouch for 10, 9, 8 (in addition to not touching Google Reader in the first hour), 5, and 1. I try to do 2, but it's NOT EASY all the time. I must have ADD.
Posco Grubb
graphicsman
Posted 7:33 AM 21/2/08
I've taken many trips to Asia and I can relate. What I've found, it's not so much keeping yourself occupied, it's blocking out everything else around you (good set of noise cancelling headphones) and getting comfortable in the torture seat (blowup pillows etc.) that really matters. Also, execrcise, water and adjusting your internal clock so that when you get there, you're not a zombie. Have a great trip.
graphicsman
Shack
Posted 8:33 AM 21/2/08
@SEANOHARA: Haha, well that makes the "whining" parents pretty smart now doesn't it? :)
Personally, I have no desire to stay late at an office - why would I? Unless there is a specific project deadline that requires a number of people to stay there, there's just no good reason not to take control of your own time and maintain a balance. And the thought of taking a job where missing an "emergency" email first thing in the morning could get you fired...ouch. Time for a new gig.
As Monster79 and Scott K. point out - cut out the silliness online that sucks your life away. Maybe I'm just crotchety at the ripe old age of 33, but I have no use for things like Twitter in my daily existence. Try getting away from that stuff - will your life really suffer?
I personally do pretty much everything on this list except #10, which I don't personally need to do in order to justify getting the hell out of the office. It's just not that much fun there. :)
Shack
vered
Posted 8:33 AM 21/2/08
If the boss is a parent, she relates to having to pick up one's kids better than to meeting a friend for drinks. Implying that working parents are whiny and don't work as hard is judgmental and unfair. Many parents leave the office early, pick up their kids, take care of them, and get back to work at night, when the kids are in bed.
vered
SeanOHara
Posted 8:33 AM 21/2/08
My experience is that parents don't leave on time because they get all their work done, but because they whine, "I have to pick Johnny up from daycare by 5:00," and the boss gives in. For some reason, "I've got to meet my friends for drinks" doesn't work as well.
SeanOHara
informationcenter
Posted 10:33 AM 21/2/08
I love the spirit of this article. However I have to agree with a previous poster, following number 8 could be catastrophic to your organization or career. Many organizations use email as a primary mode of communication (built in documentation, whereas phone calls leave no trail), suppose you need to prepare a report for a 9AM meeting, reboot a server at a scheduled time, upload a feed, make a scheduled call to a client, etc. Missing that hour could have devastating consequences.
That said we all know if that situation would work for us or not. In my experierence (IT sector) not checking your email for 1/8 of your day, is about as good as spending that hour writting your letter of resignation.
informationcenter
Consumer007
Posted 11:37 AM 21/2/08
The problem of course with Number 8 is that all the efficient busybodies will be like "I EMAILED you that piece of information, WHY are you asking me about it verbally? DON'T YOU READ YOUR EMAIL?! Sigh.
Consumer007
rscotta
Posted 11:37 AM 21/2/08
Great ideas all around, and even better, most of them actually do work in practice.
Re #8, undoubtedly there are some jobs that require constant email vigilance. But there are also many where last-minute "urgent" emails are just knee-jerk reactions or the result of bad organization.
Knowing the difference, now, there's the rub...
rscotta
rtipping
Posted 12:37 PM 21/2/08
I can see the merits of the list its comforting to know others want to hide and I can relate heavily to "frozen brain" however since most of the readers here are perhaps a tad geeky(eh hem)asking them not to check there e-mail is a lot like saying don't go to the washroom when you get out of bed.
Of course for many of us the washroom and the crackberry are part in parcel but we wont go there before breakfast.
rtipping
aeronaut
Posted 1:57 PM 21/2/08
My office is a cube farm since we travel so much. There are many, many distractions during the day. I opt for a change of pace. Set up in an empty conference room for a couple of hours if you can't get out of the office. Set up at the library, Panera, the coffee shop or home if you can. Right now I'm at Panera, though it is 7:30 pm!
aeronaut
ex-tvwriter
Posted 4:17 PM 21/2/08
Wow. I'm amazed that so many people seem to be terrified to wait an hour to check their email. That's definitely a symptom of this need we have developed to be in constant contact with the workplace/boss, 24/7/365. And we worker-bees have conditioned the hive leaders to expect it from us.
If you're the go-to guy for some vital service -- the only one who can restart the respirators at the hospital, execute a stock trade at a certain time, deliver the script pages to the 80+ people waiting on the set, etc. -- I could see being always on-call. Otherwise... I honestly don't get it.
Solely from my experience, most of the emails I've ever gotten at work (even when I was the only one with the script pages) were an interruption of my normal workflow. Not necessarily an emergency, just an interruption. Nothing that had to be done in five minutes or the sky would fall, just stuff that needed to be handled, usually without much urgency. The only difference between that task and any other is the fact that it was delivered by email instead of other means.
I don't know, to each his own I guess. But if an hour seems like an eternity to you, try waiting half as long, just once, and see how things go. Tell your boss you're going to experiment with a productivity thing and give it a shot.
And of course, you'll be accomplishing other things during that emailless half hour.
ex-tvwriter
kismatastrophy
Posted 9:21 PM 21/2/08
I too am surprised that everyone believes not checking your email in the first hour of work will be the end of your career. Its not like you check it while at lunch or if you have to take some personal time to see a doctor or something. An emergency email is sort of an oxymoron in itself.
Try this, if your office uses outlook then open up your inbox and scan for those yellow alert emails. if there are non close it immediately then go back in half an hour. If anyone needs to gripe about you missing an urgent email the first hour you have been at work. Tell them "I'm sorry, I didn't see any emails marked urgent and I really don't have time to read every single email I have in the first hour at work in order to find out whats urgent and whats not."
Better yet just strap your face to your monitor so you will be constantly alerted if anyone needs to send an email forward of a caterpillar fucking a french fry.
kismatastrophy
Terry
Posted 10:22 PM 21/2/08
I have to admit, I'm a little confused by this entire article. I'm aware of the fact that personal stress is an issue for many people, and that we should all do what we can to keep it under control, but there's a reason we call it WORK, people. You get paid to accept a certain amount of personal responsibility on behalf of someone else. Sometimes it's stressful, sometimes it's not. It's not in the design spec, however, for work to be fun. If your work is fun for you (as mine is), good for you - you're one of the few, rare, lucky ones. For most people, though, work is not fun. It's stressful and difficult. That's why we don't call it PLAY.
Terry
firefoxx66
Posted 12:22 AM 22/2/08
I really like number 2 - this kind of stuff is the only way I get anything done at all (except programming - but I'm a bio major, God knows why). But - when/how do you go BACK to work? If I take a break every 10 minutes, I fall too easily into the trap of taking a 10-15 min break... How can I force myself to jump back in, and how long is reasonable for 10 min work?
firefoxx66
geohacker
Posted 6:38 AM 22/2/08
Not all tips will work for all people. Obviously some of us have to read email as soon as we are in our office chair in preparation for the AM meeting at 8:30. Others have the opportunity to try it out. If you are one of the latter, how could you modify Tip #8 to fit your workplace and still benefit?
Also, as some have hinted at, email is sort of the defacto method of communicating in an age where we have many options. Sometimes other methods of communication would be better and sometimes the communication itself could be delayed. I'm guilty of "over-emailing" myself.
geohacker
GBMax
Posted 4:03 AM 23/2/08
Re notorious #8, one approach I have used is to scan email - subject lines only! - to see if there are any bombs awaiting, and if not, move on.
GBMax
leenad
Posted 4:03 AM 23/2/08
My 2ct on #8 and the correlating discussion:
It sure depends on the job you have - while a system administrator's job might depend on virtually seconds, I do not have that urgent emails (working on research projects).
However, some partners just call in "I sent you the 20 pages document 5 minutes ago, what do you think about it?". (Please deduct another 3 minutes for the mail to pass spam detection on an overloaded server)
So it is not only about the way we handle our email reading, but also what we expect from others reading our emails. It seems that the speed of email exerts inherently pressure on the speed we are supposed to process the mail.
Perhaps we should think about the two stages separately. If the problem requres urgent attention, we might need another kind of commumication (e.g. phone) - who assures me, that the recipient is not ill at home today, or another hour in a traffic jam? By email we never know...
leenad
pagedown
Posted 4:03 AM 23/2/08
one book, time management for system administrators by Thomas Limoncelli. This book is changing my job from juggling robot automaton to director of operations. I can even see having a life in the not too distant future.
pagedown
BLTMN
Posted 4:03 AM 23/2/08
Feeds used to eat up waaaay too much of my day (thanks in no small part to you, Lifehacker). I've now adopted a simple technique. I use Outlook as my RSS reader - once an hour I check e-mail and feeds. If an article looks interesting, I flag it for follow-up and mark everything as read. Then I get back to work. At the end of the day, or more likely at home that night, I read my screened list of posts. I keep my day moving, but avoid wading through a flood of new posts at the end of the day.
Also, I agree whole-heartedly with EX-TVWRITER that many of us have allowed work to take over our lives 24/7. I've learned the hard way that sacrificing your personal time and other boundaries for the sake of work only leads to more work, and often allows the bosses to get away with poor organization. Don't be an enabler! Unless there's a truly burning need, or a clear reward, go home (and read your Lifehacker).
Finally, I cannot imagine sending or receiving any e-mail that couldn't wait an hour or two. I know it depends on your responsibilities, company, culture, etc., but I've never thought of e-mail as an instant or urgent medium. That's why we have cell phones.
BLTMN
onesix18
Posted 12:07 AM 24/2/08
Gina, a good, well-thought-out post. My favorites:
10. Make a lunch or dinner date (to create a deadline). -- Every day I'm in the office, it's my goal to be home, changed and romping on the floor with my kids by 5:30-6:30 at the latest. Earlier if I can. This cuts out a lot of BS from my day, keeps me focused. I'm 34, and in 7-8 hours I do the same amount of work I used to do in 16 hours when I was 24.
9. Write down the first thing you have to do tomorrow morning and put it on your keyboard before you leave the office. -- I've done this for years and it's a great suggestion. Really works.
7. Decide NOT to do one task on your to-do list and cross it off. -- Freeing yourself from guilt is very productive.
5. Cut someone off. -- True, if you need to get back to work, this can be useful. However... I've found that many times these meandering conversations lead to great ideas (certainly not always), and they develop rapport with others. Depends on the person. Unless I have something that truly needs to be done *now* (almost never), I stay and chat. The good will and brain wandering are worth it, even if it's painful sometimes. And never cut your boss off, by the way. If she/he's in the mood to chat, guest what: it's time to chat.
Good post.
onesix18
smheath
Posted 12:07 AM 24/2/08
I completely disagree with #6. I would much rather receive a long email with plenty of information than get a phone call with a person spewing words at me to try to remember. I'll have to write it all down anyway, so I'd rather just have it typed up in an email to begin with.
smheath
ninthtime
Posted 7:39 AM 26/2/08
I love to use the stickies program on the mac. Any to do item, any thought is written down in real time. I constantly review and rereview the stickies throughout the day. It's like Steve Austin enhanced memory recall. I recently got into the dedicated stickies-esque program Sidenote (Mac only) which takes the stickies program, and improves on it. Good stuff.
ninthtime
jbkendrick
Posted 5:34 AM 11/3/08
I recently happened upon the Getting Things Done system developed by David Allen, who has a book by that same name, and it has revolutionized how I spend and save time during my workday. The only thing I found missing in David's book was a way to implement GTD online, and carry it with me wherever I go. I found that in a web-based application called Nozbe, which I have written about in my latest post at [johnkendrick.wordpress.com] Perhaps it will help someone else as much as it has me.
jbkendrick