10X your time

Time is finite. Yet, for reasons largely unknown, we find it so incredibly easy to overlook the most valuable resource we all truly possess. It doesn’t how much money you make in your career, how beautiful your relationships are or how greatly you value the beautiful free country we live in, we all tend to fall into the habit of easily throwing away time.

Consider this; simply under-utilising 10 minutes a day will account for more than 2.5 days every single year. Over your peak working career and between the age of 25-60, this accounts for 3 full months! Can you imagine what you can possibly achieve if you were granted 3 free months to do whatever you please…? Crazy right.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the purpose of this post isn’t to eliminate the things which are so incredibly important in our lives; rest and relaxation, quality time with your partner on the couch at home on a Sunday afternoon. Moreso; it’s a timely reminder of the necessity to identify that 10 minutes you have every day which can be better utilised. And believe me, this is a work in progress so finding ways to hold yourself accountable with apps, post-it notes in your office and Iphone alerts is the key to sustaining this life hack.

These 6 tips will optimise your time, allow you to be more productive in your approach to life and get you an extra 2.5 days of time every single year. So let’s get to it.

1. Habits need to be replaced rather than eliminated. Elimination simply isn’t sustainable in any form and this goes for the best of them – poor eating habits, the over-consumption of alcohol, smoking or social media addiction. When we identify a bad habit,replace them with something desirable as opposed to eliminating it. As an example;  when you go to pick up your phone and scroll through your social media accounts for an hour before going to bed, instead you pick up a book and get through a chapter before going to sleep. Think replace, not eliminate. And if you’re able to implement a productive replacement in place of this habit, you are well on the way to becoming a more productive, knowledgeable person.
2. Make conscious improvements to your life without committing time. Everyone has certain quirks and insecurities with their body. Mine was always my teeth. So rather than spend over $10,000 and sit in the chair at a dentist for hours on end to get veneers, i reached out to WonderSmile (www.wondersmile.com.au) to make my dreams of straight white teeth a reality. An orthodontist designed my custom clear aligners, the process was quick and i had them delivered right to my door. 16 weeks later I had the most perfect teeth at a quarter of the cost. A little bit of research made all the difference in achieving a superior result.
3. Focus on maximising your transitions. When broken down, your life is ultimately a series of transitions from one activity to the next. If you give it some thought, we waste huge amounts of time on transition periods. Eg. I’m just going to quickly check emails before I do XXX. I’m just going to grab a cup of tea before i do XXX. In summary; “I’m just going to <insert procrastinating task> before I <insert task I should be doing>”. You need to set up your day to maximise your flow state. Hold yourself accountable through planning. And the most important of these starts from the series of transitions you take from waking up to starting work. For some, this process can take hours (excluding the time you take to exercise of course) and should really take no more than 20 minutes. Optimise it and you’ll find another 20 minutes in your day here, every day, without doubt.
4. Make checklists. Script your day ahead. Allocate just 5 minutes every night, in bed and before going to sleep, to plan your day ahead. That’s all it takes. Clearly allocate your time and put it on paper. This will perfectly execute your day in two ways… Firstly, through planning the night before and capturing this on paper, you’re effectively building the schedule into your subconscious which helps to optimise its execution the following day. And, secondly, latest studies have identified that you are 42% more likely to achieve sought outcomes when you hand write your daily task list. Something that takes such minimal time yet will deliver such a powerful outcome should be something so easy to implement. Make the effort tonight to script your day through a checklist and identify exactly what you need to do and how much time you need to do it. Nothing more.
5. Meal preparation. Bulk meal preparation is an enormous time-saver. I’m sure you’ve all heard this one before right? So why don’t we do it? The  amount of time this saves is daunting. It will significantly reduce the number of grocery store trips (just consider how long for a moment this actually takes when including transit, parking, shopping, waiting in queue, checkout, unloading the car, transit home, unloading groceries and then putting away in your fridge/cupboard). Imagine just eliminating one of these trips a week? It also reduces the bad habit of ‘wandering’ at the supermarket. Who else does this? This is possibly one of my worst habits that I constantly need to pull myself up on. There are two key ways to easily implement this. The first, as a starting point, is to bulk purchase staple items for the week ahead and put aside 20 minutes to cut them and then seal in an air tight container in the fridge so you can pull out and utilise in your dishes as necessary. The second, which many of you will have tried at some point in your lives, is to utilise a meal delivery service. There are many options out there these days and sometimes it can be difficult to sift through these businesses to find one suitable for you. My favourite to date, and one which i continue to use regularly, based on value for money, consistent quality of produce and an overall well-seasoned taste is Soulara (www.soulara.com.au/).  Whether it be meal delivery or meal preparation, both options will leave you with more time on your hands. Guaranteed.
6. Identify the intentions of every project or task in that set time frame. Our default mode as humans often tends to be in identifying the big picture and what the ultimate outcome or task is. But what is the outcome you’re hoping to achieve from this task today? Can you deliver the whole outcome? Unlikely? So break it down. Looking at the big picture without a focus on what needs to be done today can easily waiver your focus and you will often find yourself easily drifting to other, more interesting, tasks to complete. Like catching up with a friend for a quick coffee at 9:30am before you get stuck into the day ahead. Identify the key outcome you desire (for the allocated time you have) and your subconscious will start moving in that direction in order to optimise your outcome. Taking this process is also extremely powerful on your focus in that achieving a daily sought outcome will surge your endorphins in keeping you aligned with the bigger picture goal.
7. Bulletproof your environment. Make this a non-negotiable. How you feel about your space determines how productive you are. A messy room has negative impact on your subconscious and you will dwell over your tasks rather than hit them full steam ahead. Well organised spaces allow you to be productive. Once a week – clean out your car, clean up your wardrobe, clean up your study space and enjoy the benefits of being surrounded by a clean environment. A highly organised person is also a highly efficient one.

We all have the same 24hrs in a day. All we have is time. This should give you a healthy dose of anxiety. Step your game up and make the most of the most valuable resource we have. Life is short – own it. Every day raise the standard a little more and make sure your daily activities align with your values.

Live the life you love.