Stop Chasing Time, It’s Not Coming Back

A few months ago I felt like I was drowning.  Every morning I tried to wake up with a positive attitude but was always trying to figure out how much I could get done in 24 hours. I would start off by immediately subtracting hours from my awake time. I deducted 6 hours for sleep, 2 hours for cooking dinner and cleaning the kitchen, and 1 hour for grabbing lunch and running errands. 

As the day went on and I realized I needed more time, I would reconfigure my day by reducing time allotted for tasks and sleep. 

Examples: If I cooked burgers instead of a more involved meal, that would take 30 minutes instead of 2 hours. If I ordered groceries and picked them up on the way to get lunch, that also only took 30 minutes. Then, I tackled my sleep time. I figured if I could get by with only 4 hours of sleep a couple of days per week and make it up over the weekend, that might be really helpful.

My big issue was obvious but I didn’t have a solution for it. I had more work than could be accomplished (realistically) by one person! But the overall and bigger issue? I realized how I spent my 24 hours wasn’t efficient. I needed to make a change.

Puzzled?

At this point, you may be wondering, “How can she help me if she can’t manage her own time?”

Let’s just say my mistakes provided me with a “second chance”. I’ve had time to reflect and do a lot of research and reading on the subject of efficiency. I know what I should have done differently and am now happy to share those tips with you!

Here are eight ways to improve efficiency and productivity. Implementing these strategies will help you reduce stress and give you and your team more time.

1. Build good habits. From the book Atomic Habits, James Clear states “Good habits make time your ally. Bad habits make time your enemy”. If you want to go from being overwhelmed to being in control, build habits that will address the root of the problem. Determine what you need to do consistently to get back more time in your day! Reading his book will give you a great start and path to making that change. 
2. Use what you already have to start automating tasks. Word and Excel have the functionality to help with built-in tools such as mail merge and/or macros. My belief?  “Google is your friend”. (I say that all the time). Search tasks to automate. For example, I googled “create pdf files from mail merge” to learn how to print letters to a PDF instead of a Word document”. Try it!
3. Don’t delegate the work you don’t want to do. Delegate tasks to team members that are value-added not just your grunt work. By thinking long-term and putting in time and effort to delegate work that aligns with the department/company vision, your team members will eagerly take on more work leaving you with more time in your day. 
4. Have more meetings. Yes, you read that correctly! Having short and focused meetings can be more productive than sending several emails a day on the same topic. A daily “stand up” meeting to work things out as a team can be used to share new information or guide team members to a solution.
5. Centralize issues and resolutions. Being in HR, I find that employees tend to rely on the first person they meet upon being hired (usually their orientation leader) to answer all of their HR questions. However, If they are eager, they may also ask their HR Generalist the same question. And… if they don’t get their answer fast enough they may go to the boss as well. If the 3 people involved are each working on a solution to help the new employee, that is a huge waste of time! Create and encourage your employees to use a centralized resource for their questions. This will not only reduce time spent but should provide the employee confidence and a uniform, quality experience.
6. Review your processes. Are the processes you implemented still adding value? For example, are you running weekly audits for programs that haven’t shown an error in 3 years? Are you running programs that employees no longer find valuable? When reviewing processes ask your team and business leaders “Who is asking for it?” and “What value does it add for that person?” If it can be eliminated, you’ve just bought yourself more time!
7. Create templates. Don’t reinvent the wheel each time you need to put together a meeting agenda, requirements document, operating procedure, standard email, or company communication. Create reusable templates in your favorite document tool or email program and put them to use.
8. Remove the bottlenecks, and take a look in the mirror. That bottleneck may be you! In an effort to always be in control and “manage”, you may be the one slowing down the process and inhibiting your team from moving on to the next task. Sometimes requiring approvals or reviews for “everything” can create an enabler relationship between you and your employees. It can be scary to “let go” but that is what a true leader does. If you want to find ways to get back more time, you need to reduce how much time others require of you and how much they rely on you. Clearly define the level of risk you are comfortable with and will support. Then, empower your employees to deliver those items without your approval within that risk threshold.

Wouldn’t it be nice not to wake up at 3 in the morning stressed and wondering how everything will get done (because you feel it needs to get done that day one way or another)?

Implementing any of the eight ideas mentioned will be the start of reducing your overwhelm… and take it from me, it will give you your time back, and that is the goal.

(Here’s a scientific fact for you... you can’t “make up” sleep time. It’s not possible).

Let me know if you need help implementing anything I shared or if you're looking for additional ideas. I’m always here to help.

I would love to know which of the tips spoke to you, which ones you are already doing, or which ones you will incorporate.