How to Get More Done in a Day

Do you never take a break during the day?

Are you always doing overtime and still can’t catch up? There is something wrong here!

We all have the same 24 hours as the most successful people. But somehow they do all their work, do it well and still spend quality time with their families and friends.

So what makes them different?

Hard work alone isn’t enough to achieve real financial success. We need to manage our time more efficiently to get more done in less time.

Here are some tips to help you organise and manage your 24 hours as efficiently as possible:

1- Plan your Week and Day:

Plan each day in advance and organise your calendar. You will get more done, faster and smoother.

It is essential to know where everyone is, when someone is available and when they aren’t. Shared calendars are great tools for this.

The more you control your calendar, the easier it is to manage the unexpected.

• The night before or early in the morning, check your calendar to see what jobs you have for the day
• Do jobs in chunks: avoid unnecessary travelling – book your customers in the same area together, especially if you are working in a large city; don’t waste time travelling to the same area a few times a day.
• Expect the unexpected. Confirm your appointments before you get there to minimise the waiting time for the customers.
• If you have an office team, make sure your office organises your calendar and confirms appointments for you. All you need to do is to go from job to job and get the work done.

2- Don’t Procrastinate – Do your Work on Site:

Procrastination is the thief of time.

Small tasks like invoicing and creating certificates should be done immediately after the work is completed and while still at the job site.

It‘s always much easier when everything is fresh in your mind.

If you can get into the habit of taking action quickly, you’ll power through your day.

3- Delegate and Automate:

Delegate tasks to others who will do them better, and focus on what you do best.

Do the things that only you can do.

If you have office team make sure they do all the bookings, confirming appointments, taking calls from the customers and paperwork.

If you don’t have any employees, you can still delegate some of the work.

You can use the right tools and software to delegate some of the common tasks – chasing quotes, chasing unpaid invoices, setting automatic service reminders, etc., to technology.

By delegating to technology, you can automate all the repetitive tasks and avoid duplication.

You’ll be amazed at how much time you save by automation.

4- Leverage the Right Tools and Technology:

With technology you can leverage tools and make sure things don’t fall through the cracks.

Tools and software are key to any kind of working, but even more so when you work remotely in field.

The right tools and software make us more efficient and productive and with them we might not need that extra staff member.

Ideally you want to be able to make the most of any down time you have during the day – either waiting for a customer or the next appointment.

You also want to be able to record everything straight away so nothing is forgotten and you don’t need to try and remember everything while you are doing other things.

By keeping it all in the Cloud, you can access anything you need immediately, on the go, without waiting until you’re back at your desk.

Spending a few hours on systemising and automating your business, will save you lots of time and let you to focus on getting more customers or just getting the work done.

5- Work Hard and Work Smart:

Hard work isn’t always productive or efficient.

Hard work is definitely necessary, but being efficient and productive with your time is more important.

Unnecessary hard work will make you exhausted, will burn you out and you won’t have any energy left over to grow your business or be with your family.

Working smart is the multiplier that turns your hard work into results faster.

Try and be Results-Oriented, and focus on solving the problems.

Working smart would be using the right tools, making the most of any free time, reducing duplicated efforts such as writing out same details over and over and having systems that enable you to have everything on hand all the time.

Don’t spend hours sending emails to customers when you can just automate the task.

6- Simplify the Jobs:

There are a few ways to make big jobs more manageable and finish as quick as possible:

• Prioritise well.
• Focus on one thing at a time; don’t multi task.
• Start with the biggest, hardest, and most important task first.
• Break it down to simple steps.
• Have a sense of urgency.
• Check off your completed jobs on your calendar.

7- Take a Break:

Listen to your body and stop when you are tired, or you won’t perform well.

Working without any breaks will burn you out.

Balance your work and home life and make sure you rest enough and get away from work so that you will be relaxed, fresher, faster, better and more productive when you work.

Note: This Article is Originally Published in Registered Gas Engineer Magazine – Issue 105, December 2017