It’s a scenario with which we are all familiar. You have a midday meeting, ostensibly only an hour long, but by the time you travel there, have the meeting, chat afterwards, and get back to the office, the majority of a day is gone. Or perhaps you plan to bring your laptop home to do an hour of work before supper, only to get stuck in traffic and barely make it in time to eat dinner and get everyone out to soccer practice.
While wasted time is sometimes unavoidable, a few simple schedule changes can often free up time you didn’t know was there—giving you more time for work and more time for family and friends. Managing your time effectively can make the difference between making a living and having a life.
First off, commuting to work is one of the best ways to suck productive time out of your day, particularly if you’re driving. Could you take public transit or carpool to work? While every moment spent on a train or a bus, or with someone else driving, is not necessarily productive, it’s a lot easier to draft a document or answer a backlog of emails when your hands aren’t on the wheel. Transit commuting is also a great time to read reports or industry magazines—activities that may not get your day-to-day tasks done faster, but will educate you about current challenges, opportunities, and new technologies in your field.
If you must drive alone to work, think about investing in a hands-free voice recorder. Drafting memos or emails, or outlining a longer document, will save time when you get to your desk to type it. If some of the thinking’s already done, the actual writing goes a lot faster.
Books or lectures on CD are another great way to make the solo commute go by faster, while also staying up to date on industry trends or new management techniques. Owners and managers can probably benefit the most from this strategy, as there are lots of management-oriented series out there that can give you great ideas to improve your business. And you can check out many of them at your local library.
Once you’ve dealt with your commute, look at the way you schedule your meetings. Rather than meeting with Jane from Heidelberg on Monday and Jeff from KBA on Tuesday, why not meet them both on the same day, particularly if their offices are near each other. It takes a bit of extra work to schedule appointments more efficiently, but the time, travel, and fuel savings bring both environmental benefits and a more relaxed work schedule.
Alternatively, try having your meetings come to you. Meeting clients on your own turf means less travel—and thus more time—for you. And it also gives you the opportunity to showcase your wares—be they your new presses, the latest mock-ups from your great design talent, or your exceptional customer service representatives.
I’ve said it before and I’ll suggest it again—try working from home. If you spend half an hour on the bus or an hour in the car each way to work, telecommuting once a week could give you a few hours of found time to be productive or to hit the snooze button.
Employees are often reluctant to bring up the idea of telecommuting, even if they are perfect candidates. If you’re afraid the idea won’t go over well, why not suggest a trial period of several weeks or months with an evaluation of your productivity at the end. Even if your employer decides afterward not to continue with the plan, you’ll at least get a few at-home days in the deal.
Be sure to create a space as free as possible from distraction when working from home. Your house can be an oasis of productivity, but it can also be full of little distractions if you’re surrounded by dirty dishes, broken appliances, messy shelves or other home improvements that are just five or ten minutes away from being done.
My final suggestion is perhaps unfashionable in a world where busyness is a badge of honour, but get enough sleep! When your body is tired, you are simply unable to concentrate as long, focus as well, or process as quickly as when you’re well-rested. Even if you’re scheduling your day as efficiently as possible, you won’t reap the rewards unless you’re able to use that extra time to your full potential. Running on adrenaline and caffeine is useful—perhaps even necessary—at times, but ultimately subtracts productivity from every minute.
Short of immediate retirement, you’ll probably always want more time for yourself. But every savings of time is a little bit more life to live as you desire.
Catherine M.A. Wiebe
catherine@graphicartsmag.com