Time Savers For The Time Lacking

As a busy professional working mom, I have had to learn a few things about setting priorities and doing things to save me time NOW and not LATER.  Of course, I still have much to learn here as the box of mail in my office  lays shamefully hidden in the corner, the medical journals and flyers on CMEs and the newest medical gadgets overflowing.  It is the same scenario every day as I walk into my office:  Me with a pang of guilt and almost panic as I survey the ever-growing pile knowing that I could easily dump everything into the trash but there is still this part of me that thinks “wait, I might need to know the six signs of rare osteosarcoma should it come walking into my exam room once in the next thirty years” or “hey, I should be reading about phantom limb pain in my spare time (ha ha I laugh internally, this longstanding joke with myself since the kids were born).”  So the journals and letters and other fascinating pieces of scientific knowledge stay in the corner due to my fear of needing them in the future and the ever present realization that bringing home another bag of mail would bring the total count of scattered plastic bags in the house to seventeen.  My husband would be far from happy.. 

So I digress…like I mentioned before, it is important to let go of nonproductive activities (do not try to sort mail in big box when you know you won’t throw anything away in the end, it’s best just to leave it sitting there), and learn to set priorities.

1.  Start with “A-priority” tasks; is it the best use of your time?

2.  Fight procrastination; do it now if it’s important.

3.  Subdivide large, tough tasks into smaller, easily accomplished parts.

4.  Eastablish a quiet hour, even though it requires will power and may not always work. 

5.  Learn to say “no” when you’ve got something important to do.

6.  Learn to delegate. (Lina, anyone?)

7.  Accumulate similar tasks and do them all at one time.

8.  Minimize routine tasks; spend only the time they deserve. Shorten low-value interruptions. Throw away junk mail and other low-value paperwork. Delegate, shorten or defer indefinitely the C-priority tasks i.e. medical journals–I’m just kidding here folks, I do keep up on new findings    

9.  AVOID PERFECTIONISM. Remember the 80/20 maldistribution rule. 

10.  Avoid over-commitment. Be realistic about what you can do in the time you have.

11.  Do difficult things quickly; waiting doesn’t make them easier.

12.  Try to handle paper only once.

OK, now for the exercise part.  Many of you hear me nagging you about exercise and how important it is.  You’ve stomped your feet indignantly at the thought of 10,000 steps per day, and I’ve seen the horror cross many a face when I mention waking up earlier to exercise.  Exercise is fabulous for heart protection, stress reduction, immune boosting, mood elevation, pain relief, insomnia, weight loss, dementia prevention, the list goes on.  I do understand that you may feel too tired at the end of the day to exercise, or you may feel that you don’t have time to do it.  Here’s what I do when I only have 10-20 minutes to spare for exercise.  I put in Tony Horton’s 10 Minute Trainer and ta-dah it’s done.  You get the same cardiovascular benefits of 3 10 minute work-outs throughout the day as doing it all at once.  So, you may not have half hour blocks, but I’m sure you can find ten minutes to spare!

As for eating, I have found another time saver here as well.  There is a wonderful program on the web that helps you save time by meal planning for you.  It’s called Menu Planning Central and includes healthy menus, family friendly menus and vegetarian menus.  Not only do you save time by planning ahead, but you save money when grocery shopping.  I was trying to get by with the microwaveable Trader Joe’s foods, but who can blame the children for spitting up food when they’ve had the same lasagna, penne pasta with tomato sauce, rosemary chicken and wild rice in rotation for the past 5 months (I kid you not).  Meals are simple to prepare and are healthy as well.  Check it out here:

I hope you find the above ideas helpful for you in your crazy lives.  There will never be more than 24 hours in a day, so we just have to figure out how to get everything done with the time we have.  Now, go out and live!