Time Management

Two things I learned from The Time Management Class I took last week.

1.) Microsoft Outlook can work against you. It might seem at first thought that the option to have the email alert give you a little pop up with a ding sound would be a good idea, but it's not. If you are in the middle of a task and you get this pop up, you look at it, click on it, read the email and then decide whether or not to deal with it. If you decided to deal with it after you current task then you have just time wasted about sixty seconds from that task. If you, like me, tend to work from your emails and constantly go back and forth between a task and your emails, then you are wasting more time than just sixty seconds at a time. I get around sixty emails a day. Do the math and see how much time I've spent prioritizing emails.

Solution: Turn off the email alert and schedule time through out your day to check your emails. You will be able to get that working task done faster and without the frustration of trying to multi-task. *If you are interested in changing the email notification setup in Outlook, shoot me an email and I'll send ya directions.

2.) You are carrying way too much information in your mind. The instructor advised that the average person carries around thirty to fourty things to remember in their minds, whether it is work related or relating to their personal life. This creates mind clutter, stress, inefficiency, and the risk to forget things. Do you have trouble sleeping at night? Do ya wake up in the middle of night with the thought of something you were supposed to do and forgot?

Solution: Mind dump. Get a piece of paper and write everything down on a piece of paper all those little things you've been meaning to do. I had somewhere between twenty and thirty. Oil change, inspection sticker, change AC filter at home, send a thank you note, call a friend.....Now treat that piece of paper like a check list and check it off as you go along.

I did do both of these and having been feeling more efficient and have been feeling more at ease this week.

Mood: Carefree.