Accomplish More Each Day With These 6 Strategies

You wake up in the morning, full of thoughts of all the things you are going to do during the day. Yet, by nighttime, you find that you have not managed to accomplish as much as you expected to. You wonder how time flew so quickly and wish you had more hours in a day. If you can connect with this state of mind, pay attention to this quote from H. Jackson Brown Jr., American bestselling author of Life's Little Instruction Book. He says, "Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein."

As the quote aptly puts across, what we need is not more hours in a day – it is the ability to use the time we have in a wise manner so as to accomplish our goals. When it comes to managing your time, it is as much about doing certain things as about not doing certain things. Here are a few dos and don'ts to help you accomplish more every day.

Make a Daily "To-do" List

Having a clear picture of what you need to do is half the battle won. Every night before you go to bed, make a list of things to do the next day. Prioritize activities; break down bigger jobs into smaller steps and set realistic timelines for each. The next morning, take a look at this list and get to work. Keep the list handy and keep looking at it during the day; tick off the tasks you have completed and track how much you have accomplished.

Sleep and Wake Up Early

What's common to Ernest Hemmingway, Immanuel Kant, Benjamin Franklin, Isaac Newton, Mahatma Gandhi and Dalai Lama? That they achieved great heights in their chosen fields? Yes; but also that they were all early risers. When you sleep early, you can wake up early, and this gives you a few more hours to work on your list. Especially if people around you are still sleeping, it can also give you some precious silence and the ability to focus on your work without interruptions.

Take Timely Decisions

When faced with the need to make a decision, do it as quickly as possible. Answer emails at once with relevant information; if your co-workers or subordinates approach you with a problem, tackle it as early as possible. Keeping things pending is not a solution because it only eats up valuable mental space as well as your time.

Get Organized

If all your time is wasted in looking for things, it isn't surprising you find it difficult to accomplish much. Get organized with your living and working space, clear clutter out and stay more mindful of where you keep things. The same applies to your daily routine, too. Have set times for eating and sleeping; this will help you stay healthy and energetic and a fixed routine allows you to plan your day better.

Keep Distractions Away

Although they are helpful in many ways, electronic gadgets can be a major distraction, too. Perhaps you take just a quick minute to check your email or send a status update through the social media network; but getting back to concentrate on the task on hand can take a few minutes. If you do this about 10 to 20 times in a single day, you lose a significant amount of time. The same applies to other distractions such as chatting with a co-worker or texting or phoning a friend when you are at work. Close your internet browser, put your phone into silent mode, close your office door or put up a "do not disturb" sign and schedule a fixed time of the day to tackle your email and socialize online – you will be surprised at the amount of time you gain each day.

Cut out the Energy Drainers

Watching television is one of the activities we often do on autopilot mode; yet, it is one of the activities that rarely contributes in any meaningful way. Watching news, soaps or celebrity shows is often just a waste of time and may even be an unknown source of negativity. You are definitely better off reading a book or spending time with your family; so cut down on the amount of TV you watch.

Once you begin to adopt these practices, you are bound to see an improvement in the number of things you manage to accomplish each day. However, there is always the likelihood of slipping up without realizing it. Therefore, make it a point each day to spend a few minutes at different times of the day to review how well you have been following these guidelines and if you notice yourself getting back to your old habits, take immediate action. With such an approach, you will truly utilize every one of the 1440 minutes you have in a day; there is no way you will ever again complain about how you wish there were more hours in a day.

 

Just think about nature and you'll find it easier to change your habits. Nature sleeps at night and we are part of the nature. Going against the nature will destroy our biorhythms and will affect us in the long run.

 

Agree that they are nocturnal creatures but human beings aren't. All the lions are nocturnal. There aren't some lions who are diurnal. The same holds for all other species. They are either diurnal or nocturnal. Human beings on other hand have tried to change their natural patterns based on the need. Lions and tigers don't do that. They are nocturnal because they need to hunt at night. It's not their choice. However, human beings have a powerful mind, which gives them the power to choose. And thus the ability to go against the nature instead of going with the flow.

That's how I feel