Do you ever feel like there’s just not enough time in the day? Like, if you only had 5 hours more, you’d totally get everything on your to-do list done and under control? Why is it that some people can get an extreme amount of things done, yet you feel like you can’t? What do they know that you don’t?
Work Smarter Not Harder
If you can relate, your definitely in the right place. For many years, I felt just like that.
It wasn’t until I heard a sarcastic joke that really knocked some sense into me. The punchline went something like this, “We all have the same amount of time…..not enough. We all have the same amount of money…not enough.” They went on to say that everyone has the same amount of time. 24 hours. It’s what we do with it, that really matters.
So, I went on this personal mission to learn how to spend my time better, more effective and efficient.
In order of importance that I’ve found the most helpful in my journey:
1) Use Roman Chamomile essential oil. This oil is amazing and one of my daily oils. I simply rub a drop on my wrist in the morning and I’m good to go all day long. It keeps me focused, and although I can’t explain it, it helps me stay on track. I can easily figure out in my head what the most important thing to do it, and then do is, all subconsciously! It’s a fantastic product, and if you’re not already using it daily, you’re really missing out. You will see the difference within minutes!
2) RescueTime. This is a program that you install on your computer. It logs everything you do and categorizes it. You can go in to the program and categorize things yourself on a scale of how productive this particular program you use is. For example, I set Facebook to productive, because most of the time, I’m using it for one of my sites. I don’t generally just hang out there and waste time. That may be different for someone else and being completely honest with an inanimate computer program will score you the best results. Once you see where your wasting time, you can begin to work on changing that. You can even go in and set timers for particular categories, and block distracting programs! It’s a really neat program that runs in the background. You don’t even know it’s there (also good for keeping an eye on your teens perhaps). Each week, I get emails showing me my score of how productive I’ve been that week, and I can adjust my behavior based on that. Since I work from home, it’s really helped me.
3) Write down your goals. For your business and personal life. What are your top 5 goals?
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Next, figure out how you can accomplish them. What tasks can you do to accomplish them? How long will it take you to achieve them? Make a plan to accomplish them.
4) Try more things more often. If your not seeing success doing it this way, try another, and another. Keep changing things up until you hit that sweet spot. I guarantee you, it’s there. You just have to find it. Two years ago, I hit my sweet spot in one of my businesses, and have been making a killing ever since. It was trial and error until then. As it is with everything. But, if you’re committed to something, you can make it work. Just keep trying different things and see what works and what doesn’t. Which leads me to my last tip.
5) Measure your results. What is working? What is not? How do you know? I’ll painfully give you an example. In one of my businesses, I thought that this particular website (not this one) was doing great. I thought that I had a lot of visitors, and everyone liked it. Well, how did I know that? The truth is, I didn’t. I just assumed. I had been pouring a lot of time and energy into the site. So, I decided to move the site to WordPress and get Google Analytics on it. So, that I could accurately track my visitors, what they really liked, etc. Oh man. I’m so embarrassed to even say this, but that site was a dud. At the time that I checked it, the past couple months, I had less than 10 visitors!!!!!! I was heart-broken. I was paying about $90/year to keep that website, putting time and energy into it, but it wasn’t translating into sales at all. In fact, what WAS translating was a completely different platform. So, after a few years of that website, when I found that out, I had to stop it. I saved my $90/year and am getting much more sales, by focusing on this other platform, that is, lucky for me, FREE!!!!!!
What would happen if I didn’t measure my results? I would have gone on lying to myself, because it’s what I wanted to hear and thought was successful. I would have continued to overpay $90/year on something that was not profiting me or anyone else anything. I would have continued to spend time on something that no one cared about. I essentially wasted all that time that could have been spent on truly profitable areas.
Always measure your results. You will spend less time, and sometimes, as in my case, less money!
