Hot answers tagged time-saving
16
I have been coming up against the same barrier since my children were born (six years and counting...:-). Although I haven't found a sweet spot yet, I found the following helpful
I work in the morning before everyone gets up, or in the evening after everyone has gone to sleep. It really depends on the type of person you are and your family situation.
I ...
9
If I'm working at home, I'm setting the job to ring an audible bell (I like working in screen, so when I'm waiting for something to complete, I just switch windows and screen will notify me of any new output in the background window), or display a widely visible notification when done. I then can go around and do some household chores, each of them dreaded ...
9
I can think of three choices:
Read (like when people read a magazine in the bathroom or Google puts up their "testing in the toilet" newsletter on the wall of the stall.
Think/relax/take a break - it is possible to be too productive. This is one of the few times nobody is talking you to you. Sometimes if you let your brain relax, ideas will come to you. ...
6
Use the Internet but use it mindfully. It's like eating food, you can get your calories from junk food or healthy food. You have to be disciminating about which ckind of food you put into your body and which kind of information you put into your head. All things on the Internet are not correct or useful. Many sites are extremely biased. Try to get a ...
6
Research has shown that we remember things best by spaced repetition. My grandfather summarized it when talking about an oil finish on wood: daily for a week, weekly for a month, monthly for a year, yearly for life. The same kind of process (although perhaps with different intervals) is what works for people's memories, too. See Wikipedia on spaced ...
5
Meeting people who have similar goals. Or just meeting people who have goals.
People are like monkeys, they instinctively copy each other. We instinctively copy each other; that also includes you and me. The best way to make yourself do X is to surround yourself with people who do X. Then the instinctive desire to fit in the group will provide you a lot of ...
5
Yes, there are a number of these in various countries, and more seem to be popping up all the time. Useful search terms would be Mail Boxes and Package Holding.
In the UK one of our big ones is Mail Boxes Etc. who not only provide a basic mailbox, but also a wide range of services around that function, including phone notification when mail arrives.
I ...
5
Set a reasonable deadline for yourself and simultaneously give yourself other important work to do that day so that you have something to fill the remainder of the time. Without a deadline of some sort, it's easy to let work consume all available time. And without other work/activities to move on to, the deadline can feel less relevant.
A common method of ...
5
I answer questions at productivity.stackexchange.com. :-)
More directly to the point, I look for activities that are easy to timebox into a short frame.
I might browse an RSS feed, and pop anything I want to read into a new window. That's the task, done, back to work.
Or review questions here, pop each one I want to look at into a new window, and ...
5
Congratulations. You have learned to "throw money at a problem". Getting home fast or avoiding doing laundry are clear, repeatable, understandable problems and you can figure out your dollar threshold for it.
Unfortunately, the other two examples are not "problems". They are "challenges". The challenge of playing the game of price comparison, the challenge ...
5
I think you want Evernote with some add-ons from the trunk.
Evernote lets you clip sections or full web pages, create notes, import files. You can do it from a browser add-on, a web application, a desktop program, or a handheld device (iOS, android,others) Anything you add from one client is very quickly available from all other clients.
The Evernote ...
5
My boys are 3yrs and 7months. We get slammed by their demands at this stage of their lives. It's hard but do-able.
I negotiate with my girlfriend. I make sure I spend enough time with them (and her alone...I'm not just a father, I'm also her boyfriend and her friend, so I also need to make time for her). I call this gf points. So, I use them so I can go to ...
4
I tend to work:
06.30 to 08.30 - strategic planning, checking emails
08.30 to 18.00 - normal work day
18.00 to 20.00 - family time
20.00 to 00.00 - band practice, relaxing, emails, document writing
That slot between 18.00 and 20.00 is the most important for feeling like I am doing something useful in the world:-)
Weekends are entirely for family, friends ...
4
When developing (as you mention compiling as one of the time wasters), I like to use that time to ponder the design and big picture, and to think about the next steps.
Also have a look at this question which had this obligatory xkcd comic posted in the top answer:
4
I can think of two approaches - both involve "delegating" some of the work.
Self correction
Write the type of mistake and ask students to resubmit with THEM listing the corrections. This is likely to work better for some types of errors such as spelling. But it does same time in the long run. It also lets the students learn more by looking them up. In ...
4
It is definitely useful to be able to get the information you need, however you need to place constraints, as there is much more information posted on the Internet each day than a single individual can take in.
If you tailor RSS feeds, memberships of sites and news/user groups to the subjects which you are interested in, or that will impact your ...
3
If you have an Android phone, find out yourself. Sleep as Android is a really good application for tracking sleep, though you'd have to pay a little extra for the visual statistics.
Interestingly, the statistics show that I sleep deepest when I fall asleep at 5 AM. But this is most likely due to being exhausted wasting the night on something. I get a lot of ...
3
Try figure out why you're taking more time than you think you should. Speak to a doctor if you find yourself consistently spending more time than others in the bathroom for some kind of personal health related reason.
A smart phone can be really useful for these breaks, for e.g. read through your todo list for the day to make sure you're on top of ...
3
I happen to have a good example which is part of my life that shows how this is a problem.
I come earlier than the normal worker to the office, so it's pretty calm and nobody's around. Also, I always leave my computer on, and it usually keeps on on its battery from one day to another (it's a notebook and I leave it sleeping). However, when I come in on ...
3
I would say delegate as much as you can, but keep an open communication channel with those you delegate to, so that they can feel free to tell you when they have (more than) enough on their plate. The less you have to do yourself, the more awesome things you can do.
Also, try to be as clear as possible when you delegate. Make the tasks and objectives as ...
3
Determine, what is important to you. Important things are those one, which has impact on your future, things which will lead you to your aims. Don't delegate important things.
Every time ask yourself what do you achieve by doing some job and whether it will be useful for you in the future.
When you are programmer and you want to improve your skills, do ...
3
Instead, I want to know what are the top choices for activities that I can shave time off of?
Uhm, internet procrastination? Some people could easily save hundreds of hours each month just by that. Focus on those things that take most of your time.
2
If I was in your situation, I would probably first try and figure out how much 'free' time I want or need. What is this 'free' time going to be used for?
Is it just to sit back and relax?
Do you want to work on a hobby/project?
Do you want to travel?
Do you want to spend more time with family and friends?
Once you have a number in your head, it will ...
2
It helped me to understand the economic concepts of opportunity cost, division of labour, and comparative advantage.
Basically you should delegate the tasks that either someone else can do better than you (or cheaper), and leave for yourself the tasks that earn you the most, or you can do better than anyone else.
The economist Paul Samuelson provided ...
2
Have a look at Document Scraps to see if it suits your needs.
If so, then you can set up a place where people can save and search for scrap files. Then create a procedure for people to follow so as to build up a library of reusable scraps.
1
I originally was using a package receiving service and paying $3.50 for every package, but found out that you can just use a P.O. Box for it. The P.O. Box I have accepts USPS, UPS, and FedEx. You just have to let them know you would like to ship boxes there as well with those services I think.
Basically they just told me that you have to have it shipped to ...
1
Provide students a checklist or a rubrics on common errors: Give them a check list that details common problems. Students can run through each item when doing their final proof-reading.
Make a list of common errors: Having accumulated all the example mistakes, she can start compiling a list of common errors. That piece of notes can be itself a teaching ...
1
"RSA Animate - Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us" notes the ideas of Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose that would be one idea for how to find inspiration to get back on the horse after things have gone off course.
A second idea would be to consider are your top values and how does your current work fit or conflict with those values. For ...
1
Other ways to spend money to gain time include:
hire a cleaning service
hire a dogwalker
use a personal shopper
use a travel agent
have your drycleaning picked up and delivered
have your car picked up and delivered (for maintenance)
have your groceries delivered (either from a grocery store or a CSA)
have your meals delivered
This last is a bit different ...
1
I personally use Remember the Milk, which serves the requirements you have, expect that it does run in a browser but with google gears you can also run it offline within Chrome, if that is an option for you
Reminders though due dates
Browser Window can be moved to second monitor
Different lists with the tagging funtion and saving searches for tags
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