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5 Tips to Become More Efficient

Do you end the day wondering where your time went? If your pile of projects never seems to get any smaller, you might not be channeling your efforts efficiently. And we get it—it’s easy to get absorbed in the daily grind, to take on too much, and to get distracted. But there’s hope! Try following these five tips to increase your efficiency and take back your workday.

Keep a time log. How much time do you really spend checking Facebook or texting friends? It may be more than you think. You can find out exactly where your time is going by keeping a time log. For a full week, write down each and every activity you do during your workday and how long you spend doing it. Then spend the next week setting a new time budget for each activity.
Delegate. You only have so many hours to give to one day, so don’t bite off more projects than you can chew. Overloading yourself is neither healthy nor productive! So take a look at your to-do list and see which projects you could pass along to someone else, who would do it just as well or perhaps better than you could.
Stop multitasking. “Multitasking” used to be a skill people listed on their resumes, but not anymore; studies have shown that true multitasking brings down work quality, especially for tasks that require any degree of focus. You only have so much attention to give! So instead of producing subpar results on multiple projects at once, concentrate on producing great work on one project at a time.
Communicate effectively. Taking an extra minute to think through your communication—both what you will say and what method you will use to say it—will save time in the end. Is your message best communicated in person, over the phone, through an email, or through a text message? How will you phrase your message to be clear in content and tone? Think about the depth of your message, how much return feedback is necessary, and how soon your message needs to be addressed.
Take a breather. Remember in #2 up there, how we said, “Overloading yourself is neither healthy nor productive”? Your quality of work and even your health suffer when you consistently do too much. You need mental and physical rest to be at your best! So be sure to budget in meal periods and rest breaks, and to burn the midnight oil only when you absolutely have to.

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