How To Make 200 Extra Minutes Every Week & Leave The Office Before Everyone Else

November 4th, 2009 · View Comments · Productivity

happy bird

Looking for time-saver tips? This works. I get between 60-200 emails every day. 60 is low. Once I got over 480. As I run my own business, every minute is counted. Even when I worked 9-5, I kept a tight control of my email. If you don’t control it, it’ll control you.

What I want to do is get you to change your attitude towards email.

Not only that but also show you how I managed to shave over 200 minutes (that’s 3 hours every week) by just making a few changes to my daily routine. Here goes!

How To Make 200 Extra Minutes Every Week & Leave The Office Before Everyone Else

Repeat after me!

I am not obliged to read ALL email.
I am not obliged to subscribe to newsletters.
I am not obliged to have a Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail account.

These are all decisions you made. Some decision are better than others.

Let’s look at how I control email so that it doesn’t eat up my day, lose potential business opportunities and (what I really want) get out of the office before everyone else.

Which email is the most important?

Create 2 email accounts. No more.
1 for friends. 1 for business.
Like Whisky and Wine, don’t mix them up!
Close all email accounts you don’t use.
Stop worrying. If you haven’t used it for 6 months, then what do you need it for?

When to read your email

READ THIS PART!

This is the real time-saver.

Check your personal email LAST thing at night.
Not in the morning — last thing at night.

Why?

Because you will ignore/delete the junk and only respond to the important ones.

If an email takes more than 100 words, call them. It’s faster.

You now have time to focus on work when at work.

Don’t check your personal email at work.

Why?

Stay focused.

You’re at work to make money and look for ways to develop/expand your career.
Instead of checking your email, read something that advances your career or that you can carry over to your work/life balance.

An example?

Sure, laser focus on sites that offer tips directly related to your line of business.

READ Seth Godin, Chris Brogan, Harvard Business Review – all recommended.

Save these articles, print them out (they’re the best, right?) and use them as a reference point.

Does this really save time?

If you spend 15 min in the morning, 20 at lunch, and 15 before going home, that’s almost 45 min every day.

And I know some of you spend more than that.

Multiple 45 by 5 and you save at least 225 minutes every week – excluding the weekend.

Most of it was filler that just killed time.

Of course, we all need a break and a few laughs.

The point is to change your work habits.
Good habits are the foundation of (work/business) success.

Ask yourself, “If I was [name your most respected business person], would I be spending time doing this?”

Would you?

Time is the one thing you can’t get back.

A few more tips?

Here goes…

Unsubscribe from all email newsletter except 1.
You can keep 1 newsletter if you promise (go on, promise!) that you read every word of it. If not, you’re just skimming the text. Really, what’s the point?
Next, setup a folder called I Will Read This Later.
Move any emails you don’t need to read in here.
Go back in a week’s time, scan through, and delete the ones you don’t want.

Guess what?

You’ll have deleted them all.

What other time-saving tips can you recommend?

Since I started doing this I spend less time checking through email. And I don’t miss it.

PS – remember to close Outlook/Hotmail when you’re finished. Don’t keep glancing at it. Stay focused and get your work done faster.

Then go home!

Photo: Wikipedia