Did you work late last night? Are you still chained to your desk long after the cleaners have been and gone? Work expands to fill the time available and nowhere is this more apparent than in the corporate world. If you’re totting up the amount of rent you could save by moving your bed in full-time, help is at hand from a brand new book that claims to be able to teach us how to fit a full day’s work into one hour. Intrigued? Read on for the top five tips on how to super-charge your working day and re-claim your summer evenings by Winning without Losing.
1) Unleash the “power hour”
Does your attention drift to the latest sports results or Monsoon summer collection when faced with end-of-year financial reports? Do you shun loathsome tasks until you’re drowning in impossible deadlines? If so, it may be time to unleash the “power hour.” A turbo-charged powerhouse of productivity, the power hour sets the challenge of completing a full day’s work in sixty minutes. The key is to identify and tackle the most “wildly important tasks” only in one concentrated burst, which it is claimed can make you three, five or even ten times more efficient. Most effective when working from home, repeat regularly and you’ll whizz through your workload in a fraction of the time.
2) Prioritise extra-curricular activities
If you don’t already have children to rush home to, give the same priority to the activities that you love. Whether it is a run in the park or a visit to the British Museum’s Pompeii exhibition, setting a clear deadline for home-time will increase your productivity and push you past the idle distractions that keep you on first name terms with the cleaning staff.
3) Ditch the to-do list for the today list
How often do you leave the office with that sinking feeling of having got nothing done? Does your day feel like an endless trudge through treacle? Turn the to-do list on its head by transforming it into a “today” list where goals are broken-down into achievable tasks and sub-tasks to be ticked off by close of play that day. Clear the most wildly important tasks first to give you a motivational boost early on and create that all-important sense of accomplishment come home-time.
4) Take regular mind breaks
When you’re desperately seeking a miracle to a problematic project in time for tomorrow’s performance review, take a mind break. Regularly switching off for a few seconds will allow you to break-away from the problem and invite creative breakthroughs to the forefront of your mind. If you find it hard to switch off, try just-a-minute meditations.
Resist the temptation to stake out social media sites which will bombard your mind with yet more information overload.
5) Book an office break
Once you have your power hours honed and your mind breaks motoring, you may encounter an unexpected abundance of free time. Why not have a look at our lunchtime escapes, afternoon breaks and short breaks to get inspired.
Do you think it’s possible to fit a full day’s work into one hour? Do you have other tips to help you leave work on time? I’d love to hear what works for you.
Great tips here. I especially like this power hour theory, I’m going to try this for myself!