Make the Most of Your Work Hours

You know how it is; it’s 5 o’clock and the pile on your desk is still huge. Your unchecked emails are a mile long and that important client project that you were supposed to get to has still not been taken care of. So what do you do?
Pack it up and work on it at home?
Come in a couple of hours early tomorrow?
Or just ignore it?
We’ve all been there, and we all hate the doom and gloom feeling of the never ending To Do pile.
So, what can you do about it? I‘ve made time management a personal cause of mine and one that I tackle every single day. I have had to come up with a lot of tricks to be able to accomplish my business and personal goals. Today I would like to share with you three of my daily must do tricks. They might seem too easy to be helpful, but trust me they are! I use these tricks in my business and personal life as well.

1. Set the mood. I learned this one in college. When I was a freshman my father gave me a couple of CDs that are designed to help with productivity or concentration. I would put the CD on while I studied and found the hours would go by without my thoughts wandering. I took them with me to the office and play them when I am having trouble concentrating. I swear by them. One of my favorites is The Archangelos Chamber Ensemble Music for Concentration 
2. Make a schedule At the end of the day, I take a look at my workload and guess how much work I will have to do and map it out. This helps me stay on track, with the task at hand and if I find myself dragging my feet on a task I remind myself that I have a schedule to stick to and no time to waste. Here’s an example of my schedule (I work 4 ten hour days... hence the long hours but it works great for me!)

7:00-8:00 Check emails, LinkedIn and voicemail
8:00-9:30 Paperwork
9:30-11 Call Back Customers
11:00-11:45 Sales Training
11:45-12:00 Check Emails
12:00-12:30 Lunch
12:30-3:10 Work on Current Mailing Date
3:10-3:30 - Check Email
3:30-5:00 Client Appointment

This would be just example and on most days something always comes up, but I find I stay more focused and on-task knowing that my day is all planned out.

3. Check Email on A Schedule This is my newest trick and I LOVE IT. I hate having emails in my inbox so I am always checking my mail (For example I will be making a phone call and the phone will be ringing so I will check my email while I wait, or someone will put me on hold so I will check my email...you see where I am going with this) I have found that checking my emails on a schedule has helped me stick to my schedule which then makes me more productive.

I hope that these easy tricks help you make more time. Please share with me your time saving tricks! I look forward to hearing from you!