How to have an efficient day?
My top 10 tips for living efficiently. Start today!
By now, you have learned about what productivity means and defined it for yourself. If not, be sure to check out the post on that. Efficiency is a buzzword you might hear at work or within teams. But so often we forget to think about if we are living efficiently ourselves.
When I first read When by Daniel Pink, that was when I really started thinking about whether my days were efficient. This meant learning about energetics, time, and using technology to my benefit.
There is a lot of research on efficient to-do lists, planners, journaling, calendars and so on. Here’s my twist on how to have an efficient day.
Harsha Helps Twist
Build a day that works for you. I know this is my mission but I really see it as the core of efficiency. There is so much research on the optimal time for creativity, what to-do list to use (or not use at all!), whether you should write your goals or use an app...it goes on. The reality is you have to make it work for you! The tips I have are what I have seen work for me but if you just use what I use and don’t notice a change, its because you have not reflected on what works for you and what you need in life right now.
What is your goal? That brings me to number two. I truly believe that having an efficient day starts by knowing what is your goal right now. The way I planned my days my freshman year of college to my senior year were COMPLETELY different. Why? Because I knew more about myself and my working styles but also I had completely different goals. So even if you don’t have a long term goal at the moment, have a goal for today!
Plan. Okay I know you hear this all the time but seriously plan. I am not saying you need a minute by minute for each day but generally, have a roadmap. Take that goal and turn it into mini-steps. For me, having a plan for any goal is the first metric of accountability.
Time it. A goal is great, a plan is great, but do you have a deadline? A time block for it? I am a huge believer in time blocking. Whether you prefer to write it out, put it in your calendar or just set the intention, it is really important to send cues to your brain that for the next x hours, I am working on y.
Time it for you. This goes back to a lot of what I learned in When by Daniel Pink. I was always interested in knowing why I would prefer to do x things in the morning and why my friends were thriving at night. That was when I learned the science behind time and of course our bodies energy patterns. I really encourage you to reflect on when you are doing your tasks and if it is helping or hurting you. Living an efficient day means working out when you want, doing creative work when you want and working around the things you can’t control. My favorite example of this: if you know you are an evening person, that morning meeting can be tougher for you. What can you do prior to the meeting? Think about what brings you energy. A walk? Coffee? Food? Music? Add that five minutes before the meeting. If you are presenting, make a plan the night before when you have more energy!
Prioritize. This goes with planning and timing it. Once you have the plan and time blocked, know that is the priority for that hour (or however long you have allocated). This means eliminating distractions and only having what you require for the task in front of you. You can see a big shift in how you work when you look at things as priority at the moment.
Eliminate the distractions and clutter. Efficient days mean getting what you need to get done in less time and with less resources. This means allowing yourself to get into that deep focus for your priorities. Distractions will not help you here. Writing a paper or blog post? Have a dedicated browser open just for that. Do not open tabs you do not need (yes, this means close email tab and applications too). It can be helpful to have a dedicated desktop screen for each “task.” Keep your desk or wherever you work as clean as possible as well. For me personally, having less on my desk and increasing my focus because I am less likely to be distracted by papers and so on. If you are someone who really struggles with the phone being distracting, start by turning notifications off on your phone. Then, work your way up to putting your phone away in another room etc.
Take a break. While it may seem like you are supposed to be doing something every minute, that is NOT efficient. Business is just doing. Often, you lack focus and have no clarity on what it is you are doing. Breaks between your priorities allow your brain to become reenergized. Find a break that works for you. Working from home has allowed me to have a 5 minute dance party on the hour. I also like to go for a walk during lunch time because my energy drains then and I need to recharge. How can you make time for breaks and make them fun and re-energizing? (I won’t mention my love for caffeine breaks here...)
Health first. Why can't I mention caffeine breaks? Because I want to talk to you about health...oops. I am really working on it but coffee tastes so good and I really do enjoy it. Anyways, so health first. Okay, here’s the thing. If you want to do something every minute and not fuel yourself with amazing food or exercise, your goals are not going to become reality. Prioritizing health means prioritizing you. You can make time for the gym, cooking, whatever it is you need. You have to have the mindset to sit down and plan to make it happen.
Reflect reflect reflect. Ahh my favorite. Reflection, whether done in the morning, night or both, allows your conscious mind to take a breath and understand everything that just happened. For me reflection has allowed me to have a growth mindset, accomplish more goals, be more self-aware, focus on the why behind things and make each day better. Reflection is a self-evaluation and in your control. There's so many different ways to reflect, you can make it as easy or as complex as you need. I just like to write out everything I did and just write out how I felt about my day. My biggest advice is don’t just focus on tasks, how did you feel? What about all the other things I mentioned above? Reflect on your health, your time, your breaks. Bring it into the conscious mind so you can find patterns and improve the next day.
Summary
Efficiency is “achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense.” Having an efficient day starts with building a day that works for you.
There are different things you can do to make a day efficient: have a goal, have a plan for the goal, set time blocks, perform your tasks at optimal times, view tasks as priority not just a thing you do, eliminate distractions, take breaks, put your health first, and reflect.
Action Steps
Choose one of my 10 recommendations above and implement it this week. Make it priority.
Add a reflection practice to your daily routine. Here’s some questions to get you started:
How did I feel about today?
Did I make progress on my weekly goals?
What can I improve for tomorrow to be better?
How distracted did I get? 1-10.
What am I grateful for today?