7 Steps to Turbocharge Your Efficiency

 Why do I mention all of this? If you have the capability,  sometimes you just need to close the door. If you work in an open workspace, hang a sign. Open-door policies are great, but they can often lead to an erosion of efficiency that is disturbing. Don’t be afraid to shut the door and politely let people know this is my efficient time. If they need to speak with you they can come back later or, better yet, set up daily pre-scheduled times in which they will have your undivided attention. By moving away from constant interruptions you will be able to stay on task and, consequently, move more efficiently through the goals you set every day.

5.       Facebook, Twitter, and Instant Messaging. The secret time killers. Let’s say you spend 10 minutes on Facebook a day. For the majority of us that is being conservative. Let’s further say you use Twitter. Chalk up another 10 minutes. By the way, did you IM any of your friends today while at work? Come on, you know you did. Maybe the wife or the hubby had a funny story to share with you or Madonna just announced her latest concert dates and everyone had to BUZZ each other over it. Another ten minutes. So how much did we spend? Ten minutes? Twenty? Thirty? Wrong. It was more like 130 hours. Over three 40-hour work weeks.

Huh? You might be asking yourself. What you talkin’ about Willis?

It’s simple. If you spend 30 minutes a day on social media and instant messaging that adds up to two and a half hours per week. There are 52 weeks in a year. Fifty-two times two and a half is 130 hours. One hundred and thirty hours equates to over three 40-hour work weeks you are spending on social media and chatting online per year. It’s like a whole other vacation.

Is this overly dramatic? Maybe a little. But recognize what spending time on these sites does to your productivity. Thirty minutes a day, on average, equates to a loss of up to three plus weeks of work per year. So if you are just spending 10 minutes a day doing the same, that’s like one entire lost week of work. Wow.

I’m not saying don’t do it. I am just saying recognize how the numbers add up. Once you see how they do, if you want to ramp up your efficiency limit the social chats to only designated times during the day when you are already taking a break. Trust me, that wicked awesome zinger you’ve been waiting to post on Facebook can wait.

6.       Intellischedule. For those of you with spell-checker (yes, I have heard you are out there) this word will not come up anywhere. Why? I coined it. What does it mean? In brief, know thy self, know thy efficiency.

Long ago, I figured out that I am most productive for matters which involve a more detailed thought process in the morning. Matters such as complex legal briefs, legal research, reviewing complex contracts, etc. Afternoons, I prefer to just pound through matters that take a little less thought process but may be far more numerous to deal with such as quick e-mail questions and returning phone calls.

The point is, know when you are most productive in consideration of what you have to do in a given day. Then schedule your goals during those times given your particular strengths or weaknesses throughout the day. Intellischedule.

7.       Focus. Do Not Multi-Task. Lastly, we hear a lot about people who can multitask.  Who can do three things at once. But there is a growing consensus that multi-tasking actually destroys efficiency. In short, while you are multi-tasking your focus is split between two or more tasks. This erodes the efficiency with which you can accomplish either task. Don’t believe me?

Try this simple test. Find a few things in your schedule you have to do every day. Perhaps it is to get your phone messages at the beginning of the day and check your e-mails to see what needs an immediate response and what can wait. Take note of how long each task normally takes independently. Now do this. Check one e-mail and stop. Check one voice mail and stop. Go back and check the next e-mail and stop. Go back and check the next voice mail and stop and so on and so forth. Which took more time? The time it took to accomplish the two independent tasks by themselves or the time it took to multitask through both of them together. I’d be willing to bet focusing on one at a time was faster.

But this is just an example. By focusing on one thing at a time you will typically be able to accomplish that goal more quickly than if you are multitasking two or three things at once. Focus on an individual goal, accomplish it, and move on to the next goal on your daily list.