Save 15 Minutes in the Morning

Do you often find yourself rushed for time in the morning? Do you spend precious minutes looking for your keys or for that report you want to bring to work?  Most of us contend with daily morning hassles that leave us frazzled even before we’ve walked out the door.

Creating a “launch pad” in your front hallway can make all the difference — and easily shed 15 minutes off your morning routine.

Think of a launch pad as a designated area containing the essential items you always want to take with you when you leave the house.  To create a launch pad, all you need is a small table, a ceramic bowl, and a couple of wall hooks.  The bowl sits atop the table, and in it you keep your wallet, keys, cell phone, (sun)glasses, and any other small essentials (e.g. a makeup bag or work ID tag).  The hooks on the wall are for hanging a coat, hat, umbrella, and bag.  Voilà!  No more hunting for your keys on the way out the door…

Well, sort of…The real trick is making sure to off-load items onto the launch pad when you come in the door the night prior. This takes some amount of practice, but once you get used to hanging your bag on the wall and dropping your keys & wallet in the bowl, it becomes habit. …And, this simple evening habit leads to happier mornings.

Want to take it a step further? Place your cell phone charger next to the bowl on the small table…and always leave with a freshly charged phone in the morning.  Consider placing a waste basket beneath the table and an IN/OUT box on top for sorting mail.  Soon you’ll never forget to mail another letter on your way to work.

Let me know how this works for you. And, please don’t hesitate to share your own tricks for saving time in the morning!

Cheers,

Jen helps dynamic individuals achieve professional success and personal fulfillment. Her personal & career coaching programs are custom-designed to help you meet your unique goals.  Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Financial Times, Smart Money, Forbes.com, Time Out New York, and on The Today Show. To learn more about Jen’s private coaching services or to schedule an introductory session, please contact Jen directly: Phone: 914-617-8283 Email: Jen@JZBcoaching.com Visit Jen on the Web at  www.JZBcoaching.com

2 Ways to Buy Time

How often do you tackle a task and then ask yourself, “Why is this taking me FOREVER!?”

There is an old adage called Parkinson’s Law, which says that “work expands to fill the time available.” It’s a short way of saying that we can SAVE time by setting aside LESS of it to begin.

The following are 2 practical applications — tools you can use to literally buy yourself time:

1) ADOPT AN EGG-TIMER: The egg-timer is one of the greatest time management tools! (If it’s more your style, a stopwatch works just as well). Set the egg-timer to 15 minutes, and race against the clock to finish all assortments of pesky tasks around the home or office. Try it for limiting the time you spend on cleaning, filing, writing emails, or getting ready to leave in the morning. This really works!! By setting a clear time limit, you force yourself to get more done quickly. Fifteen minutes is arbitrary. Set the time limit to suit your purposes…but keep it much shorter than you’re used to. For habitual tasks, experiment with decreasing the time allotment week by week, effectively training yourself to work smarter and faster.

2) SET AN EARLIER DEADLINE: This strategy works well when you find yourself dragging out the process of making a decision. There is freedom (and time to be gained) in realizing that other people’s deadlines need not be your own. It’s not often that we think about making deadlines tighter, but shorter timeframes have a way of reducing days of worry. Try it next time a client or vendor wants an answer “by next Monday.” Set a personal deadline to speak with him/her by 3pm on Friday, in time to enjoy the weekend with the decision behind you.

With cheer!

Jen helps dynamic individuals achieve professional success and personal fulfillment. Her coaching programs are custom-designed to help you meet your unique goals. To learn more about Jen’s private coaching services or to schedule an introductory session, please contact Jen directly: 914-617-8283 Jen@JZBcoaching.com Visit Jen on the Web at www.JZBcoaching.com