How to Get a Lot Accomplished Even If You Don’t Have Time
For years I told myself that if I only had enough free time, I would get a lot more accomplished. If I quit my job and finished school, I would have all the time in the world to work on my internet business, launch one new product every day and write 10 articles per day. Unfortunately, that kind of assumption could not be further from the truth.
If you are working on a hobby or trying to sustain a business while you still have a day job or go to school, you can do it if you budget your time. The best thing you can do is take your lack of time and turn it into a positive thing: tell yourself, I only have an hour to work on my business before I have to do this assignment. I only have an hour for my lunch break.
You can also turn this around and say: I need to finish my homework in the next 30 minutes so I can start working on my business.
As soon as you learn how to work smarter instead of longer or harder, you will experience a big productivity boost. Can you go to sleep a couple hours early, so that you can wake up a couple hours early and work free from distraction? Are you willing to give up television, at least during the week? Can you limit your social life to one night a week?
I began working on my internet business when I was 15, began doing a lot of freelance work at 16 and made my first product at 17. I finished high school and college while working full time, so it is possible.
During school I finished assignments the same day they were assigned, if possible, even if they were due weeks later. I worked on homework on the bus, during lunch, and after school, because I knew it meant more time to work for myself. I noticed a big boost when I left my work at school... meaning I would finish all my work in the school library and not even think about school after I got home.
Today, I still work at a day job full-time and find time to create products, write articles and blog posts, even market to my list... during my lunch break, 15 minute breaks, before and after work, and on weekends.
You might want "more time" to get your work done, but if you had more free time and your entire life was dedicated to your business, you would be unhappy and unmotivated. Instead, use that time crunch to stay super-focused on finishing your tasks so you can make room for new ones. My time management report can help you with that.
Filed in: Productivity
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
Hi Robert. Good post with lots of excellent points. As someone who has also blogged whilst working full time, I would add a couple of things. You need to schedule leisure and exercise time. It sounds sad, but actually plan it and put it in a diary or calendar. If you don’t, you will spend your entire life working, and whilst that may sound good, you’ll lose effectiveness. The second thing is to stay focussed on one thing at a time. It’s so easy to get distracted by Twitter, incoming feeds and emails etc. And each time you move from one thing to another, it may only cost you 5 seconds to remember where you were, but those seconds add up to hours during the course of the day.
Robert,
Great Post, as usual!
tell me… why don’t you ask for a nice raise at your job…. and put the ball in their court to see if they value you at double your salary?
makes the decision to possibly quit much easier if you see what they think you are worth to them….
your thoughts?
Izzy
I agree with you Robert.
Another useful technique is Time-Boxing, where u budget/block/allocated a period of time to DO your task.
It can boost your productivity by allowing your conscious to aware of the time. Naturally you will tend to focus more on your task, kind of hard to explain.
It sort of like tricking your brain into a time-pressured mode.
Nice post about time management 🙂
Hey Robert, great post. Taking action isn’t enough, making that action productive is what brings results.
Terrance Charles
http://www.terrancecharles.com/blog
I couldn’t help but notice how often the word WORK came up in this positive and challenging post. Wordsmithing is a challenge, so here goes:
If you are [WORKING on] ENJOYING a hobby or trying to sustain a business while you still have a day job or go to school, you can do it if you budget your time. The best thing you can do is take your lack of time and turn it into a positive thing: tell yourself, I only have an hour to [WORK on] INVEST IN my business before I have to do this assignment. I only have an hour for my lunch break.
You can also turn this around and say: I need to finish my [homeWORK] ASSIGNMENT (assigned research, report, reading, math problems) in the next 30 minutes so I can start [WORKing] USING MY TIME on my business.
As soon as you learn how to [work] USE YOUR ENERGY smarter instead of (JUST) longer or harder, you will experience a big productivity boost. Can you go to sleep a couple hours early, so that you can wake up a couple hours early and [work]CONCENTRATE ON YOUR BUSINESS free from distraction? Are you willing to give up television, at least during the week? Can you limit your social life to one night a week?
I began [WORKing on] my internet business when I was 15, began doing a lot of [freelance work] FREELANCING at 16 and made my first product at 17. I finished high school and college while [working] EMPLOYED full time, so it is possible.
.. I [worked on homework]WAS BUSY on the bus, during lunch, and after school, because I knew it meant more time to [WORK for myself] DO WHAT I WANTED. I noticed a big boost when I [left my WORK at school… meaning I OMIT] would finish all my [WORK]ASSIGNMENTS in the school library and not even think about school after I got home.
…before and after WORK [drawing a blank here)
..You might want “more time” [to get your WORK done],
for your business or hobbies …
I know Peggy, it’s amazing how many times I used the word “work.” It’s a crappy mindstate to be in and it was because of writing articles like these that I noticed how many times I used the word without realizing it. 18 times in a 446 word article! That can’t be good… 4% keyword density.
Luckily I am not afraid to admit I was wrong and change my attitude hence I have come a long way since I created this article and video and began to root out the word “work.”