Have you ever felt like you don't have enough time in the day? That you're so busy all the time ? This time flies faster than you can get things done?
It doesn't have to be that way; you can recover some of those lost hours. You just have to be prepared to put priorities and organization to work.
Related: 3 Productivity Habits of Successful People
We asked Young Entrepreneur Council members, "What can busy people do to recoup 3-5 hours of their time a week?" for advice. Here are their top tips.
1. Learn to say “no”.
Often I get massively distracted by people asking me things that might not be high on my list of priorities or maybe not on my list at all. I find myself getting confused trying to appease too many people at once. Interruptions to your schedule make everything longer and drastically reduce the time you spend on what's important. Learn to say “no” or, at the very least, “not now.”
–Jason Applebaum, EGEAR Media
2. Practice your prioritization skills.
For those of us with perfectionist tendencies, an unfinished task is a mental burden, no matter how small. To combat my desire to do all things, I'm careful to prioritize only what's important. If it is not important, by definition it can wait or not be resolved. Understanding what's really important takes experience, but it can save many hours of unnecessary work.
–Vik Patel , Future Accommodation
3. Use productivity software to track your activity.
What gets measured gets managed. The main reason most people don't optimize their time is because they don't actively measure where it's wasted. Install one of the popular productivity trackers on your computer and phone and delete tasks that are killing your weekly progress.
–Carter Thomas , Bluecloud Solutions
4. Set your goals in advance.
You probably start getting texts, slacks, and emails as soon as you wake up. It is natural to want to address these communications immediately. But if you start the day in your inbox, it's very easy to let your incoming tasks take up your whole day. The best way to reclaim time in your day is to prioritize your goals ahead of time and finish what matters most to you first.
–Miles Jennings , Recruiter.com
5. Don't be afraid to delegate.
To recoup a substantial chunk of your time, don't be afraid to delegate. Go through a list of everything that needs to be done and check off anything that can be outsourced. Freeing yourself from certain tasks will give you more time for yourself. I love virtual assistants and companies like TaskRabbit for this purpose.
–Rachel Beider , Greenpoint Massage, Williamsburg Massage
6. Stay away from social media.
It's so easy to get lost on social media, with videos and conversations, that time seems to melt away. By avoiding social media for longer periods of time, I have recouped many lost hours and am getting more done. I commit some time in the evening to watch them when I want to take a break from work.
–John Rampton , Due
7. Work offline for a while.
It allows you to get away from the digital world for a while, so you don't find yourself multitasking across all channels doing nothing. When you move away from digital channels and focus on offline work, you can achieve more in the long run.
–Zach Binder , Ipseity, Inc.
8. Establish a routine.
I have a routine, a schedule, when and how I work. Setting aside those hours on a daily basis to focus on what needs to get done the most allows me to be efficient and ultimately eliminate unnecessary tasks that would normally drain my hours during the week.
– Renato Libric , Bouxtie Inc.
9. See how long is actually productive.
Research shows that people can manage four to five hours of deep, focused, productive work each day. Beyond that, hours of “work” are spent on fill time. People who work 60-hour weeks make no more than those who work 30-hour weeks. You can regain time to think, relax and learn if you stop pretending to do 12 hours of productive work every day.
–Justin Blanchard , ServerMania Inc.
10. Aggressively remove distractions from your inbox.
I obsessively block unnecessary emails and relentlessly unsubscribe from newsletters. Keeping my inbox strictly for necessary interactions removes distractions and increases my efficiency. We spend hours every week just sorting through emails, so keeping superfluous messages out of the box saves time that I can apply elsewhere.
–Diego Orjuela , Cables and sensors
11. Wake up early and meditate.
A 20-minute meditation or mindful deep-breathing session can provide an exceptional springboard for a highly productive day. It will allow you to organize your thoughts, eliminate latent distractions and focus in an indispensable way. The long-term benefits of maintaining a practice are documented. Expect to experience improvements in your attention, cognitive ability, and less overall stress.
–Nicole Munoz , Start Ranking Now
12. Go to bed early.
It takes a bit of practice, but I traded a few low-energy hours at night for a few more hours in the morning. You may not earn more hours than anyone else, but you can dramatically increase the quality of the time you have.
–Tim Chaves , ZipBooks
Related: 3 tips to make you more productive
Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invitational organization that brings together the world's most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective , a free virtual mentoring program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.
