 026 GID It's Getting Better All the Time
from Get-It-Done Guy's Quick and Dirty Tips to Work Less and Do More
April 22, 2008
Stever Robbins here. Welcome to the Get-It-Done Guy’s Quick and Dirty Tips to Work Less and Do More. Today's topic is how to use spare time when it happens. David from Boston called in with a great question. Hi, Stever. Once in a long while, I'll have a brief interlude in my workload. And I'll often aspire to use the time to get ahead and make things easier on myself in the future. I'll somewhat randomly organize e-mails or I'll comb through my work material and I'll make work for myself. But ultimately, I suspect I'm working more and doing less. My question--how do you plan to make the most of your downtime? Do you have any quick and dirty tips for how to prioritize and really make an impact that your future self will enjoy? Thanks for all the great tips in your podcast! Free time? FREE TIME? You have free time? Quick! Sell it to the highest bidder! Bottle it! Save it! That's a rare, precious commodity. Last time I had free time, I watched all seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer straight through. It was heaven! My quick and dirty tip--use your free time to improve *how* you do things in your life. And choose those things to include a healthy mix of play, self-care, and work-related tasks. First, advertisers make this podcast possible. Check out web-based remote control software at GotoMyPC.com/podcast. When we have downtime, there are lots of things we can do with it. I'll plan to watch socially relevant, intelligent coverage of world crises, scientific trends, and political debate. That's the plan. What I'll actually do is lie on the couch and read trashy science fiction, watch reality TV shows, and wish they made clothes for men that look as good as the clothes for Heidi Klum. But you asked how to make an impact with your spare time. *Sigh* The best way to make an impact with free time is to spend it improving what you do*. Consultants call this "process improvement," because they can charge more, but it's really just doing things better; it's learning. You've heard the phrase "work smart, not hard?" This is where you work smart. Sit down and make a list of all the things you do in a typical day. For example, you go to meetings, answer e-mail, run errands, take classes, spend time with people you love, study, read People Magazine, and eat Animal Crackers. I bite the heads off and eat those first. Your list can include stuff from all areas of your life, not just work. Scan the list. If you could improve one thing from the list and make it quicker, stronger, faster, or easier, which would most improve your life? Would it be making meetings more effective? Spending more quality time with your family? Making better financial decisions? Reading more? Choose anything, even something you already do really well. Then brainstorm ways to do it better. I eat animal crackers really well; I bite the heads off, then savor the body bite by bite. But then I get a sugar rush that puts me to sleep and makes me fat, but I just won't give up those tasty taste treats. So I'll brainstorm better ways to eat animal crackers. Maybe I'll bite the heads off last, instead of first. Or buy smaller boxes. Or spread out one box over several hours, to even out my blood sugar. Or, I could invent crackers shaped like politicians. Once you have a bunch of ideas, toss out the obvious losers. (Keep my metabolism even? Give me a break! Why do you think I'm eating Animal Crackers in the first place?) Then cherry-pick the ideas that make life more fun and more productive. For example, biting the heads off last doesn't get me much, but buying smaller boxes means I might look less like an avocado. When you come up with time-saving ideas, don't tell anyone! Use the time you save to get better at other things. Then use the time savings from those things to invent carbon-neutral alternative energy that is perfect for the environment, patent it, and make a billion dollars selling it to the higher bidder. And remember to share your billions with friends, like me, who give you such great ideas to begin with. Next time you have free time, here are some possible areas for improvement: how you manage your inbox, how you study, how you give back to your community, how you get the cable TV box fixed, how you keep your relationship romantic (if you're in one), how you meet people for a relationship (if you're not in one) , how you pay your bills, or how you feed your pets. Heck, maybe you can invite the cable TV guy over for dinner with your new boa constrictor; you can solve two problems at once. Whew! As you can see, the list, my friend David, is endless. So next time you have free time, rather than doing something silly like relaxing and enjoying life, fire up your creativity and find some ways to work smarter, rather than harder. One way to work smart is to take your office with you while traveling by using GoToMyPC. You can use all your programs and files, check e-mail, and access anything on your desktop or network from any web browser. Try it free for 30 days at GotoMyPC.com/podcast. This is Stever Robbins. If you have a question about how to Work Less and Do More, e-mail getitdone@quickanddirtytips.com or leave voicemail at 866-WRK-LESS. You can also find a transcript of this episode at getitdone.quickanddirtytips.com. If you'd like to give input for the book that I'm writing on how to Work Less and Do More, visit http://blog.steverrobbins.com/getitdoneguy or follow me on Twitter: just follow getitdoneguy. Work Less, Do More, and have a Great Life! *Preorder Grammar Girl's book to learn why we shouldn't be using the word "impact." RESOURCES: - http://blog.steverrobbins.com/getitdoneguy - Work Less, Do More blog
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