One hundred sixty-eight hours.
That’s it. You and I only get 168 hours every week. The President gets no more and no less. The most productive person you know gets the same 168 hours.
And yet, many of us feel like there is never enough time to get important things done. That is why we have to use every hour wisely and be as productive as possible during hours of wakefulness.
You are not alone. When researchers talked to American workers, about half said they hardly have enough time, and two-thirds always feel rushed.
Those numbers are worse for women and single parents.
The promise of how technology would make our lives easier and allow us to get more done in less time seems to have not been kept.
This time crunch has been around for many decades. Judy Wajcman, Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics, says the irony is that we work about as much, if not less than our people did 50 years ago. In her book, “Pressed For Time,” she calls it the ‘time pressure paradox’ as we have more time for leisure activities. The faster phone or computer doesn’t make a difference.
So what will work?
Consider waking up early. Many studies show that the most successful people get up early and begin with a morning routine that allows for exercise, meditation, and planning.
Stop multitasking. You might think that doing more than one thing at a time will allow you to be more productive. But, the opposite is true. Multitasking damages the brain. We are not wired to focus on multiple tasks.
Avoid distractions. In his book, “Driven to Distraction,” Ed Hallowell says some people have what he calls “culturally generated ADD.” For example, who thought working in a noisy coffee shop or an open-concept office was a good idea? It’s not easy to stay focused if you have other people and other noises around you.
Don’t view a long to-do list as a badge of courage or a statement of your importance. Jordan Etkin and assistant professor of marketing at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, found in her research that “We sense a feeling that we’re time-constrained, yet we’re more time-affluent than we think we are. If we can manage our experience of time through interventions and conflict reduction, we can start to see that.”
She found one more important thing. Take a breath when you are feeling overworked and stressed. “Breathe slowly, with five counts in and six counts out. This can reduce the feelings of anxiety and make you feel like you have more time.”