Searching for ways to become more efficient and save time? This post from Ruzanna Hernandez, Ed. D is full of smart ways you can save more time every day.
If you have big goals and dreams in life but find very little time in your hands to accomplish them, finding ways to save time is going to be of utmost importance. Your goals and dreams may revolve around
- Starting a new side business
- Growing a side business
- Spending more time with your children
- Finishing a college degree
- Acquiring new skills for a job promotion
- Giving more time to your hobbies
- Completing house projects
All these things listed require you to invest time in them throughout your day.
But time is a finite resource.
In order to take on new tasks, projects, and goals in your life, you have to figure out how to make time for them.
This means you have to either:
- Give up some activities to replace them with other activities,
- Delegate some tasks and activities to others around you to make time for new ones, or
- Learn to move a bit faster and quicker to save time on everyday activities to save time like you would save money
Let’s focus on the third item: Moving faster and quicker, becoming more efficient with how we use time, to achieve more of the things we want in life.
How to Save Time on Everyday Activities to Become More Efficient
Doing things faster or quicker is easier said than done because it would require you to change your habits.
Human beings are creatures of habit; we establish routines and ways in which we do things that allow consistency throughout the day.
We try to live as consistently as possible.
The problem is when we want to constitute a change in our routines, like working on new goals, projects, or activities, we do not see them through.
They do not come to fruition because we do not change and adjust our way of living to make time for new things!
Here are 17 everyday activities you can do quickly and more efficiently to save time throughout the day. The minutes will add up!
Related: Take Charge of Your Time with a Weekly Plan
1. Shower/make-up/grooming
How long does it take you to get ready each morning? Does it take 20 minutes altogether, or 25, or 30 minutes? Can that time be curtailed? Track your time for 5 days. See what the average amount of time it takes to get ready for the day with showering, make-up, grooming. If you save 5 or more minutes a day over 5 days, that will equal at least 25 minutes per week!
2. Choosing clothes/outfits
Staring at clothes to try to pick outfits can be time costly. Track the amount of time it takes you over a 5-day period to choose outfits. Cut that time by even 3 minutes, and you would have saved 15 minutes of time per week. Find other ways of organizing your closet to make choosing outfits quicker and more efficient.
Read: How to Do a Capsule Wardrobe Trial Run
3. Cooking
Learn faster ways of cooking your meals. There are many recipes on Pinterest for busy people. Make meals that are quick and healthy to save time. You can also make the process faster. Learn how to chop vegetables faster, wash ingredients faster, and clean as you go. As you are preparing your meals, keep reminding yourself that you have big goals, dreams, and activities waiting for you so tell your brain that you have to move, move, move. You’ll get faster and faster with your processes while doing things safely in the kitchen. Saving even 3 minutes per day on cooking over 5 days will add up to an additional 15 minutes.
Related: How to Make a Meal Plan You'll Love
4. Conversations – personal and professional
See if you can have your conversations while cooking, driving, or cleaning. You can multitask as long as one of your activities in the process does not require you to use any thinking skills. Personal conversations can eat up a lot of our time. If we cut them short by even 2 minutes, we can save an extra 10 minutes per week. Track your time; pay attention to how long you spend on conversations and if that time can be used a bit more efficiently.
5. Cleaning
Clean only if absolutely necessary throughout the workweek. It may not be necessary to vacuum every day, or dust every day. Wiping kitchen counters should be done every day but other cleaning tasks can be left for just the weekends or done in a much faster manner to help you save time. By cutting cleaning – working quickly through it if absolutely necessary, you can save 2 minutes per day over 5 days, or more!
6. Use of social media
Social media is how we check on one another and stay in touch with people. It’s a great tool to stay connected! Unless we are mindful, though, of how much time we are spending each day on social media, we cannot learn to become efficient with our time. It is easy to start scrolling through posts and then realize that 45 minutes have gone by. Set a timer, if needed! As soon as you log on to social media sites, set a timer for 30 minutes or less. If you save even 15 minutes per day, it will add up to 75 minutes per week, or an hour and 15 minutes!
7. Daydreaming
Have you caught yourself sitting down and just staring ahead, thinking about things? Daydreaming is a form of relaxation for many people, or even a time to let the brain wander into creative territory! The problem is when daydreaming takes too long, we lose sight of time. Train your brain to stay focused on tasks. Daydreaming time can be cut by 5 minutes per day for 5 days and that will add up to at least 25 minutes saved per week!
8. Eating
If you are on a mission to achieve big life goals and become successful, you will start doing everyday things faster than everyone else around you. They may not have big goals like you – remember that. If you are on a mission, how quickly you cut your food with your fork, how quickly you bring the food to your mouth, how much time you let lapse between bites ALL ADDS UP. Yes, the seconds add up. Saving 2 minutes per day on eating will add up to 10 minutes of saved time over 5 days.
9. Time in the bathroom
This is uncomfortable to talk about but yes, how much time we spend in the bathroom matters. Can you undo your pants faster? Can you get cleaned up faster? Can you wash your hands and dry your hands faster? The seconds will add up! Saving even 2 minutes on bathroom activities during the entire day will add up to 10 minutes over a 5-day time span.
10)Decision-making
How much time does it take you to decide what flavor of ice cream you want, what type of paper to choose, or what card to pay with? Take a careful look at how much time it takes you to make everyday decisions! You’d be surprised at how much time you can save if you learn to make decisions a bit more quickly, especially on things that are not life-changing and incredibly important. If you save even 1 minute per day over 5 days, you will save 5 minutes that can be used for other more important activities and goals.
11)Shopping
When you are out shopping, be careful with how long it takes you to walk around the aisles and how much time you are spending choosing one item versus another item. Remind yourself to go as quickly as possible. It helps to go in with a shopping list so you can stick to what you need and get out quickly. Even saving 5 minutes per week will add up over the course of time!
12)Commuting
Commuting to and from work may take a lot of your time. Depending on how far you are from your place of work, the drive time can add up! Think about other alternatives. Is it possible to move closer to work? Is it possible to change jobs and get something much closer to your home? If you are spending more than 45 minutes per day on the roads, think about alternatives. It may not be a quick solution, but planning for long-term solutions to cutting commute time may be beneficial in the long run.
Here are 5 other ways to save time each day by moving more quickly and efficiently:
13)Organizing
14)Feeding pets
15)Watching TV
16)Leisure
17)Household chores
If you save a combined 55 minutes per 5 days on these activities and combine that time with all the other ways mentioned, you will have saved 240 minutes per week! This is 4 hours that you can save to work on things that are important and necessary to you, like the major goals you have in life.
Conclusion
The first step in accomplishing major life goals is to become serious about them. Once you set your mind on what you want to achieve, you will
- Visualize your success at the end
- Write a SMART goal with an actual timeline or deadline
- Write action steps and plans
- Monitor your progress
- Celebrate your small successes along the way
When you do become serious about your goals, whether they are personal or professional goals, you will work tirelessly to achieve them. You will become more focused and purposeful about your time management skills to improve and save time throughout the day. Moving faster and learning to do everyday things more quickly will become effortless!
About the Author
Ruzanna Hernandez, Ed.D. is a public-school administrator, author, and small business owner. She is the creator of efficiencyandorganization.com, a website that provides steps, strategies, tips, and techniques for living every aspect of life in an organized and efficient manner to achieve more.
Hernandez has achieved many challenging goals in her life, thanks to her systems and processes. She shares her strategies on her Youtube channel and her website to help everyone live life fully and without regrets! To learn more about her story, please visit ruzannahernandez.com.
Her book, Efficiency and Organization, is available for purchase on Amazon and other book retailers.
