Repeat Offenders — Repetitive Tasks that Gobble Up Your Time
In the workplace, even the most creative jobs have elements of routine. Routines are a good thing, and give structure to the workday, and keep you on track. However, if you feel that your work routines are eating up your time and draining your creative energy, then your routines are working against you rather than for you. Your NYC Professional Organizer has tools and techniques to save you time and effort. Nowadays there is a computer application for almost everything, and there are some excellent ones for streamlining repetitive tasks at work. Everything from transcribing to making dinner reservations can be done via an app. Think about a typical workday. What tasks do you do on a daily or weekly basis? Those tasks are candidates for some time-saving applications.
Some great examples: Do you find that you waste time typing in a lot of “boilerplate” in your emails, memos, and forms? Google’s Canned Responses allows you to save chunks of text as a template that can be inserted in your documents. Just back from a convention or important meeting? Use Evernote to add new business cards to your address book. A pile of thank-you notes to send? Try Postable. The interfaces of these programs tend to be very clear and user-friendly, and well worth the small learning curve. An excellent resource is Ari Meisel’s book “Less Doing, More Living” which contains a wealth of ideas for creating more time in your life.
Delegating is another powerful time-saving option that our NYC Professional Organizer swears by. Natalia Authenreith, who blogs for the company Zenpayroll, suggests that you ask yourself, “What am I doing today that can be handled by someone else?” Although it can be uncomfortable to let go of the reins a bit, you will be amply rewarded in extra time, energy, and creativity. For the repetitive tasks that cannot be delegated or eased by technology, there are ways to make them less draining. Joanne Cantor, PhD, writes in her recent article in Psychology Today, “Conquering Cyber Overload,” that scientific studies show that the right kind of music can make these tasks easier to accomplish. Choose music that is pleasant, but fairly mindless. Avoid pop songs where you can sing along, as they take too much of your attention. If you find that just starting the task is too hard, try some inspirational, upbeat music to get your juices running, and then switch to a calmer selection once you are in the groove. You will move through the task more quickly and finish without feeling drained.
Looking for more hands on help in breaking up the monotony and saving time on repetitive tasks? Set up a consultation with our NYC Professional Organizer today! She’ll review your schedule and work with you to develop the best solution to address your personal needs.