If I could turn back time .............

Time is finite. 24 hours in a day and seven days in a week. Not a minute more not a minute less. We are all looking for ways in which to be more productive. We all have strategies for trying to be more productive. Rather than trying to turn back time as Cher was want of telling us to improve productivity - clearly impossible, I would suggest that you remember back to the last time that you went on a two week holiday. Think back to how much you were able to cram into those last couple of days before your break. If only every day could be like that.

I have no magic wand and improving your productivity can be hard work and may need you to alter your working patterns. As an incentive to getting started here are "The Four B's" - four easy wins that should get you on your way to a more productive 2016.

Boundaries - create periods of time in your day to deal with specific things eg. dealing with urgent e mail, updating your team, preparing for the day ahead, having a coffee. These are defined periods that will become hardwired into your day and will be constsnats being done day in day out. Only something that is super urgent should interupt this time.

Blocking - block specific time in the day for one off events. These are only for one off events and will not be hardwired into your daily or weekly habits. It covers things like preparing for a meeting, reading over a memo, examining a title deed. You get the idea? Again these should not be interupted unless some cataclysmic event occurs.

Batching - how much time do you waste flitting from dealing with e mail to answering the phone to returning calls to speaking to your staff to talking to your partner to answering e mail to taking that call rather than concentrating a whole batch of similar tasks. Batching is the answer. Do it all at the same time! Dealing with e mail can be like heading cats but if you can batch them all together and spend an alloted period of time just dealing with e mail or returning calls and or speaking to members of your team. The most important thing is to concentrate on one aspect at a time whether that be email, phones, meetings etc.

Breaks - you will be more productive if you stand up every 20 minutes so the case studies tell me. If you are less sedantry then you will also be healthier. Force yourself into standing up by moving your water or bin away from your desk so that you have to stand up to take a dring or drop something in the bin. Take a complete break every 90 minutes - this is the hardest one for me! This will recharge your batteries and stop you going stale.

I am not smart enough to come up with this. The idea comes from a podcast that I listened to called Beyond the To do List - a podcast about productivity. Click on the link and it will take you right to the show. Enjoy and let me know if it was of any help.