Free Career Advice, Office Style and all things Business

In this age of always on, we?re expected to be always on? Right?

Wrong.

I love the film Notting Hill, where Hugh Grants character has no job so fills his day up by spending time in "units" of half hour. Playing pool= 1 unit, watching Countdown =1 unit etc. As not many of us have the luxury of not working, here are some tips to help you keep up with delivering on a deadline but without offending anyone or having to stay late in the office during the hot summer evenings. Sherly Sandberg even leaves at 5.30.

Shake it up and get organised. These tips could save you up to two hours in you work day.

1. Decline a meeting. Time saved 45 minutes.

Typical Scenario: you've too many meetings throughout the day and can't seem to get any actual work done. This is a common problem for everyone and one that I've been known to experience and actually enjoy. You're busy so you must be important, right?

Wrong.

Your manager wants you to hit your deadlines. You need to pick the most important meetings with actual deadlines and focus on these. If you are being invited to meetings not directly related to your projects in a 'it would be good to have you there' type of way, thank the organiser for invite but decline politely and ask for the meeting notes.? That way you can have more time during the day, still catch up on what happened at any meeting you really didn't need to be at and move on with what the stuff you are actually being paid to do.

2. Cut out ?The swing by?. Time saved 10 minutes

We know them. They're fun, the swing by person in the office who swings by for a chat. We all need little break and we know all work and no play makes a dull siren. But seriously, if you re under pressure let them know you'll catch them at lunch or coffee or over the next few days. Again, 15 minutes saved.

3. Surfing the web. Time saved 30 minutes

Right so it's important to check into your social networks, but when you have a deadline, a couple of hours not tweeting what your doing, pinterest-ing your favourite places, facebooking your mates to tell them how great and interesting you are will not only save you time, but will actually MAKE you more interesting. You'll have more to rant about when you get home after you meet that deadline. And you'll get promoted for being so good at your job. Then you'll be rich and everyone wants to hang out with rich people.

4. Quit doing personal stuff in work. Time saved 30mins

As I said, we?re always on and your social life needs organising. But if you're the siren or dude who always ends up organising your mates at the weekend, let it go. Let someone else pick up the slack or wait until Friday and wing it.? Bit of spontaneity never hurt anyone.

5. Early lunch.... Time saved 30 minutes

This little trick has a double bonus. Not only do you miss the sandwich / lunch queue so an easy 10 minutes saved there, but go for a bit of fresh air in between and when you re ready to get back to work, everyone else will have cleared out. You can eat in peace and plough through some work in relative serenity. And look like you?re working through for extra brownie points. Job done.

Think about how you can make a real impact with those two hours in your day, just by these slight adjustments. Not every day but a good exercise to follow when you re under pressure.

As always let us know how you go.

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