hey everyone and welcome to Top Think today we're going to learn about twelve smart habits that will save you time now let's begin number one Parkinson's Law way back in the 1950s an author and historian named Cyril Parkinson developed a theory that changed the way we manage time

his idea which he called Parkinson's law affected all kinds of administrative operations around the world his law basically states that work expands to fill the amount of time available let's say you have to write a few emails normally this would only take half an hour but what if that's all

you have to do today well Parkinson's law tells us that a small amount of work can take far more time than it's supposed to as long as that extra time is available since Parkinson published this idea several other theorists have added to his work one observed that your responsibilities

don't just expand they also contract when time is limited another explained that extra time delays productivity by giving you an excuse to fall further behind over the years studies have both validated and invalidated Parkinson's law it's become a sort of controversial subject

however this research has revealed some important facts about the nature of efficiency for example you can increase productivity by reducing the total number of hours that you spend working each week when working around 40 hours over five days people find an efficient balance between

time and production but as their hours increase their efficiency starts to plummet the same work will take longer because they have more space to fill by getting in the habit of putting a cap on your work week you can save yourself from wasting hours of your time every day number two forgetful

Housing: How many mornings do you spend frantically
looking for your phone or your keys? Not only is
this a frustrating way to start off the day,
but it's also a surprisingly large waste of
time. Luckily, there's an easy fix: you just start by
creating or setting a site or place in your home

You might pick a drawer, a countertop, or a box on
your coffee table. It doesn't really matter what it
is as long as it's memorable. So from now on, that
place will hold all the important items that you
need when walking out the door in the morning.
Anytime you want your keys, wallet, glasses, or

phone, you can find them right there. Just think
of it like a house for your belongings. Yeah, as
long as your items are inside their little home,
you know exactly where to look. That means less
stress and less wasting time. Just make sure you're
consistently putting your items back in their home

at the end of the day. Otherwise, you're going to
start losing things even more often. But if you
can incorporate this trick into your daily routine,
you can swing by, grab everything you need, and be
on your way in just a few seconds. Number three:
tracking your chores. The next time you're doing

chores or going through your to-do list, just track
exactly how much time it takes to do each activity.
This won't actually save you time at first, but
it's a simple and effective way to win the war
against procrastination. Well, let's say you're
taking out the trash. It's an annoying chore that

you have to do pretty regularly, even though you
know deep down that it doesn't take very long. You
put it off anyway. You stall by watching videos or
scrolling through social media. You're essentially
wasting time just to save yourself from something
that you're going to have to do either way. So what

should you do instead when you take out the trash?
Time yourself, it might only take you 90 seconds to remove the bag, take it outside, and put in a new
one. That's 90 seconds out of the 16 hours that you

spend awake and active every single day. By framing
it in this context, it becomes a lot harder to
justify procrastination. What that means is less
time spent putting off your responsibilities. As
an added bonus, you'll notice yourself paying
more attention to how much time you're wasting

on those little things throughout the day. Number
four: dissolving clutter. Clutter isn't just messy
to look at, it's actually a major distractor when
you're trying to be productive. It distracts you by
creating neural competition, which naturally grabs
your attention. This is especially problematic for

people who have trouble focusing. The presence
of clutter pulls their attention away from
their work, and it just ruins their concentration.
It'll take you significantly longer to get the
same job done because your brain is distracted
by unnecessary stimuli. Just try spending a few

minutes at the end of the day organizing your
room or your desk, and that way, when you sit down
to work, you can be as productive and efficient
as possible. Number five: morning hurdles. When's
the best time to tackle your most important tasks
for the day? Many successful people overcome that

hurdle first thing in the morning. This habit
was actually popularized by Ernest Hemingway,
who used to write as soon as he woke up. This
change to your morning routine will spare you
from hours of procrastination later in the day. It
also increases the pace of your work because you

know your most challenging task is already behind you
number six consistent follow ups anytime you delegate a task to someone else get in the habit
of following up whether it's an email or a phone call just take some time to confirm whatever it is
you just talked about consistently following up is

what's called a preventative time-saver you spend
a little bit of time now to save yourself a lot of time in the future imagine you just met with
someone about a project that you're working on you ask them to turn their section in on Monday
but they thought you said Friday so when Monday

rolls around the work isn't even close to finished
suddenly you have to dedicate a huge chunk of your time to this part of the project all because of
a simple misunderstanding to spare yourself from future stress just dedicate a few minutes after
every meeting to send a follow-up number seven

internet restrictions everyone knows that the
Internet can be a massive time waster but not just because it's entertaining the Internet
makes it surprisingly difficult for people to keep track of time you're so focused on the
thousands of interesting stimuli on the screen

that you forget to pay attention to the clock your
brain is just jumping from one short-term reward to the next you know if you're not careful hours
can fly by in the blink of an eye so to keep this distractor from taking over your day just make
a habit of limiting your internet usage number

eight tackling immediate issues if something's
going to take less than 15 minutes just do it right away don't bother putting it off or writing
it on your to-do list these tiny responsibilities while they just aren't worth scheduling they're
just going to clutter your day with random busy

work so as soon as someone asks you for something
just get it done whether it's sending an email or
forwarding some documents immediate action
is almost always the most efficient strategy
that way you have one less thing to worry about
as the day goes on number nine dead time have you

ever noticed how many small pockets of time just
pop up throughout the day well let's say you have
an hour-long meeting at noon then an important
phone call at 1:15 so what do you do with that
15-minute gap in between well most people will let
it go to waste which is why these tiny increments

are often called dead time on its own dead time
doesn't seem that important but each 5 10 or 20
minute break really does add up at the end of
the day you might have spent hours just waiting
around doing nothing you can easily fix this
by choosing how you'll spend your dead time at

the beginning of the day you'll be amazed at how
much you can get done in the space between your
normal responsibilities number ten embracing
predictability you don't need to be creative
or spontaneous with every single thing you do
some things are better left predetermined

especially when it's something that you do all
the time eating breakfast that's a good example
you can save time by eating the same healthy meal
every morning it'll always taste great and give
you energy so like a good thing it takes much more
time to change your routine than it does to repeat

it so don't be afraid of a little predictability
number eleven social meals instead of watching TV
while you eat use your meals as an opportunity to
socialize social interactions are something you
should do almost every day and not just because
they're enjoyable but also because it's good for

Your mental health eating happens to be a great
excuse to bond with the people around you, so you can maximize the efficiency of your meals by
eating and socializing at the same time. Number 12: Batches of errands. You can save yourself
quite a bit of time and money by doing your

errands in batches. Well, let's say for example
that you need to run to the store, buy some new shoes, and get some money from the bank. What's
the most efficient way to get these errands
out of the way? Well, a lot of people decide to do them
one by one. They drive to the store and then

they drive home. A couple hours later, they go pick
out some shoes and then head home again, and they
do the same thing with the bank. And without
realizing it, you manage to make three small
 errands take up an entire day. Instead, cluster
your errands together. Find an area where you

can do all three so you can knock them out in
one sitting. This strategy takes significantly
less time and will free up the rest of your day
to do something more productive. Hey, thank you
for watching Top Think, and be sure to subscribe
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12 Smart Habits That Will Save You Time

12 Smart Habits That Will Save You Time