One simple way to make more time in your day
We all need more time in our day. But where to find it?Let's start with the questions you don't want to answer...How much time do you spend on the computer? How much time do you spend online?For me, most days I'll be in front of the computer (on and off) from 9:30am to 3pm. A mix of writing, blogging, and working on the business (accounts, quotes, bookwork). But, what I've noticed is, part of my day is soaked up by time-consuming crap that doesn't add any value to my day, such as checking emails and scrolling through social media.Digital clutter is a huge issue for everyone because it's so easy to accumulate without realising.Newsletters that you've subscribed to that you never read, 'friends' on Facebook that aren't really close to you but you felt bad not accepting them, those you follow on other social media platforms that never post anything interesting or useful - they all add up to time! Or wasted time, more to the point.And let's not forget about the inbox. If yours is anything like mine (was), it's like a rabbit hole where you can get lost for hours trying to find something.But, what would happen if you got serious with your digital clutter? Well, I did, and it freed up, not only my time, but my mind. Which is why I want to share it with you.Here's what I did:
Unsubscribed from eNewsletters
Unsubscribed from newsletters - I only kept those that I will read. The ones that add value to my day by offering advice, information or a friendly face that I enjoy hearing from. The rest? Gone.
Organised my inbox
Running two businesses, a general email account and a private email account has seen our inbox, at times, look like a . That was until I implemented a filing system. It took a while to clean out and then set up, but it's worth it. If you use Outlook, you can set up rules for how incoming emails are dealt with. There are plenty of tutorials on YouTube that can guide you. Another tip is to action email as it arrives. Either reply, file or delete. And clean your junk/spam and deleted emails regularly.
Cleaned up my social media
Okay, so this one takes a little time, and some courage too! I've cut down my friend list on Facebook, and it has made a huge difference to my feed. The people who have remained are those whom I'm generally interested in seeing what they post. It's not that I don't like the ones I've unfriended (such a harsh word), but they just don't add to my day.This goes too for the Facebook pages I follow. I've removed myself from a lot of pages by either unliking the page, or simply unfollowing their updates. That way I can still check them out when needed, but only the relevant, interesting pages, the ones that resonate with me, appear in my feed. Same goes with Twitter and Instagram.Now you wouldn't think that this would help you gain more time in your day. But it does. My social media feeds are less cluttered and the stuff I do see is relevant. It's cut my scrolling and social media time in half. I now get on, check out what I need to, interact where I need and get off. In half the time! Having a good digital clean up is time-consuming initially, but the benefits are worth it. I am now much more efficient online, and have freed up another 10 or 15 minutes in my day. Time that I can spend writing or reading. And although 10-15 minutes doesn't sound a lot, keep in mind that's almost two hours a week. Two extra hours! Sounds good to me!
Is it time you had a digital clean up?
Linking with Kylie Purtell for IBOT