Beyond Folders : time management

Ten Wacky, Weird & Wonderful Time-Saving Tips

Community Manager — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:42:00 GMT

Time-crunched clock-watchers know every minute counts. When it comes to saving time, no tip is too wacky or weird.

1. Sock Sense: Tired of sorting socks for your family? Missing sock syndrome wastes valuable time. Say good-bye to missing socks (and wasted time) by safety-pinning socks together before they get tossed into the wash.

2. Meal Makeover: Dinner food preps can be time-consuming. Skip dinner in favor of a major midday meal and use your evening hours to nibble fruit, cheese and crackers while spending time on leisure pursuits or exercise. While you're at it, skip cooking for your next soiree. Go potluck or even prepared; no one will care if your side dish is from the deli counter as long as it tastes good. So long, from scratch!

3. Beauty Station: Put an end to the morning, "where's the sunblock/hairbrush/lipstick," scramble by housing all your beauty needs in a basket. Keep it by the front door mirror for last minute primping on your way out the door.

4. Water Works: Cut your plant watering time by as much as half by adding Osmocote, a slow-release fertilizer, which feeds plants with each watering, and Soil Moist, a water-retaining polymer. Also, top your pots with hardwood much; it holds moisture in and creates a finished look.

5. Desk Job: No time to work out during your busy workday? Get a treadmill desk that lets you log laps while working on your computer. Yep, it's possible to clock exercise hours while working.

6. Liquid Diet: Put your shower on a liquid diet, using liquid soap (or glycerin bar soap) to cut hard-to-clean soap scum. The binders in traditional bar soaps cause soap scum which often leads to clogged drains.  

7. Less Mess: Fight microwave mess by lining the bottom of your microwave with 10 or so paper towels to protect the turntable. Cleaning up is as simple as taking the top paper towel off after each use.

8. Fake It: Skip buying and watering houseplants and cut flowers by purchasing silk plants. A vase full of silk stems blooms all year round and best of all, only needs a periodic vacuum from time to time.

9. Long Lashes: Tired of the morning mascara routine? Wish you could skip the even more time-consuming nightly cleaning? Dye your lashes for lasting color, no clean up required!

10. Commercial Free: Skip watching TV live, by taping your shows, you can fast-forward through commercials and shave your viewing time.

What's for Dinner? Four Tips for Healthy Weeknight Meals

Community Manager — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 15:11:00 GMT

Getting a healthy, delicious dinner on the table each night is the Holy Grail of working parents. Our four simple tips help answer the nightly "what's for dinner?" question.

Greatest Hits: Do yourself a favor and commit to a weeknight rotation of four to six basic recipes that can be easily assembled and altered for variety. Roast chicken is simple; dress it up with an array of sides. Ditto grilled lean meats and fish. Chopped salads are also easy; just vary the ingredients for a fresh take. Shop on Saturday, prep foods Sunday (chopping veggies for the week or roasting a chicken for use in weeknight meals) and keep a running grocery list during the week so you can fill pantry holes during next weekend's shop.

Teen Chefs: Turn meal-planning over to your teens once a week. In My Sons, The Sous-Chefs, NYT reporter Leslie Kaufman recounts how with some prep work (i.e. providing basic kitchen training and guidance on recipe selection) she was able to outsource two meals a week to her teen sons. Even tweens can help pitch in; have them assemble ingredients, defrost meats and prepared foods, make a simple salad and set the table so you save time each night.

Prep Work: Who has time to plan in advance? You do that's who. Take an hour each week to plan meals, grocery shop online and prep the basics (chopping, roasting) over the weekend. An ounce of preparation is worth a pound of take-out. You will be amazed at how small investments of pre-planning yield delicious meals. For menu ideas read, Easy Weeknight Dinners.

Fake It: Who says dinner needs to be made from scratch? Savvy weeknight chefs rely on pre-made and store-bought ingredients to get dinner from to-do to done. Read Fake-It, Don't Make it: 25 Recipes to see how simple short-cuts can put dishes like chicken tostadas and fish tacos on your dinner table quickly and easily.

Can Your Commute Make You Happier?

Community Manager — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 15:26:00 GMT

When you free associate the word "commute" you are probably more likely to think "long" than "marital happiness." But a recent study that is getting attention in the Harvard Business Review finds that couples that commute together are more likely to experience marital satisfaction that those that don't. Interesting stuff.

Still not everyone can commute with their significant other, but the study got us thinking: can our commute make us happier in other ways?

Making the Most of Commute Time

Try and take a "glass half full" view of your commute and view the time as an opportunity. The average American commutes almost 50 minutes a day, says the Census Bureau: use this time wisely and you may find yourself appreciating your travel time.

Get to that Book: Curling up with a great read is not for bedtime only. E-books make reading even the weightiest tome manageable on a commute. Join social networking site Goodreads.com for book recommendations from friends. Or collect useful articles in your e-reader for subway or train perusal. Car commuters, you can get in the action with audio books.

Advance Your Career: No time for networking? Use your commute time to fit critical networking time into your busy schedule. Update your LinkedIn profile; send networking e-mails to industry contacts and schedule future lunch and drinks dates with peers. Keep abreast of industry trends by reading useful articles or listening to podcasts. Car commuters, take advantage of your hands-free device to schedule calls with mentors and peers.

Scheme, Daydream: Downtime is a rare commodity. Make the most of the idle hour to let your mind wander. Keep a notebook handy or download a note-taking app on your smart phone to jot down any inspiration that strikes.

Unwind: Can't find time to get to that crossword puzzle? Squeeze in a nap? Download that new album and play it from start to finish? You're in luck - you're commute provides a window of time to devote to these small moments of Zen.

How do you make the most out of your commute? Share your thoughts here and on the Pendaflex Facebook page.

Regret Not: Tips for Avoiding the Should’ves

Community Manager — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 14:43:00 GMT

What's your biggest regret? We all have them and a recent article in Forbes.com lists 25 examples that will make you think. Take a look: you may see one of your own regrets listed.

While many regrets focused on missed opportunities - in jobs and in love -we noticed that many are linked to time, specifically how we choose to spend it. Many lamented the failure to devote time to deep relationships, or for over committing hours to work and career, at the expense of meaningful time with children and spouses.

While there's no silver bullet for avoiding regret, our take away from this Forbes piece is to carve out the time to do what you love with the people you love.

Finding time in a busy life isn't always easy, but it is doable. To find more time in your day, read our past posts Tackle Your To-Do List with Time Blocking and Nine Ways to Leave the Office by 5:00. And make sure your weekend time is sacrosanct with the tips in our post, Work-Free Weekends.

Piles to Smiles: the Psychological Benefits of Being Organized

Community Manager — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 17:48:00 GMT

For many, organization means never fruitlessly searching for a crucial document that has somehow gone missing. But did you know that the benefits of being organized extend far beyond merely retrieving a slip of paper in a snap? Being organized can lead to a happier, more productive, and even longer life.

Yup, you read that right. Being organized can extend your life, posits Howard Friedman and Leslie Martin, authors of The Longevity Project. Martin and Friedman conclude that the key factor in living longer is "conscientiousness" which they define as being organized, responsible and thinking ahead.

The landmark study of 1,500 hundred people, spanning more than 90 years, concludes that the people who live longest:

§ Work hard. Successful careers and habitual engagement in "pursuing goals" were hallmarks of people with long lives.

§ Lead active lives. Time devoted to hobbies, leisure pursuits and enjoyable activities also characterized lives of longevity.

§ Are socially connected. Happy marriages and strong friendships, which all require time to nurture, are also hallmarks of long lives.

In our busy, 24/7 always on world, carving out time to nurture careers, lead active lives and to nourish our critical relationships, requires extraordinary time-management skills, the ability to prioritize and nuts-and-bolts organization.

Our Beyond Folders blog offers a host of resources to help hone these skills. The following posts offer a good starting point for those in search of an "organizational" overhaul.

Do you derive satisfaction from being organized? Share your thoughts here and on the Pendaflex Facebook page.

Work-Free Weekends

Community Manager — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:32:00 GMT

Think homework is just for kids? Too often, work creeps into the weekends, cutting into downtime with friends and family.

If work projects and emails are eating into your weekend time, we have some tips for getting your workload back on a Monday-through-Friday schedule.

Take a Load Off: If a crushing workload demands weekend hours to keep up, it's time to talk with your boss about redistributing the load. Your boss may be unaware that you are shouldering a disproportionate burden. Before talking with your higher ups, spend a few days or weeks logging your time so you can demonstrate how your time is being spent. For more advice, read How to Talk to Your Boss about Being Overworked.

Set Boundaries: If your boss or a work colleague is emailing or calling you at all hours and on weekends for non-urgent matters, take time to set boundaries. Calmly and professionally let your co-worker know that you are happy to respond to emails and work calls during the week, but unless the matter is urgent, you will not be back at work until first thing Monday morning and will respond then. Most people will get the hint and limit their outreach appropriately. For more advice, we like the advice in Set Boundaries at the Office to Balance Work, Family.

Stop Time-Wasting: Sometimes it's you, not them. Are you prone to procrastination? Too chatty at the office water cooler? Taking longer lunches than you should? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, it's time to make an honest assessment of time spent in the office, so you stop taking the office home with you on weekends. Read 13 Common Work Time-Wasters and take a good look in the mirror: change what you don't like seeing.

Practice Better Time Management: In a fast-paced, demanding work world, effective time management is key so if your skills aren't up to snuff, make 2012 the year you overhaul them. Our past posts on time-blocking and effective time-management are great places to start.

How do you keep your weekends free of work demands? Share your thoughts here and on the Pendaflex Facebook and Twitter pages.

Now, Not Later: Tips to Stop Procrastinating

Community Manager — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:16:00 GMT

If you meant to make New Year's resolutions but somehow never got around to it, we have a resolution for you. Procrastinator, time to kick your habit of putting off must-do tasks once and for all.

Who Me? Procrastinate?

We all know what procrastination looks like: putting off until tomorrow what we should do today. Yet some forms of procrastination are more subtle. Often we busy ourselves with small tasks rather than tackling high priority jobs. Do you ever:

Sit down to a critical task and immediately get side-tracked?
Say yes to unimportant tasks that distract you from high priority tasks?
Read e-mails several times without taking action?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, welcome to the I-Need-to-Change-My-Procrastinating-Ways Club.

Why People Procrastinate

Recognizing you are a procrastinator is the first step in tackling a condition that derails productivity and decision-making.

Common reasons for procrastinating include:

Disorganization
Reluctance to tackle what is perceived as unpleasant or difficult
Absence of strong decision making skills
Fear of failure (perfectionists take note: this is most often your concern)

Tips to Stop

To begin, set the stage. Visualize the unpleasant consequences of not getting to a task. Empower others to check up on you; positive peer pressure is a motivating force. Reward yourself for accomplishing goals. Take time to notice and appreciate how the mental "stress" of leaving tasks undone disappears once the task is completed.

Get Organized, Get Going

Keep a prioritized to-do list
Schedule your tasks and your time
Break projects into manageable pieces, do it step-by step
Give yourself realistic deadlines, reward yourself for meeting them
Tackle tough jobs first; they might be less unpleasant then you feared
Overhaul your decision-making skills if you can't decide what to do first.
Practice your anti-procrastination techniques. It'll get easier.

Looking for more tips? We've collected some terrific resources:

2012 is your year to kick the procrastination habit for good. What are you waiting for?

Do you have a procrastination problem? How do you stay motivated to stay on task? Share your thoughts here and on the Pendaflex Facebook page.

The Only Three Tips You Need for a More Productive January

Community Manager — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:12:00 GMT

Don't you just love January's clean slate? After a hectic holiday season, capped off by a late night of champagne and streamers, January 1^st dawns as a low-key, fresh start. Looking to make this January a time to reset and rev up for the upcoming year? Kick off your 2012 with the only three tips you'll need for a productive January.

Prioritize: The ability to prioritize, to assess your to-do list and triage the most pressing, vital tasks, is a must-have productivity skill. Effective prioritization is also a major stress-buster.

Need help mastering this must-have skill? Study up on the three components of effective prioritization:

Time-constraints: Determine if a project can be put off or if there's a deadline that can't be missed. Next, asses how long each project will take and decide if tackling the shortest projects first makes sense.
Potential upside: Assess which projects or tasks are likely to be more beneficial or profitable.
Consequences: Finally, examine your to-do list and determine the consequences of not getting to a certain action item. If the fall-out would be major if a project is unfinished, that item moves up the priority list.

Decluttercize: Clutter creates stress and inhibits productivity and efficiency. January is a time to tackle those piles, streamline your files, and reboot your efficiency with a thorough office and home decluttering.

Get tossing: Grab that wastebasket; it's time for Decluttering 101. Broken, out-of-date or stained items need to go. If an item is gently used but unneeded, donate to friends or charity.
A place for everything: Asses what remains and find every item a home. Stock up on containers and files to corral items you want to keep. Take advantage of January sales to stock up bins, baskets, closet organizers and files and folders.
Maintaining: Commit to a maintenance schedule of 10 minutes each night and morning to keep order. Set aside larger blocks of time weekly and monthly for projects that require more time.

Exercise: Using and moving your body is a must for energy and productivity. Great feats of athleticism or hardcore time at the gym are not required; even a brisk walk taken daily can do the trick.

Schedule fitness: Break out that new colander and schedule fitness just as you would any important appointment. Find a block of time that works for you, such as first thing in the morning or midday, and make that your regular exercise time.
Buddy up: Partner with a friend or family member and commit to a regimen you both enjoy. Having a buddy keep you honest; it's harder to skip an early morning run when you know your friend is waiting on the corner.
Start small: Get off on the right foot by starting small. You don't need to train for a marathon, or hit the gym every day, but a daily routine of simple stretches as well as 20-minutes of light cardio (a quick walk, taking the stairs at work) can reap a boost in energy and vigor. Don't let an all-or-nothing approach derail you; be realistic about your time and ability.

How do you create and conserve productivity and energy? Share your thoughts here and on the Pendaflex Facebook page.

How to Head Home While There's Still Daylight

Community Manager — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:44:00 GMT

Hurrah! Daylight savings has arrived to add a few extra hours of light during the waning cold-weather days. But what good are the extra hours if you're spending them with your nose to the office grindstone?

Do yourself a favor and learn to get out of the office on time: working late is a habit that gets harder to shake the longer you do it. We have seven tips that will help you leave work at a reasonable hour each night.

Make it a Priority: To begin, make heading home at 5pm, or an appropriate quitting time, a priority. You can't meet a goal you haven't set, so pick a time and stick to it.

Manage Your Time: Leaving the office at a reasonable hour requires managing your time well during the day. Too much time spent in idle chit chat, surfing the web, or in putting off must-do tasks will derail a timely exit each evening. Need help managing your time effectively? Read our tips for time-blocking .

Say Good-bye to Guilt: Don't feel guilty about leaving work on time. If your colleagues are still toiling away, it's easy to feel embarrassed about heading out. But you may be a more efficient or focused worker than your peers. As long as your work isn't being shortchanged, leaving on time is okay.

Farewell to Face Time: Some office cultures unwittingly encourage or reward "face time" making it harder to head home at a reasonable hour. If this is a problem, take time to talk with your boss or colleagues. Demonstrating how efficiently and productively you use your time makes it easier to head for the door.

Ask for Help: When faced with an overwhelming amount of work, rather than burning the midnight oil, consider talking to your boss about redistributing the load. Prep for that conversation by spending time keeping track of your hours so your boss understands the scope of work and hours required.

Baby Steps: Start incrementally; shoot to leave work by 5 or 6pm one night a week and then add a day at a time. Starting small betters your odds of success.

HomeWork: When all else fails, plan to finish work from home. Bringing work home isn't an ideal solution, but sometimes you just want to put the kids to bed or meet a friend for dinner. So head out the door to attend to your personal needs and commit to wrapping up the remaining work at home.

Do you consistently head out the door at a reasonable hour? What are your tips for leaving work on time? Share your thoughts here and on the Pendaflex Facebook page.

The Best Way to Spend 20 Extra Minutes

Community Manager — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 13:54:00 GMT

When was the last time you heard someone complain about having too much time on their hands? Between juggling work, family and other important commitments (sleep anyone?), every minute of the day is generally booked solid.

But every now and again, an extra 15 or 20 minutes pops up. Skeptical about how much can be accomplished in a mere quarter of an hour? Read on for some tips about maximizing even small chunks of time.

Get Fit: Exercise is the perfect activity to squeeze into short chunks of time. Numerous exercises can be done in just a few short minutes. We like The 20-Minute Workout options from Real Simple and the inspiration provided by WebMD's article, 15 Minutes of Exercise Every Day Reduces Risk of Death.

Get Food: Fresh, healthy delicious meals can easily be whipped up in less than 20 minutes. True, you need to prep with shopping ahead of time, but a big Sunday shop and 20 minutes each night will have a home-cooked dinner on the table every night of the week. Rachel Ray makes it easy with a selection of 15-Minute Meals and for those who want fast and foodie, check out what gourmet food site Epicurious.com has to say in Dinner in 5-Minutes: Fact or Fiction?

Get a Good Book: No time to read? Portable technology like the iPad and Kindle make downloading a book a snap whenever you have a minute. Make the most of your commute or the wait at the doctor's office or DMV. Go ahead, feed your brain. Visit eBooks best-seller list for ideas.

Get Happy: Instantly improve your mood with Real Simple's list of 9 Things You Can Do to Be Happy in the Next 30 Minutes. Many of these are common sense-take a walk outside, stretch-but others are a bit out of the box such as doing a good deed for others by becoming an organ donor.

Get Busy: Productivity blogger PicktheBrain.com doesn't like to waste a minute: check out 20 Useful Things You Can Accomplish in 15 Minutes for productive uses of short periods of time. Ideas include: networking, blogging, talking to a friend, researching and taking the time to eat slowly and savor a snack.

Think you're too busy to find even an extra 20 minutes in your day? Time to study some of our past posts on time-management and organization. You'll be happy you did!

What would you do with an extra 20 minutes? Share your thoughts here!

Be an Energy Star: Tips for Operating at Peak Capacity

Community Manager — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 19:56:00 GMT

Want to hit the ground running each morning? How about enjoying enhanced productivity, greater energy levels and less stress? Be more energy efficient with these simple steps:

Sleep Smart: Get a full night of shut-eye. Most adults need 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night. Having trouble catching 40-winks? Read WebMD's Sleep Tips for the 411 on sleep including avoiding alcohol and unplugging distracting lights in your room.

Snack Happy: Don't run on empty: refuel throughout the day with small, healthy snacks such as nuts and hummus and veggies. Read our past post Healthy Office Eating Made Easy for more ideas.

Simple Stretches: Studies show that productivity slumps after 90-minutes and too much sitting leads to muscle fatigue and discomfort. Reboot your productivity by getting the blood flowing with gentle desk stretches: feeling good equals performing well.

Take Breaks: Pace yourself, allowing blocks of downtime to refresh concentration and energy. Break projects into discrete portions and take breathers throughout. A fresh eye will often catch mistakes or allow for a new perspective.

Time Off: Prevent burnout with time off from work. Add a three day weekend to your schedule when you can and be sure to take longer vacation weeks when work allows. Burning the candle at both ends decreases productivity so make time to recharge and refresh.

How do you stay energized throughout the day? Share your thoughts here and on the Pendaflex Facebook and Twitter pages.

Organizing for the Weekend

Community Manager — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 19:43:00 GMT

The days are growing shorter. Too bad your to-do list is still long. When the week evaporates at warp speed, work and chores too often encroach on the weekend. Find free time every weekend by managing your week days better. We've rounded up some smart advice that is sure to give you extra hours for weekend leisure pursuits.

25 Ways to Find Free Time: Huffington Post blogger Zen Habits offers numerous suggestions to carve out more time in the day. With 25 smart, simple solutions, one or two of them will surely stick. Ideas include: waking earlier, watching less TV, delegating, prioritizing and getting the kids to help out.

Find More Free Time This Fall: CBS Moneywatch.com contributor Sarah Lorge Butler too often finds her freelance work creeping into all her quote unquote free time, including holidays. Her solution? Practice self-discipline, manage expectations and be truthful about availability. This means no late night emails; send too many and you'll train your bosses and clients to think you are available at all hours.

Find Time for Fun: NYT best-seller Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, finds more time for fun by being true to herself. Rubin recommends jettisoning those activities that ought to be fun such as jogging, learning French, reading the New Yorker, etc. and doing the things that are actually fun for you.

Too often people spend time on aspirational activities, things people think they are supposed to do and enjoy, rather than activities that are truly fun for them. So say goodbye to stacks of unread Sunday papers, and hello to the novel you've been dying to read. Master the fine art of saying no...to yourself. Voila! More time; less guilt.

How do you find time for leisure pursuits and downtime? Share your thoughts here and on the Pendaflex Facebook and Twitter pages.

Top 10 Tips to Reboot Productivity at Work

Community Manager — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:32:00 GMT

Summer's lazy, hazy days are firmly in the rearview mirror. Time to reboot your back-to-business mojo with ten tips to make your September more productive.

1. Reconnect with your colleagues after vacation by updating your boss and co-workers on summertime successes and project statuses.

2. Tackle the tickler list that got short shrift during vacation weeks.

3. Jump on the back-to-school bandwagon by stocking up on organizational tools of every stripe. Folders, files, notebooks, day planners, computers and the like all sport sales stickers come September.

4. Schedule a block of time to prune the paperwork that didn't get filed. Moving piles to files is energizing.

5. Do some goal-setting. September's new-notebooks, fresh-start-energy is the perfect time to strive for an unrealized goal.

6. Take steps to hone focus; noise canceling headphones or technology-free blocks of time can provide needed concentration.

7. Commit to a regimen of simple desk stretches to keep the blood flowing and boost memory and energy levels.

8. Arrive well-rested; early to bed, early to rise, you know the drill.

9. Think positively! Arrive at your desk every day with a smile on your face and some pep in your step; positivity propels productivity.

10. Finally, schedule a fall vacation. You're going to need a break from all that productivity!

Making Better Use of Longer Days

Community Manager — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 14:55:00 GMT

Halleluiah, winter is at long last giving way to spring. The days are getting longer; are you putting the extra hours to good use?

For most of us, time-management is a constant juggle. No matter how clever, no matter how industrious, one cannot actually create more time. One can only try to make more effective use of the 24/7 we are all allotted.

High Tech Help

Happily technology can help us make better use of time. We recently stumbled across a wonderful round up of time-management tools, ranging from the who-would-have-thunk-it? to the have-to-have. Check out 15 Time Management Gadgets You Never Knew Existed or tools including a time-is-money clock that calculates the cost of the time you spend on certain activities, to a color-coded time-tracker and clock geared towards kids. The list also includes useful apps for iPads and iPhones as well as Google gadgets for use on Android operating systems.

Best Practices

Not all time-management tricks require high tech tools. In fact one standard bit of advice from the experts is to schedule a "tech free" hour of your day. This email/text/cell phone free block can be used to power through work requiring concentration and attention to detail, which are often derailed by the ping of an incoming email or the buzz of a text.

For more simple solutions for making the best use of your time, read Three Tips for Managing Your Time at Work.

Making the Most of Minutes

Squeezing extra hours out of a jam-packed day isn't always feasible. If minutes are all you've got, you can still spend them wisely. Read 20 Productive Ways To Use Your Free Time for ideas for optimizing time blocks as short as five minutes including quick bursts of sit-ups or networking emails.

The Art of Me Time

Finally, remember that effective time-management is not just about creating extra hours to fill with to-do lists and work, but rather carving out time for family and friends, relaxation and self-expression. Read 10 Ways to Take Time Out for Yourself for tips on adding "me time" to your longer days.

How do you make effective use of spring's longer days? Do you have any tips for maximizing me time? Share your thoughts here and on the Pendaflex Facebook page.

by Candie Harris

Tick Tock: Understanding Your Time Clock

Community Manager — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:52:00 GMT

The lengthening days are adding extra hours of sunshine, but are the longer days adding up to productive time? If you regularly underestimate how long it takes to get tasks done, and find yourself in stressful time crunches, it may be time to re-set your internal clock.

Assigning accurate time-estimates to tasks is the building block of time-management. And effective time-management produces greater efficiencies and relieves stress. So what are you waiting for? Time to get going!

Re-setting Your Internal Clock

Productivity web site Lifehacker offers useful suggestions for fine-tuning time management skills in How to Hone the Accuracy of Your Internal Clock and Better Understand Your Time

Highlights include:

Practice time keeping. If you estimate your morning commute to be 20-minutes but it really clocks in at 35, you need to set off 15 minutes earlier each day to avoid running late. Keep time logs of tasks for a week or so for a more accurate gauge of how much time is truly needed to get things done.

Learn to use small chunks of time. A project may require ten hours of work, but that doesn't mean you need to sit down for a 10-hour time-block. Break the project into discrete tasks and assign time estimates. Have 30 minutes but no more? Knock of a 30-minute component such as phone calls or e-mails. Bit by bit, you'll move the yardstick on the project.

Anticipate interruptions. The phone rings, urgent emails arrive; the boss may call you in. Interruptions are an unavoidable part of work. Schedule disruptions into your time-estimations so you aren't caught short on time.

Maximize your prime time. We all have times of the day when our motor hums a little faster. Try to create an interruption-free zone during this time and drill down, perhaps on the toughest, most complex challenge.

Keep in mind that one's internal clock can run off the rails for a variety of reasons. Jet lag, insomnia and even daylight savings time can disrupt your routine. We've collected a few resources that address these specific challenges:

Do you have any tips on keeping your inner time-clock in tip top shape? Share your thoughts here and at the Pendaflex Facebook page.

by Bradley Eggers