10 Tips to Live Your Life Efficiently

People constantly think about improving their quality of life. If they spend their days doing useless things, such as watching the Kardashians or Big Brother reality game show, sooner or later they start feeling guilty about the way they waste their days. The overall quality of your life can be improved in different ways, but there is one thing all positive changes have in common: efficiency.

It’s time to start taking actions towards boosting the efficiency of your living. The following 10 tips will help you do that.

1. Develop better time-management skills

Multitasking is great when you can do it properly. For example, you can wash your teeth in the shower, or prepare the coffee while making a sandwich. However, sometimes you misinterpret multiple tabs in your browser with multitasking. You can’t do too many things at once. When you’re writing an important report, you can’t do the research for another project or check Facebook notifications at the same time. The key principle of proper time-management is prioritizing.

As soon as you start organizing your time according to priorities, you’ll notice a great improvement in your overall productivity.

2. Have a plan!

If you don’t make a daily, weekly and monthly plan, how will you measure your efficiency? Start each day by making a neat plan based on your priorities. This list will serve as a constant reminder that you have work to do. If you just create the plan in your mind, you won’t feel guilty when you don’t stick to it. Use a smartphone app, paper, Word document, or a virtual diary.

Here is another type of list you can make: a Stop Doing list. You certainly have bad habits you want to get rid of. Write them down. When you have a clear reminder of your not-so-good personal treats, you’ll want to change them.

3. Evaluate yourself!

Be self-conscious about your actions and achievements. Take the time to think about the things you do well, as well as about the aspects of your character that need improvement.

Do a resume of the day before you go to sleep. Did you spend too much time on a particular task? Were you prone to distractions? Don’t forget to take notes of these impressions. This will help you evaluate your capacity and plan the next day properly. When you can’t complete certain tasks effectively, you’ll need to look for a solution. For example, let’s say you didn’t write a cover letter or an important assignment because you didn’t manage to complete the priorities for the day. If you postpone the task for few days, you’ll finally realize that it’s better to delegate it to a professional writer. When someone else can do the task better than you, it would be best to delegate part of your workload and focus on the other tasks on your list.

4. Stay healthy!

If your mind is not sharp and your body is not healthy, you can’t expect to achieve the greatest levels of efficiency. You would feel weak and incapable to go through the day without taking a nap in between the tasks. Eat energizing food, do your exercise and make sure to freshen up your mind with positive thoughts.

5. Make some order!

This is the simplest way to explain why you need some order in your life: mess creates stress. You can’t remember where you put your makeup brushes or grooming kit, so you waste fifteen minutes in the morning looking for them?

If you clean your house and put everything back to order, you would save yourself from mini panic attacks. You can’t find the time to do that? Remember: delegate! Hire a cleaning service, and you’ll only need to maintain the effect for as long as possible. The order in your surroundings will immediately reflect itself on your overall efficiency.

6. Realize your big goal!

Don’t limit yourself to a daily to-do list. Have a life plan! You can say you’ve achieved the ultimate level of efficiency when you reach your main goals within a reasonable timeframe. Set your great goals and ask yourself: what are you doing each and every day to get closer to them? You can use a simple notebook or an online journal like Penzu to keep track of your big goals.

When you visualize the things you want to achieve and you keep a journal of the actions that guide you to that point,

7. It’s okay to say no!

Your time is limited. When you know you can’t take the load of an additional task, just say no! You don’t need to care too much about other people’s opinion of you. If you want to be efficient, you have to prioritize and do only those things that push you towards your goal. It’s great to make favors for your friends. It’s not great if those actions push you off schedule. Your main focus should be your own productivity.

8. Don’t wait for the last moment! 

You can’t call yourself efficient if you’re late with everything. Plan everything in advance and try to commit to your schedule. Target to be early, so you’ll increase your chances of being on time! You should be especially careful when it comes to professional appointments.

9. Leave time for yourself

The increased level of efficiency should have a clear goal: improving the quality of your life. If you’re efficient just so you can do more work, you’ll end up working throughout your life without having a clear vision about your family and social values. Leave time for some rest. Have a hobby and follow your dreams!

10. Level up!

Self-improvement is an important aspect of productivity. If you want to be content with yourself and the success you achieve, you need to enlarge your scope. Don’t stay at the same place; travel and experience as many cultures as you can. Read classic literature, do something you always wanted to do, and overcome your great fear. Just step up and don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Learn and grow from your experiences!

Use Your Time Wisely!

You need to be aware of each moment of the day. The time you have is a non-renewable resource. Are you going to waste it or use it efficiently? Think about your goals and start doing something to achieve them.
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Stephanie Norman is a contributing blogger and professional creative and academic writer with 4 years of experience from Sydney. She is passionate about self-development, tourism, and reading thought-provoking books in her free time. You can follow her at Facebook and Google+.

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