How to Have a 46 Hour Day

Have you ever wished you had more time in a day? Our lives have become defined by 60 hour work weeks and a desperate need for speed.

However, speeding up isn’t the solution. In fact, I would go so far as to say that most of us need to slow down. Take a breath. And take a good hard look at how you’re using you’re time.

There are probably a number of productivity hacks that you could use to add more hours to your day. I’m betting that you could add an additional 22 hours of productive time by employing the following life hacks.

TIVO / DVR

I don’t watch a lot of TV, but there are a few shows that I really enjoy. So, how do I sit in front of the tube and not feel bad about it? DVR to the rescue. DVR stands for digital video recorder. According to Wikipedia, DVR is “a device that records video without videotape to a hard drive-based digital storage medium.”

This allows you to watch TV without those agonizing commercials, allowing you to instantly cut a 1 hour show down to 40 minutes. For a productivity junkie, this is as good as it gets.

Of course, if you’d like to do a bit of multi-tasking, you can also exercise and walk on the treadmill while watching TV. This way, you can get that bod in shape at the same time.

Time Savings from DVR = Approximately 20 minutes

Turn off the TV

Ok, so maybe you’re hard core and really want to super optimize your days. If so, then I would advise turning the TV off completely.

According to research performed by Nielsen Co, the average American watches more than 4 hours of television every day. That’s 2 months in front of the television every year! Over the course of a 65-year life, the average American will have spent 9 years glued to the tube.

Just think of all of the things they could have accomplished during that time. They could have written their own book, become an accomplished musician, traveled the world, learned multiple languages, made new friends, and spent tons of quality time with their family.

I know we all need a dose of entertainment, but this is getting ridiculous.

Television is one of the biggest time wasters in human history. But if you can cut down or even cut it out, you are sure to get more out of life.

Time Savings from Turning off the TV = Approximately 2 hours

Audio Books

Audio books are one of the best multi-tasking tools to ever be created. You can listen to educational audiobooks while you’re driving to work, cleaning the house, exercising, or cooking dinner.

Audio learning has the power to add hours to your day. Not to mention, you will be able to glide through hundreds of books every year. So, instead of jamming to the music on your way to work, why not pop in something educational.

Your brain will thank you for it.

Time Savings from Audio Books = Approximately 2 hours

Learn Speed Reading

Brian Tracy, a best-selling author, points out that just 1 hour per day of reading will make you an international expert in your chosen field within 7 years.

We are living in the Information Age. No matter who you are, you are bound to be overloaded with an excess of information; everything from the morning paper to your latest email.

Reading is now a prerequisite for success in life. In fact, many presidents, including Kennedy, have required their staff to take speed reading lessons.

You can become a speed reader as well, absorbing and retaining your reading material faster than ever.

Here are a few tools that will help you speed through your daily reading requirements, whether they be for work or pleasure.

Photoreading: The Photoreading course can help you vastly increase your reading speed. It has been endorsed by Tony Robbins, Jack Canfield, Harvey Mackay, and Ken Blanchard.

Inside this course, you will learn the tools and techniques for reading more intelligently and efficiently.

Photoreading will allow you to read at least three times faster.

Evelyn Wood: The Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics Course is one of the most highly regarded reading courses available. A number of White House staff members have taken this course, including the Kennedy, Ford, and Carter administrations.

It has proven to increase reading speeds by 3 to 10 times.

Within this course, you will learn:

- how to read using your hand as a pacer - how to improve concentration - how to study more efficiently - how to read magazines and newspapers in record time - how to read journals and technical material - how to stabilize for greater speed and comprehension - how to take lecture notes - how to prepare for examinations - how to recall what you read - how to read without sounding words - how to read in groups of words instead of one at a time - how to read classic and conceptual books

Become a speed reader and start flying through your daily reading requirements.

Time Savings from Speed Reading = Approximately 2 hours

Outsource as much as possible

In the best-selling book, The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman explains how outsourcing to India and China is poised to transform every industry in America. In fact, it already has in many cases.

However, outsourcing isn’t just for big businesses. It can transform your life as well.

In this day and age, we can outsource much of our life, whether it be our accounting, book writing, product creation, or house cleaning.

Many entrepreneurs think they can do it all. They like to be in control and that is often times why their business fails. They don’t know how to build a system that allows their business to run without them.

To grow your business you must free up your time to focus on bigger and better things. You cannot simply keep adding to the to-do list. At some point, you will need to hire some help.

Let’s say that you’re worth $25 - $30 an hour. If you spend your time doing something that someone else will do for $10 an hour, you are wasting your most precious resource: time.

In this day and age, almost any job can be outsourced. Everything from personal needs to business tasks.

On a personal level, you can outsource your house work, yard work, and travel planning.

In your business, you can outsource everything from customer service and accounting to website maintenance and product creation.

Here are just a few of the companies that will help you outsource your everyday tasks:

Getfriday.com
elance.com
guru.com
scriptlancle.com

Time Savings from Outsourcing Your Life = Approximately 7 hours

Exercise!

Research has shown that midday exercise boosts productivity and morale in the workplace.

If you want to optimize your day, then don’t forget to exercise. Anything from walking to aerobics will work well.

Recruit a buddy and you’re workout will pass much more quickly. Not to mention, you’re multitasking… combining your exercise with your social life!

Best of all, by exercising with a friend, you become accountable to each other.

Direct Deposit

Use Direct Deposit if offered by your employer. This way, your check will be deposited straight into your checking account. You no longer have to worry about making a stop at the bank.

Direct deposit can save a good chunk of time. In fact, over the course of 20 years, direct deposit will save you approximately 130 hours. That’s a little over 5 days added to your life.

Autopay your bills

Paying the bills… This has got to be everyone’s most dreaded activity.

However, thanks to today’s technology, we can now automatically pay our bills.

Say goodbye to late fees and increased interest rates.

Most companies now allow you to pay your bills electronically on a recurring basis.

In fact, you may never have to see your money again. Direct deposit will place the money in your account and automatic bill payment will take it out. Isn’t life wonderful?

Time Savings from Direct Deposit and Automatic Bill Payment = Approximately 10 minutes

Setting a Timer for Your Tasks

One of my favorite time management techniques is using a timer for each task on my to-do list. You’ll be surprised how much more productive you are simply by setting a time limit for each task.

Parkison’s Law says that a task will expand to fill the time available for it. If you give yourself one hour to complete a task, that’s how long it will take. If you give yourself an entire day to complete a task, you will find ways to fill up the entire day working on that one thing.

This is why it’s so important to give yourself short deadlines. Give yourself 30 minutes to an hour to complete something and watch how your productivity soars.

Deadlines are one of the best motivators.

Focus completely on the task before you. Get rid of any distractions and become completely lost in your work.

Unplug the phone, turn off the cell, and get to work.

Time Savings from Using a Timer = Approximately 1 hour

Focus on result-oriented activities.

Vilfredo Pareto was an economist that discovered a mathematical formula that explains many of today’s time management problems.

This secret was discovered over 100 years ago. It says that 80% of the wealth in our society is held by 20% of the population. On average, we wear 20% of the clothes in our closet, while the other 80% live most of their lives on the hanger. And most importantly for our application: 20% of our actions produce 80% of our success.

This is known as Pareto’s law, which states that 80% of the outputs result from 20% of the inputs.

So, what does this tell us?

We MUST focus on results-oriented activity.

We must find the 20% that is creating the 80% of our desired outcomes.

If you own a business, excatly which advertising methods are bringing you the best results? Focus on those and forget the rest.

Time Savings from Focusing on Results-Oriented Activity = Approximately 3 hours

Elimination!!

Time management is really more about elimination than trying to fit more into a day.

For an optimized life, you need to look closely for things you can outsource or eliminate.

Here are just a few of things that can eat up our time each day:

long showers Surfing the Internet Checking your email in the morning Checking your email 30 times per day instant messaging television Video Games meetings telephone interruptions drop-in visitors inability to say “No”

Make a commitment to avoiding these common time wasters and start enjoying the free time you deserve.

Time Savings from Elimination = Approximately 1 hour

Go on an Information Diet

Most of the world lives on information overload.

Albert Einstein once said, “Reading after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.”

Now, I’m all for reading. I think a book is one of the best gifts you can give to yourself or to others.

However, do we really need to read 3 different newspapers, multiple magazines, and too many blogs to count?

Please stop the endless torture to your poor little cranium.

From this point forward, I suggest you go on a strict low-information diet. Now, as a webmaster myself, I know that you may need some exposure to our world of info.

However, it’s crucial that you only consume the proper sources.

The key is to limit yourself only to information that you can immediately take action on. So if you’re writing an article, the only information you will need is that which relates to the article. If you’re making a decision about your business, the only information you will need is that which will help you make your decision.

But remember, you will never have all of the information you need to make the perfect decisioin. Don’t get stuck in analysis by paralysis.

I highly suggest that you look for books first because the Internet is always one click away from an endless time waster.

If you are looking for a book on a certain topic, don’t waste your time searching the library or the bookstore. Go to Amazon and find which books are rated highest under the category you’re looking for. Browse through the best-seller list. Read the reviews.

This way, you’re only reading the best of the best. You’re getting the golden nuggets without having to sift through hours of reading.

In addition, only read sections of the book that you can immediately take action on.

Time Savings from an Information Diet = Approximately 1 hour

Find a mentor

In his best-selling book, Unlimited Power, Tony Robbins says, “If you want to achieve success, all you need to do is find a way to model those who have already succeeded.”

Success leaves a long trail of clues that prevents us from traveling the long, hard road of trial and error. Why not model those who have already succeeded and save yourself a lot of time and energy.

There’s no point in reinventing the wheel. Find someone who is already successful in what you want to accomplish and find out how they achieved their success.

This is one of the very best ways to shortcut your way to success.Success becomes a very simple formula when you begin modeling yourself after those who have already achieved the results you are looking for. Simply find a mentor and tap into their recipe for success. You’ll save yourself months and even years of trial and error.

Time Savings From Finding a Mentor = Approximately 1 hour

Step away from the computer.

The computer is an endless hole of distractions. The internet has become one of the most time sucking, producitivity killers to ever be invented.

Whenever possible, you should do your work offline. I have incorporated this into my own life and have found that I accomplish my goals three times faster when I work offline.

Time Savings From Working Offline = Approximately 30 minutes

Do something you love!!!

The final and most important time management tip is to do something you love. As said by Dale Carnegie, “People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.”

When you are doing what you love, you throw yourself completely into your work. You become a productivity machine, while those who dislike their work waste most of their time thinking about the next dreaded chore.

We only have one life to live. You owe it to yourself to choose a career that coincides with your passions. Do what you love and love what you do.

There is one thing that you can do better than anyone else in the world. Search until you find out what that is and make it the object of your desire.

Time Savings From Doing What You Love = Approximately 1 hour

Now let’s add it all up and find out just how many hours you could be adding to your day.

Time Savings from DVR = Approximately 20 minutes Time Savings from Turning off the TV = Approximately 2 hours Time Savings from Audio Books = Approximately 2 hours Time Savings from Speed Reading = Approximately 2 hours Time Savings from Outsourcing Your Life = Approximately 7 hours Time Savings from Exercising = Approximately 30 minutes Time Savings from Direct Deposit and Automatic Bill Payment = Approximately 10 minutes Time Savings from Using a Timer = Approximately 1 hour Time Savings from Focusing on Results-Oriented Activity = Approximately 3 hours Time Savings from Elimination = Approximately 1 hour Time Savings from an Information Diet = Approximately 1 hour Time Savings From Finding a Mentor = Approximately 1 hour Time Savings From Working Offline = Approximately 30 minutes Time Savings From Doing What You Love = Approximately 1 hour

Add it all up and you’ll uncover an extra 22 hours of productivity. So the next time you want to add a few extra hours to your day, slow down and take a look at how you’re using your time. There’s always a productivity hack that will give you extra time for the more important things in life.

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