How to Add More Time to Your Day

With our lives becoming busier by the day, we're often pressured to get more done in less time. Students, stay at home moms, business owners and corporate executives are all quickly learning that proper time management is critical for their success. Plenty has been written about doing things like sleeping less, multitasking and other activities that sound great, but can be difficult (and take time) to implement. Instead, here are three time savers that will not only add time to your packed day, but are things that you can realistically accomplish now.

The first way to add time to your day is to plan it out. We spend too much time each day sitting idle while we try to figure out what to do next or remember something important that we were supposed to do. It's like going to grocery store running up and down the aisles hoping that what we see will jog our memories as to what we were supposed to buy - we could accomplish this in a fraction of the time by entering the store with a list. So why gamble your time this way? Plan your day more effectively and you'll find yourself with more time. Simply create a list of what you need to do and stick to it. Don't let interruptions or distractions send you off course.

Second, learn to multitask more effectively. Multitasking in the traditional sense is inefficient - jumping between tasks slows you down so complete one and then move on to the next. The best way to multitask is to use otherwise wasted time to become more productive. Wait time - such as in a doctor's office or while commuting to work - is the best opportunity to multitask. Use this time to do paperwork, read or if you have a blackberry, email enabled cell phone or other PDA or wireless device, answer email.