Free Up More Of Your Time By Multitasking

There's the old joke that women are better at multitasking than men, but whether this is true or not, we can all develop our skills to do more things in less time. I know many of you will be thinking "but I squeeze everything into every minute! There can't possibly be any more time to free up". Not true! Multitasking is a skill that has to be learned like any other, and you can improve at it and make yourself much more efficient - not just at work, but in other parts of your life. There's a process to follow that first helps you identify areas where you could improve your multitasking, and some activities that can be combined that perhaps you hadn't through of.

The first step - identifying "dead" time

What is dead time? This usually involves waiting - waiting for the bathroom in the morning, waiting for the bus or train, waiting for the car to warm up and the ice to slide off the windows, waiting for the kids to get into the back of the car (if you're going to work after taking them to school), there's the journey into work itself, then waiting for your PC to log on, waiting for the coffee machine to dispense, waiting for your colleagues to join you in a meeting room... the list is endless if you start to think about it. Think about how much time you spend waiting for other things to happen or for other people and add up the minutes in a day. The total will probably shock you - it's quite a long time! The next step is when you start to think about how you can use that time.

Identifying multitasking opportunities

Given the above examples of "dead time", there are many opportunities to 'do something else' in that time, you just have to identify them. If you're waiting for the bathroom or the kids to get into the car, why not check your Blackberry or Mobile to glance at your work emails before getting there? This can also help your organisational skills as you're briefing yourself on what's going to happen that day and how your time is going to be used up. What about the journey itself into work? Even if you're actively involved - driving instead of sitting on a train - there's always other things you can be doing. Most of us read the paper or stare out of the window (or even sleep) en route to work, but you could, again, check up on what's expected of you in the office that day, or if you're driving - many people use audio books as a way to digest training courses and learn new skills by listening to instructional texts - as they are being read out. What if you have an important presentation that day? Practise aloud in the car! You might feel foolish at first, but it pays dividends when you're more confident during the presentation and are using less notes.

Apply the rules of multitasking elsewhere

Too many of us apply multitasking to "doing two things at once" in the workplace. It doesn't have to mean working through your lunch break, (eating and working at the same time often isn't good for you, either). Nor does it mean you have to start your day any earlier or leave any later - identify the dead time that is part of your workday routine and grasp the opportunity to do something new and productive with your time. We can all make small improvements - and they do add up to better time management in the long run.