In order to be productive, managing our time well is the most important thing to do to get on top of things. Distractions are everywhere and things which aren’t important, steal our focus and clutter our time. As a professional organiser and owner of A Tidy Mind – London, I’m well aware of what a superpower being productive can be. But it starts with learning how to declutter your time.
Craig Hoareau
Here are my top tips on how to declutter your time to get you back on the productivity train
- Put that smartphone away!
It goes without saying that smartphones are the biggest distraction of the modern world. The majority of people now live with smartphones and there is no doubt you will be part of a group chat on WhatsApp or have at least one Social media account.Social media apps will send you countless notifications to lure you in – The Social Dilemma show on Netflix has been eye opening!
Before you know it, you have been mindlessly scrolling through your feed for hours ending up on a video about how to make paper when all you did was check a post your friend had just put up. All of this activity steals so much of our valuable time to get things done.
A great way to declutter the smart phone distraction is to turn it on airplane mode whilst you work, or perhaps use a social media time limiting app to reduce your time in front of the screen, turn off notifications or unfollow/mute people/WhatsApp groups who post/message a lot.
- Unsubscribe
Unsubscribe or delete unnecessary emails immediately as they come in. There are many websites that offer the service of collating all the places your email address is stored which can allow you to just unsubscribe from everything no longer relevant. Don’t ignore unwanted emails to find that you have an inbox with 5000 unread messages.
- Send them elsewhere!
Create an email address you don’t use to give out when you visit a website which requires an email address, especially ones that you know will spam you with offers and deals like online retailers.
- Phone apps review
Have a look at the apps on your phone regularly and remove the ones you no longer use. Keeping loads of apps, you don’t use takes up space and looking for ones you need takes up time. You can also organise apps into folders to find easily. Organising your top used apps on one page is always a great way to access them quickly.
- Declutter Toxic People
Yes, decluttering your time also involves people. Negative people who never have anything positive to say about you or others and who’s sole focus is themselves are bad for you. Not just for your time but for your mental energy. If people in your circles are not bringing out the best in you or make you feel small, stay away and cut ties if you can.
- Time wasting activities
Unnecessary activities or practices which are wasting your time and not benefiting your day should be removed. Getting involved in things that don’t concern you, saying you’ll do it later when you can do it now, gossiping, watching tv, unnecessary meetings, online window shopping or piling tasks to your to do list are all examples of time wasting activities.
- Start saying no
Saying yes immediately to things you don’t want to do or shouldn’t be doing will take you away from activities that are important. Saying no to some things allows you to say yes to others. Respond to requests by saying you will reflect and come back with an answer later.
The bottom line is that your time is precious and needs to be protected. This is something which requires continual effort, otherwise, modern life can suck you back in!
But think about the rewards of decluttering your time. More time for relaxation, personal development, time with loves ones or simply looking after yourself – it’s not only worth it but it’s essential.