Almost all of us have time management issues. How often do you not do something you want to do simply because you do not have time? It could be anything at all. Putting off seeing a family member, not having enough time to play a sport or visit the gym as often as you should, or simply not having enough time to take on any new clients in your business. Everyone has similar or different time constraints in their lives; at least almost everyone.
Have you ever wondered how you have a friend or colleague that never seems to be restricted for time? They go to the gym, go away on regular weekend trips, plays sports, and most importantly manages to achieve all these things without losing out on one of life’s most important activities – sleep!
Most of these people use what we call time hacks. A time hack is a way to save time doing certain activities or automating certain areas of our lives. Most of the time these time hacks have become available to us courtesy of technology.
Mobile Apps
We figure that you are reading this article because you are researching the topic of either time hacks or how to become more productive/efficient. While you are doing your research, the topic of mobile apps being the perfect solution as a time hack is going to be covered extensively. Need we say more.
Why use a map and compass when you have Google Maps and GPS? Why spend time writing down your daily diet and calorie intake when an app can arrange this for you?
Mobile apps clearly save you time in many different scenarios.
Website Builders
For those of you that are starting a new business or spending loads of time adding content and updating an existing website, do not be afraid to change. It is surprising how many people have put so much time and effort into their current website that they are afraid to ditch it for a newer much easier website, so here is some very good advice – let go of it.
Yes, you used a platform that is taking up loads of your time. However, why continue to let it take up your valuable time for the sake of holding on to the fact that you have already spent so much time on it; especially if you cannot afford or do not want to hire a web designer.
There are so many website builders out there that are extremely simple to use. They are fully customizable, come with plenty of support documentation (both video, image, and text), and have 24/7 support teams willing to help you out.
- Ecommerce: shopify.com
- Vacation Rental: lodgify.com
- Blogging: wordpress.com
- Business: wix.com
Use YouTube For Quick Solutions To Problems
Whether you love it or hate it, Youtube is one of the best places to get quick answers. Sometimes reading complex instructions with diagrams can take much more time than simply looking for a visual representation of the task at hand. Not only is it a visual representation, you see the solution being applied in motion.
Use Proof Reading Apps
Whether it is work or pleasure you are writing an article, letter, invitation, and so on, you always need to proofread it. At least if you care about your reputation, then you should proofread everything you do, and let’s be honest here, proofreading is one hell of a drag! However, there are apps out there that reduce the time it takes you to proofread because they will flag grammatical and spelling errors immediately.
Now I am not talking about Microsoft Words spell check because this misses 30% of the mistakes you make. Your Outlook email app uses the same error check system as Word. How many times has Word, Excel, or Outlook missed grammatical or spelling errors? My guess is the answer is hundreds of times! This is why we are forced to proofread once, then proofread again, then take time fixing those errors.
However, there are applications out there that are free, or you can pay for their premium versions for added accuracy, that will reduce the time it takes for you to correct errors. That time reduction means reducing the amount of time it takes to proof and edits your writing. Take for example Grammarly.com.
This application will spot and help you correct errors on Word, Excel and many other applications. It will also spot errors on your web based email programs such as gmail, yahoo, and so on.
Not All Time Hacks Are Technological
Although this particular article focuses on time hacks courtesy of technology, there are also other ways that you can save time without the use of technology. These are what we would call ‘manual time hacks’ or ‘self-discipline’ times hacks in which you avoid technology to create time or manage your time better by cutting out bad habits such as talking too much at work and so on. A great place to read more about this is this lifehack.org article – it makes for great further reading following on from this article.
