An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This same principle applies equally well to productivity as it does to health.
Taking even a little bit of time before hand to set up systems, processes, and automation can end up saving you hours, days, weeks, even months or years of time in the future.
Even if you’re not quite ready to hand over your entire life to a rigid set of systems and processes there are still simple and easy to implement automation hacks that you can use to save time each and every day.
Energy Saving Goodness
Automation comes with an added bonus as well, aside from just saving time. It also saves energy.
Energy as you know is a precious commodity. The more energy you have the more you can get done, and the more you tend to enjoy doing it.
The problem with energy is that it’s all too easy to let small and minor tasks slowly deplete your energy sources, so when the time comes around to do something meaningful and important you’ve run out.
Start Small
If you’ve never set up systems in your life before, starting small is a great place to start.
Here are a few super simple ways that you can shave a few minutes off your morning routine to streamline the process.
1. Lay out your clothes for the next day the night before
2. Set the coffee maker the night before to start 10 minutes before your alarm goes off
3. If you commute, make sure the car is full of gas before going home for the night
4. Plan your day in advance so you know exactly what you’ll be working on the first 2 hours in your day.
These 4 tips alone can save you anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes each and every day.
Automate Your Workflow
Once you’ve started to implement and enjoy the benefits of simple processes at home, it’s time to try out a few ways to automate your work.
There are a number of tools to help automate your workflow, but what I want to focus on here has more to do with mental automation.
That is, training your brain to react instinctively to a problem, and ensuring the systems are in place to help.
One Touch Email Rule
As an example, if every time you get an email you read it, then leave it alone to deal with it later, we can apply the 1 touch principle, which means that we only deal with each email 1 time, and 1 time only. When we receive an email we can either respond, delete it, or forward it to someone who can help. That’s it.
If your workflow involves receiving many dozens, or even hundreds of emails a day, this simple process can help save you hours and ensures that nothing ever gets forgotten.
Checklists For Everything
Another way to automate your workflow is with the use of checklists. I like to use an app called Todoist, which allows me to write down anything I need to do, assign it a priority and a date and time, and then check it off when I complete it.
This simple tool has allowed me to create an automated “brain dump” process where as soon as I have something come into my mind that I need to do, I immediately get it out and written down.
This frees up valuable mental space so I can concentrate on what’s really important, and not a giant list of to-do’s and things I should be remembering.
Stick To The Schedule
The automation rule that has time and again provided the greatest “bang for the buck” is the concept of sticking to the schedule.
My day is scheduled and planned out ahead of time so for every minute I know exactly what I should be doing. By planning ahead I’ve automated the process and no longer waste time thinking “what should I do next?”
The key is to take 10 to 15 minutes the night before to prioritize and then schedule the tasks and activities that will have the greatest impact, and then make sure to schedule them first thing in the morning before you work on anything else.
The key with automation is to find areas in your life where you’re either spending the most time, or spending time on something that shouldn’t be taking so long (i.e., taking a long time to decide what to wear, or needlessly checking and responding to emails for hours on end.)
The more you can automate the simple tasks the more mental energy you free up to concentrate on the things that really matter.
