Comments on: How I cut 6 hours from my work day with these 7 tips

By: Before you start: Prepare for the Emotional Realities of Entrepreneurship — Untemplater

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:27:18 +0000

[...] How I cut my work hours [...]

By: Jun Loayza

Jun Loayza — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:33:03 +0000

You have to discipline your clients. If something is super urgent, then they can call you on your cell. If it’s just a normal email, there’s no reason why you can’t answer it in 6-12 hours.

Must-Do-or-Die lists change everyday. It’s definitely not brush your teeth. It’s tasks like:

- Revise proposal
- Follow up with potential client

By: Sara Carbaugh

Sara Carbaugh — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:19:52 +0000

I LOVE this post! I totally going to stat implementing a lot of these tips! I did have two questions though:

I know I don’t get as much work done when my Gmail isn’t open all day but I’m a virtual assistant so my work all comes into my email so not having my email open scares me that I’ll miss something from a client. What do you suggest?

Also what is on YOUR Must-Do-Or-Die list? I love this concept I’m just trying to decide what to put on it; the stuff I do everyday anyway (brush teeth, check email) or more broad tasks like “start marketing the biz more”/”put together new blog post ideas”?

By: Chris Edwards

Chris Edwards — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 06:21:59 +0000

There are good tips here, but the big problem is that it is so hard to break one’s habits.
I usually suggest to people that they try one or two changes at a time until it is locked in.

By: Jun Loayza

Jun Loayza — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 21:03:15 +0000

Hahaha… I’ll agree with that. The “snooze” button is a killer!

By: HiMY SYeD

HiMY SYeD — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:55:11 +0000

As someone blessed with the ability to often sleep only 3 hours a night, my grandfather and father also slept incredibly little, I can only share one nugget of how to wake up earlier for you all:

Set your radio alarm clock dial inbetween stations so you are receiving static, which is annoying in itself. At 5 am, when your radio alarm clock goes off, that static will crescendo into your ear and your annoyance will indeed force you reflex-like to get ouf bed, walk across the room and turn off the alarm.

Icing on this wake-up cake is immediately going to your bathroom and washing your face, lest you run back to under the covers.

HiMY SYeD / Toronto

P.S. It is my firm belief that The Devil himself invented the ’snooze’ buitton.

By: Adam

Adam — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:35:26 +0000

A lot of good stuff in here. I really like the ideas of grouping emails and only focusing on one thing at a time, I think those will help me a lot.

I too disagree with the sleep thing for a lot of people. Studies have shown that most people need a full 8 hours of sleep per night. There are some that can function fully on only 6 but for most people they won’t be at their best. There are a lot of people out there that seem to brag about how little they sleep (not referring to the author here) like it’s a badge of honor but it’s just not a good idea.

By: Bill

Bill — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 17:13:23 +0000

This is an interesting article, I think it perhaps applies to the younger generation who thrives on electronic communication for business and social purposes than for my own generation (I’m 49). These are good strategies, actually I use almost all of them to an extent in my work day, which makes it easier to respond to emails - learn the art of writing brief emails and set aside the time to reply to those that require more detail and depth.

The only one I disagree with is to reduce sleep time. I can say that I generally get a 5 to 6 hour sleep in the regular work week, I have two kids and family commitments. But when my body needs a longer rest, on weekends or days off, I take the extra hours. Your body simply will not let you keep going at one pace without more significant rest or else it will crash. That’s when people get sick for extended periods of time or with more frequency.

By: Amy

Amy — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:09:07 +0000

Good job, except for counseling people to cut their sleep time. I think you could be even more effective if you support common medical advice and wisdom.

By: Bobbie

Bobbie — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:53:55 +0000

First, sleep 8 hours a day if you want to live a long life.
Second, work 8-12 hours a day and sometimes, don’t show up at all.
Third, Show a little bit of self discipline and don’t screw around and you will probably finish in record time.
Finally, if you have to figure out ways to quit screwing aroud, like not doing twitter or answering emails constantly you probably do not write you own paycheck.
Employees will screw around alot more than folks who only get to eat what they kill.
In other words, each hour, I screw around, costs me 1/2080 th of my final end year income. Does it cost you to screw around, or someone else?