Photo: ishane / Flickr

A to-do list may seem like a waste of time but it helps to organise and streamline your day – and a few minutes of list-making can add hours to your day. A page a day diary is a good place to keep your running order for the day. But what if you’re a dedicated list-maker but your life still feels chaotic? You may have to streamline your life further. Here are some tips on how to do just that.

Managing your emotions

If you’re always running around in circles and feeling disorientated, you may have to take some time out to consider why. It may be that you have a need to please others or that you lack self-confidence. Either that or you’re keezping yourself on the treadmill in order to avoid facing some pressing life issues.

Once you’ve found a way to manage your emotions, you’ll be able to manage your life more effectively.

Procrastination, delegation and multitasking

Learning to delegate is a shortcut to saving time. Hand over tasks to your children, your spouse and your employees. But first you may have to get over the feeling of guilt at asking somebody else to do something for you. Alternatively, you may have to sidestep the control freak in you. The job of delegating is made easier if you can trust the people you’re handing the work over to.

Multitasking may not be productive on the whole but it may work very well if you combine a mental task with a physical task. Ironing and cooking are easily done without too much mental effort. Why not combine these tasks with tasks such reading a report or your looking over your children’s homework?

There may be things on your to-do list that you never manage to get done. The reason may be that you don’t want to attend to them for some reason. Check if these to-dos are really necessary or look at the bigger picture and try to understand why you’re procrastinating.

Streamline your life

Plan ahead so that you don’t have to stand in queues. Be prepared and have something to do if you suspect that somebody is going to be running late. Make important calls during this time or catch up on important reading.

Planning ahead goes for unproductive meetings and telephone calls too. Some small talk is always necessary but why cover ground that has already been covered or waste precious time on idle chat? Have an agenda and try to encourage those you’re meeting with to stick to the point. Once the issue in question has been properly discussed and agreed upon, end the meeting or conversation.

Designate realistic times to complete your tasks and then stick to them. Rather finish a task on time and do it fairly well than finish it late and perfectly ‑ or not at all. Mix and match mental work with physical tasks to bring enjoyment, variety and balance to your day.

Tags: lifestyle