How to Double Your Salary (Part 3)

Dec 20

Image sourced by Patrick Amoy @napzphoto

How to Save Boatloads of Time and Increase Your Productivity!

Welcome back!

In Part 1 of this series, we revealed one of the best ways to organize your thinking and organize your projects – the “Rule of Three”. In case you missed it, click here.

And in Part 2, we shared two often overlooked power tools that can help you increase your productivity, get ahead, advance your career, double or triple your on-the-job performance, get promoted and double your salary. Click here.

We all know that the key to getting promoted and doubling your salary is getting your job done beyond your supervisors’ wildest expectations!

Along the road to doubling your salary, today we’re going to discuss how to get organized, become more productive and save time. . .

Which will enable you free up time, eliminate the noise and get more organized around the key, most important tasks on your plate!

I think it’s safe to say that all of us have 168 hours in a week.

We can, at least to some extent, change how we spend our time, But we can’t increase the number of hours in a week, but we can shuffle the deck.

In other words, we can move tasks around, kick some tasks down the road and automate and eliminate some tasks. But we can’t change the 168 total hours.

If you analyze on how you spend your day and the many and varied demands on your time, plainly said, we think you’ll find that there’s a shortage of time.

When you subtract time for work, commuting, eating, sleep, personal hygiene, there’s really not too much extra time, not much free time.

This means that you have to continually look for ways to become more efficient – for example, do more with less. And in addition, become more effective – doing things correctly.

Explore these 3 ways to save time and boost your productivity:

1. Eliminate unnecessary tasks and group tasks together.

When I got divorced, as you may recall, I went from a house of five to a house of one. At the time, I was working at home. To stay connected with people, I got in the habit of going to the dry cleaner two or three times a week. I rationalized the ride into town as a ‘break’ from the workday.

While I enjoyed chatting with Tony and Sandra, this was a waste of time!

The drive took ten minutes, including parking.

The chat consumed five minutes, maybe seven.

And of course, I had to stop at the Coffee Bar to get a Latte – yet another five to ten minutes.

So, what in theory took only ten minutes took 25 to 37 minutes. Multiply that by two or three days!

Maybe not a waste of time, but certainly a suboptimal or inefficient use of time!

I switched to one visit per week to Tony and Sandra!

And I picked up and dropped off my clothes in the same trip!

Full stop.

Examine your daily routines and look for ways to eliminate unnecessary tasks and consolidate tasks.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll be amazed at how much time you free up!

2. Automation – Automate as many tasks as possible.

One of my very favorite ways to save time is automating bill payment.

As you may recall, my Dad is 92.

During the past year, I spent some 100 hours automating his bill payment.

Could you imagine? Manual bill payment? Insanity!

I estimate that it takes five to ten minutes to pay a bill manually – examine the invoice, make out a check, enter the check in your checkbook, address the envelope, stamp it and mail it.

Consider delivery services. This way, you exchange money for time.

3. Ping Pong – Play ping pong to win.

Some tasks are the responsibility of other people or can be handled on other people – a division of labor if you will.

One of my clients that is based in New York has over 100 employees in India. India is typically 9 or 9½ hours ahead of New York. When the New York team emails a file to the India team at the end of the day, the India team typically completes the project during their day and sends it back to New York before 9 am New York time. Efficient.

Suppose you complete Phase 1 of a project and your colleague will complete Phase 2. If you email Phase 1 to your colleague at the beginning of the day, for example 9 am, your colleague can work on Phase 2 during the day. And hopefully send completed Phase 2 back to you by the end of the day. This keeps things moving forward.

Send out emails for others to do the work as soon as you can – tonight before you leave the office or first thing in the morning. This way, you can use time smartly and increase your productivity.

And pave the way for doubling your salary.

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Let’s get to it!

See you next week when we’ll share three more tips to save time and become more productive.

Have a great one!

Arthur V.

To succeed even bigger, greater and stronger, 10X your success. Click here.

Disclaimer: OH and Please Remember, we are Not financial advisors, financial planners, attorneys or accountants and are Not providing any specific financial, tax or legal advice here. Be sure to conduct your own due diligence and consult your own professional advisors to get sound professional advice that’s specific to your financial and personal circumstances, risk tolerance, time horizon and investment goals and objectives among other key factors!