Why does it always seem like there’s too much to do in too little time?
Each person has only 24 hours in their day. Yet, we all have only 24 hours in a day.
The key lies in time leverage. Having enough time isn’t about working harder, but rather working smarter and more intentionally making decisions to optimize your life.
If you want to know how to leverage time to achieve your personal, financial, and career goals without feeling burnt out and utterly exhausted doing so, read on as I’m going to show you how!
What is Time Leverage?
Before diving into how to incorporate time leverage into your busy life, it’s essential to have a firm grasp of what time leverage means.
According to Merriam-Webster,[1]
Leverage is defined as “the action of a lever or the mechanical advantage gained by it”.
In other words, leverage involves using resources to gain an “advantage”, such as achieving your goals more efficiently.
Time is undoubtedly the most scarce resource. Time leverage is the ability to maximize your life by understanding that time is finite.
Time leverage involves The best way to achieve the greatest possible outcome with the least effort.
Time leverage doesn’t mean you have to work 12+ hours per day, 7 days per week and put your health at risk in order to reach your goals.
Rather, learning how to leverage time allows you to still achieve those same goals as if you were working all day and night, except you don’t have to feel constantly overworked, stressed, and overwhelmed.
It’s because time leverage involves using other people’s time to delegate tasks they can do for you and/or using technology and the power of automation to work smarter, not harder.
There’s only so much time you have on any given day; therefore, there’s only so much you can achieve all on your own per day. However, by using others’ time and taking advantage of technology to automate your life, you’ll be able to achieve your goals more efficiently, without needing to compromise your health and well-being.
Your productivity is increased by time leverage. Answering emails, cleaning your house, and even walking your dog are all tasks that can be delegated to others who are capable of doing the same things at a certain rate.
While delegating these lower-level tasks does come at a cost, the amount of time you gain back will allow you to devote more undivided attention to higher-level tasks and even personal commitments/opportunities that can significantly improve your personal life and professional career (i.e. You will be able to develop a business strategy, improve management of your staff, present at a conference and spend quality family time.
Mark Zuckerberg is one of the most successful people in our time.[2] Elon Musk[3] You can even leverage the power of time to run and scale your business by deliberately delegating tasks so that you can grow your company.
While you may not be running a multi-billion dollar company, if you are an entrepreneur and can offload some tasks to the right people, this can not only help you achieve your goals more efficiently, but ensure you don’t burn out or have to compromise quality time with friends and family to accomplish your goals.
How to Maximize Time to Increase Productivity
You might be interested in how you can use time more effectively to reach your goals.
- Leveraging your time
- leveraging other people’s time.
Self-awareness is key to maximizing your time. If you are just starting your business, you may not have as much money and resources to leverage other people’s time to grow your business quite yet. But, you can still make use of your time to grow your company.
Likewise, you can only grow your business so much all on your own, even with time leverage, until you reach a point where leveraging others’ time can be extremely beneficial.
How to maximize your time and increase productivity.
Make the most of your time
While we all have limited time, that doesn’t mean there aren’t effective ways to leverage your own time to achieve your goals efficiently. These are three ways to make the most of your time.
1. Set Smarter Goals
It is important to define your goals and create a plan to reach them.
You’ve probably heard of SMART goals, but what about SMARTer goals?
Many people fail to realize their potential and don’t achieve their goals. Why? They want to reach certain goals. Understanding the reasons you set goals is key to determining what you really want. This will allow you to adjust your goals to align with the purpose behind them. This is what makes a SMARTer goals.
Sometimes, it can be difficult to see the true motivations and desires behind a goal. To better understand why your goal is important, you might consider the 5 Whys Framework.
Once you understand your “why” behind your goals, it’s time to work towards setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-Bound) goals that align with your purpose, while also giving you a sense of accountability to successfully accomplish these goals.
Setting clear goals is only one of five components that make up SMART’s goal system. One prime example of why setting clear goals is important is Edwin Locke’s goal-setting theory.[4] Goal-setting theory is a way to improve overall performance by setting specific goals. Individuals who set difficult goals are more likely than those who set general goals.
Learn how to set smarter goals to achieve them. Read “Achieving Goals: The Ultimate Guide to Goal Achieving & Goal Setting”.
2. Prioritize
You can also maximize your time by prioritizing your time. Prioritizing means focusing your energy and time on important, meaningful tasks and spending less time on smaller, less meaningful tasks.
Therefore, it’s essential to understand the distinction between tasks that are important vs not as important. Do not just complete all tasks randomly. Instead, grade each task. This will allow you to prioritize the most valuable tasks first and then work your way down.
To learn more about all things prioritization, read “The Ultimate Guide to Prioritizing Your Work and Life”.
3. Automation and Technology
In today’s digital age, there are countless ways to use technology to leverage your time and automate your routines that would otherwise take up valuable time out of your day.
You’d be surprised to learn all the different processes and routines you consistently do that can easily be automated to do more in less time.
A variety of automation software today provides the ability to uniquely customize, automate, and then execute rather mundane tasks that don’t need much human assistance or guidance.
The following are the top automation tools that can help you more efficiently complete your day-to-day tasks:
- Google Calendar
- Calendly
- Alfred
- 1Password
Find more time management tools here 18 Best Time Management Apps and Tools
Leverage Others’ Time
You will eventually need to hire help if you are unable to do enough to maximize your time. While leveraging others’ time can be an excellent way to achieve your goals faster, it can also be disastrous if you don’t take the time to find the right people to delegate your tasks to.
Here are some helpful tips on how to leverage others’ time to accomplish your goals more efficiently by working with the right people.
1. Create clear guidelines and plans
A simple, but comprehensive guideline can help you save time and prevent headaches later. It’s essential you lay out to the individuals you are off-loading your tasks to 1) what they need to do, 2) when they need to do it, and 3) how they can go about achieving these tasks to meet your standards.
Although some tasks, such as sending emails, can be simple. For example, you could create an email template to guide your new hires. However other tasks like analyzing data or creating content that will grow your business might be more difficult.
A comprehensive guide is essential for your team. Not only will this save you time in the long run so your team won’t constantly have to ask you questions to understand how to do the task effectively, but this will ensure the work your team does meets your expectations.
Your entire team will benefit from clear plans and guidelines that you have established upfront. This will ensure that your team has the tools and resources they need to solve problems efficiently and produce high-quality work. They won’t have to depend on you.
For more complex tasks that may confuse your team, consider creating training videos that run through the process from start to finish you’d like your team to complete. You can let the person rewatch the video several times, and if they still have questions, you can help them.
2. Delegate
It may sound scary to delegate tasks, but it is vital for your success and your productivity. You must build the right team to delegate your tasks. It can be harmful and detrimental to your efforts to achieve your professional and personal goals.
The following are important delegation rules that you should remember:
- Identify the right person or persons to perform certain tasks. Delegate data-related tasks to the person who excels at Excel creation and organization.
- Make sure you are clear and specific about your expectations regarding how you will complete the task. However, resist the urge to micromanage as this will hurt your employees’ performance and productivity.
- Offer support when necessary Make sure your employees have all the information and resources they need to accomplish their tasks.
Read my article “How to Start Delegating Tasks Effectively (Step-by-Step Guide)” to learn more about how to delegate your tasks the right way.
3. Consult with experts
Some things are better left to experts. Introducing experts and consultants can be a great way to fill knowledge, skills, and experience gaps in your current team that may be hurting your business’s ability to do its best work as efficiently as possible.
Experts can not only maximize your business’s performance, but bring in new ideas, perspectives, and backgrounds to excel your business.
Bottom Line
While time is precious, you can leverage it to increase the quality of your outcomes and help achieve your goals quicker without feeling exhausted or overwhelmed.
Learning how to leverage time in leveraging your own time and leveraging other people’s time is important to reach your goals more efficiently, without having to compromise your health or the quality of your work.
If you’ve been looking for ways to either take your business to the next level or are simply looking to find more balance in your day to build both your professional and personal life, try to leverage your time.
You can achieve your goals more effectively by being mindful of how you use your time.
Ken Lawrence via unsplash.com Featured photo credit
Refer to
| [1] | ^ | Merriam Webster Dictionary: Leverage |
| [2] | ^ | Freakonomics: Mark Zuckerberg Full Interview |
| [3] | ^ | The New York Times: Elon Musk’s Interview |
| [4] | ^ | Locke, Edwin A. : Goal setting theory: A retrospective of a half-century. |
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Lifehack’s first article was entitled How to Leverage Time to Make More Time.
