Carlon Haas.com

With a simple change, I was able to run errands in less than half the time it usually took me. And the truth is I accidentally figured this one out.

You see, when I was running my own business I worked some wacky hours. I did a lot of work for companies overseas, and so sometimes I wouldn’t start working till 6:00 PM.

So, when was I supposed to shop, go to the bank, etc.? Well, one day I started grocery shopping at about 10:00 AM. And that’s when I started noticing something was amiss.

I noticed that hardly anyone was at the store. Whereas it used to take me at least an hour to get through the store, it now took me half an hour. Then I started running other errands at different times. Go to the bank at 2:00. Go out to eat at 11:00.

Heck, I was missing the lunch rush. Traffic was non-existent. It didn’t get any better.

Live Off-Peak

And that was the key right there. The key is to live your life off-peak. Do things at times other people aren’t doing things. Shopping and eating out are two things that can take up a lot of time. By doing those things off-peak you can save yourself A LOT of time.

“But I Have a Job. I have to do everything at a certain time”

Some people might be thinking this to themselves right now. And it is true. Having a job requires you to do things at certain times, like show up for work and leave at a certain time.

At the moment, I am working at a publishing company in South Korea. So, I understand this. However, I still live off-peak. How do I do it?

Here are a couple of ways you can shift your way of thnking (and that of your boss) to live more off-peak:

• Think in terms of hours worked, not a schedule

I work a set amount of hours. Why should it be 9-5? I go to the gym every day. Now, I could kill myself and fight with all the other people who go before work. But I go at 4:00 PM. NO ONE is there. My workout goes by quickly. I simply worked it out with my company that I take an hour break at 4:00 and I still work the same amount of hours. Just at different times.

This shift in thinking can also lead you to work some from home. I do that occasionally. And in that case no one can “count” your hours.

• Negotiate an off-peak schedule

Again, who said you have to work 9-5? How about 10-6? 11-7? You get my drift. Of course, the best option is to work remotely. But we all assume that we have to take the schedule we are given when the truth is many times the only thing a company cares about is that you get your work done.

These are a couple of things to think about. But if you want to increase your productivity and get your errands done in half the time, you should find more and more ways to live an off-peak lifestyle.

Related Posts

• What May be Causing Your Lack of Productivity Without You Even Knowing It (3)
• The Stealth Murderer of Productivity Part 3 of How to Be More Productive And Eliminate Useless Activities That Murder Efficiency (0)
• The Blogger has Awaken (2)
• Randy Pausch on Time Management (0)
• How Your Desk Is Killing Your Productivity & Stressing You Out (0)

Most of what I’ve ever read about time management and how to be productive deals with organizing and re-organizing. And much of that is necessary (in fact, I blog about things to eliminate things as a means of organizing all the time). The more I read about time management, however, the more it seems to focus on modern technology and information overload. For example, you might hear people tell you to throw away your blackberry (not a bad idea, but…).

That is good advice. But I have found that there is one thing that will kill your production. And it has nothing to do with modern technology. In fact, this was a problem since the dawn of mankind and doing nothing about it will stop your production dead in its tracks.

And that problem is…

(more…)

Related Posts

• How to Get Errands Done in a Fraction of the Time (3)
• The Stealth Murderer of Productivity Part 3 of How to Be More Productive And Eliminate Useless Activities That Murder Efficiency (0)
• The Blogger has Awaken (2)
• Randy Pausch on Time Management (0)
• How Your Desk Is Killing Your Productivity & Stressing You Out (0)

So, now we’ve seen how checking e-mail frequently and chatting on instant messengers murder your productivity and efficiency. Now, we come to my personal demon. The demon that could turn a one-hour job into a 4-hour job. The demon that caused the sands of production to run right through my fingers. The demon that interrupted EVERY SINGLE PROJECT I had ever worked on.

That demon was…
(more…)

Related Posts

• What May be Causing Your Lack of Productivity Without You Even Knowing It (3)
• How to Get Errands Done in a Fraction of the Time (3)
• How to Be More Productive And Eliminate Useless Activities That Murder Efficiency Part 2 (2)
• Day 2 of the Media Fast: Time Vampires Strike! (0)
• Day 1 of the Media Fast: Productivity Doubles! (0)

Yesterday, you learned how checking e-mail can murder your work efficiency and production. But in our quest to be more productive, there is another activity that can derail even our best efforts at work. An activity that if left unchecked could leave you at the end of the day wondering just what the heck you were doing.

What could it be?
(more…)

Related Posts

• What May be Causing Your Lack of Productivity Without You Even Knowing It (3)
• The Stealth Murderer of Productivity Part 3 of How to Be More Productive And Eliminate Useless Activities That Murder Efficiency (0)
• How to Get Errands Done in a Fraction of the Time (3)