The Most Valuable Asset Ever! (Part 4)
After I created the Time Analyzer Excel Spreadsheet, which we revealed in Part 3 of this Budget and Grow Rich® blog post series, My Life Changed.
This relatively simple exercise yet powerful time analysis tool – time management tool – led to great accomplishment.
Often, even an iota of progress can tilt the scales and open the floodgates to material progress and great success.
The Key is to get started.
Pick a spot. Make a plan and take action.
From cleaning up The Paper Carpet, I freed up my mind, and the cobwebs began to dissipate.
This led to my examining with precision, every task I performed every day, like an engineer.
Precision is very important.
Over the past few years, I discovered dozens of ways to save time – often one hour a day – which we’ll be sharing in future Budget and Grow Rich® blog posts.
Recall my retrieving the snail mail from the Post Office which we shared in Part 1 of this blog post series.
While I didn’t input specific blocks of time to sort the papers into the Time Analyzer spreadsheet, since cleaning house was my Job Mission #1, I made that my top priority. So, I allocated every open 15-minute time window to sorting and discarding the papers.
Bit by bit the mountains of paper turned into hills and the floor began to emerge.
Success – I got rid of every piece of paper by New Year’s Eve.
That’s when my life began to change. What an accomplishment. I felt like a million dollars.
I felt lighter and gained more self-confidence. While I didn’t expect it, I gained control over my life.
One time-saver led to another and another. With each new time-saving tactic in place, seconds freed up. Seconds added up to a minute. One minute became minutes. Then hours. On some days, I saved even more time.
Most of these time-savers are processes – automation. This means they create Permanent Time Savings. In other words, once you put them to work for you, you save time forever. . .
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The juice is to create process improvements, streamline tasks and eliminate tasks, continuously!
Grab these 12 ideas to get you jump-start your process improvements and save more time:
Use Outlook or another calendar as a task reminder. I schedule all sorts of tasks in my Outlook, which helps me show up and get tasks done on time.
Use Apps and store items in your ‘Favorites’. Many Apps, for example McDonald’s and Starbucks, allow you to create ‘favorites’ and reorder easily. This saves time. If you’re comfortable and I am very selective on this, store your credit card details in the App, which triggers automatic payment and automatic replenishment. I set my Starbucks App to automatically reload $15 when the balance drops below $10. Easy. But I don’t have any credit card debt because I pay my entire statement balance every month, keep a personal budget and control my spending. I also capture loyalty rewards points which I redeem for free food and free coffee.
Run errands on your way home from work. This eliminates an extra trip.
Shop during the slow times. I tend to visit Trader Joe’s during dinner time, which saves time parking and in the store.
Consolidate errands. In Part 1, we shared the story of my frivolous trips to the dry cleaner. When I started looking for ways to save time, I reduced my trips to once a week. I dropped off and picked up my clothes in one trip. That saved at least 30 to 45 minutes every week. Up until COVID, the dry cleaner offered a discount on shirts with $25 or more of dry cleaning; I purchased more shirts so I could grab the savings; this enabled me to visit the dry cleaner every other week instead of once a week. A few years agp. they canceled the discount – oh well. It was good while it lasted.
Automate tasks. One big time saver is to activate Automatic Replenishment for key products and supplies. These days, you can receive automatic replenishment for almost everything – groceries, meals, toiletries, vitamins. Even the dry cleaner will pick up and deliver my clothes to my apartment [I don’t do this because I typically go to the office every day and we don’t have a doorman.]. Make sure you monitor your product usage and cancel products and services you no longer want. And be on the lookout for price increases.
Imbibe eCommerce – duh. Amazon Prime is addictive. Too easy!
Use credit cards instead of cash. But only if you don’t carry a balance. If you carry a balance on your credit cards, the interest expense can range from 19% to 24% per year. OUCH! And when you automate your monthly credit card payments, you’ll save more time.
Activate automatic payments, one of my favorite ways to save time. For example, my credit card companies pull my monthly payments from my checking account on the payment due date. My bank pulls my mortgage payment from my checking account. These steps also ensure that I pay my bills on time, which helps me maintain my credit rating and avoid late fees and interest expense.
Activate direct deposit payroll. Your employer deposits your paycheck directly into your checking account or savings account. This reduces the number of times you have to visit the bank branch. Of course you can also utilize mobile banking on your Smartphone too. With direct deposit, many banks offer no fee checking accounts.
Cook multiple meals at one time. On Sunday afternoon or night, cook several meals at once and save some for weekday meals. The freezer works like a charm.
Use the freezer creatively. I prepare my lunch at home and bring it to work: typically yogurt, green grapes and blueberries. My understanding is that you can freeze blueberries. I purchase one larger container of blueberries and one smaller container of blueberries. I keep the larger container in the freezer. I keep the smaller container in the refrigerator with only a couple of servings for lunch. When I use up the blueberries in the refrigerator, I move two days’ worth of blueberries from the freezer to the refrigerator. When I use up the blueberries in the freezer, I purchase a new larger container of blueberries. This may seem cumbersome but it’s easy. And given my business schedule and how I use blueberries, I eliminate spoilage and save money. I haven’t quite figured out how to maximize the grapes though.
When you start managing your time more proactively and making process improvements, you’ll become more efficient, more productive and more successful.
You can use your new-found time to take on more tasks at work – in other words, increase your output and value add, meet your job performance goals more easily, have more time to dedicate to attack the ‘stretch goals’. And have more leisure time to do the things you enjoy.
What’s more, hopefully you will feel less pressure, won’t have to scramble or stay late at the office to complete the basic tasks. And you’ll have more leisure time to do the things you like to do.
When you get going and put even a handful of these ideas into action, you will find that time is on your side. And you can accomplish much more during your day. And. . .
At work, this could mean a raise and a promotion and an opportunity to double your salary.
The clock is ticking; so Let’s Go. . .
Hoping you create wheelbarrows full of free time, control, accomplishment, freedom, success and fun.
Let’s get to it,
Arthur VanDam
To succeed even bigger, greater and stronger, 10X your success. Click here.
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Disclaimer: OH and Please Remember, we are Not financial advisors, financial planners, attorneys or accountants and are Not providing any specific financial, tax, accounting 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!
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