If you can recapture a wasted hour here and there and redirect it to a more productive use, you can make great increases in your daily productivity and quality of your life.

Here are five of many techniques I share in our Time Management seminars, each one of which will help you to leverage your time and get at least one more hour out of your day for additional productive time to do things you really want to do.

1. Systematize Stop reinventing wheel and recreating same things over and again. Create systems to handle repetitive tasks. For example, I have standard letters all created and saved in my computer along with standard documents such as directions to my office and various articles I share with others. Be sure to have adequate supplies you can readily access. Use one calendar to keep track of appointments. Work with a clean desk and have most frequently used items within arm’s reach. Schedule maintenance for your equipment and yourself.

© 2002 Elena Fawkner

If you're in paid workforce and toying with idea of starting a home business so that one magic day you can tell your boss what you REALLY think of him or her, you have a rough patch to get through first. The time crunch that comes with running your business on side in your already non-existent spare time while you continue working in your job until business is generating enough of an income to allow you to quit.

It's tough being a moonlighter, as many of you reading this know only too well. Here are some ideas to help you beat time crunch.

WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?

Before you can begin planning how to make most effective use of your time, understand where it goes.

An activity log is a good way of identifying black holes that can be turned into productive time. Keep a log for a typical week. Just write down everything you do for that week. Be sure to include everything: getting ready for work, eating meals, taking breaks, travelling to and from work, grocery shopping, telephone calls, faxes, emails, casual chats, work activities, reading, making meals, watching TV, whatever.

IDENTIFY TIME WASTERS AND NUKE 'EM

Your activity log will identify, in excruciating detail, exactly how much time you are squandering each week ... valuable time that you could be putting to productive use in a home business. You may find that you're spending 16 hours a week watching TV, for example. That's two whole business days right there.

So identify those time wasters and kill them off. A time waster is any thing that doesn't make a worthwhile contribution (proportionate to time you spend on it) to your work, your business or your personal wellbeing. If it doesn't make a contribution to one of these three areas, dump it or delegate it.

ON THE JOB

The more efficient you are on job, more easily you will be able to free up work time for business-related activities. You can't be too obvious about it, of course, but so long as you're on top of your work responsibilities, you can buy yourself some time to take care of some of your business-related activities.

Paradoxically, studies have shown that moonlighters who 'cheat' by squeezing in business activities alongside their work activities are often more effective in their day jobs because they work harder than they normally would to keep from getting caught. One word of caution, though. It's generally a BAD idea to choose for your business something that competes with your employer's business. Such an arrangement is rife with conflicts.

SCHEDULE YOUR TIME

If you've followed above steps, you should by now have a reasonably good idea of how much time you have available to you and what activities are going to serve your business, work and personal needs.

Now it's time to schedule everything you need to accomplish. You may choose to do this on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, it's up to you. I recommend though that you start out by creating daily "to do" lists until you get used to discipline of managing your time effectively.

Make a list of everything you would like to accomplish today. This includes business, work and personal. Now prioritize those activities in order of necessity, importance and urgency. When thinking about priorities, make sure that if you run out of time today, what doesn't get done is something that can wait until tomorrow.

In addition to scheduling your activities, allocate realistic time periods within which to complete them. By setting a time limit for these tasks, you will force yourself to lift your pace to get them done in time alloted which in turn will force you to become more productive. It will also help you discipline yourself not to allow distractions to get in way.

When scheduling, work with your effectiveness level as much as you can. Schedule important tasks that require creativity and clear-thinking for your most alert period of day. Routine or mundane tasks can be slotted into low energy/low concentration periods.

Also, try and maintain and influence your energy levels with diet and rest. A high carbohydrate breakfast will keep brain supplied with sugars for early part of day. But by mid-morning, you may experience a sugar slump so get into habit of having a mid-morning snack to avoid this. A banana will do trick. Some people swear by protein (such as an egg) at breakfast to delay energy dip. Experiment until you find what works best for you.