6 Tips to Free Up 1 Day

By Lisa Conway

First things first, go to the appointment book and make a decision “I WISH I COULD” can be replaced with “I AM GOING TO”.

Look at what day you will be not working and decide if you can move everything out of that day and in what time frame?

Can it be done in three weeks? Six weeks? Or nine weeks? You only get three choices. Make a decision and make it happen. The universe will kick in and help if you are serious.

NEWS FLASH - Someone else can do everything you can do and often better. Stop hogging the ball. Don’t be the person who gets in your way, become your own cheer squad and be the person who cheers you on. Here are six things to move the needle and get you a day. (I could actually give you sixteen but six is a start)

1. Turn off all notifications on your phone, laptop and iPad. Remove ALL of your social platforms from your mobile phone. You can only access them on your iPad or laptop from now on.

2. Meal prep twice a week and put it in containers ready to go. Soups, curries, and other meals you love, make batches, and divide them up. Remember version one is better than version none. Roast big trays of vegetables. Boil rice, cook pasta and BBQ the meats you like. Boil eggs, grill fish and prepare overnight oats or Bircher muesli, chia pots all of the things that keep well. Eat the same food for three days, you won’t die and if they are your favourites, you will be happy. Next cook up you can mix it up.

3. Meetings. Cut them all in half and get directly to the point of the meeting. If you can’t, then at least cut them back by 15 minutes. Start with “Let’s get straight into the meeting as I am back-to-back today”. Have an agenda so you don’t go off track. Make the appointments next to one another, no gap means no fluffing about. Rebook the next meeting so as to save time chasing the team for the next time.

4. No TV. I’d say for good, but at least none till the weekend and then only ever watch catch up TV. No flopping on the couch and channel flicking. If you are tired, drink water then go for a walk, you just need more air and more water. Moving means, you are refreshing your mind and your body. TV just sucks your energy and makes it worse.

5. Every night make a list for the next day. Three columns URGENT-IMPORTANT- WOULD BE NICE. Put all of your tasks (only what you can do in one day) in the important column and maybe shift a couple to the “would be nice” and prioritise tasks. Things are only URGENT if you didn’t do them when they were IMPORTANT, and you didn’t get to them......don’t do that. Would be nice is for after the important jobs are done.

6. Prioritise sleep by going to bed at the same time every night and get out of bed at the same time every morning. It’s incredible what a difference it makes.......stop fluffing about and get 8 hours. Sleep deprivation is a form of torture, don’t avoid going to bed. Treat bed as the lighthouse that your ship needs to reach every night and the earlier the better. It should be a wonderful reward for a wonderful days effort. Read a book that is inspirational like autobiographies instead of watching TV. The TV is shrinking your brain, a great book will be expanding it.

My observation of people who brag about the long hours they work are really saying I’m so inefficient it takes me a whole day to get anything done. Those that are efficient don’t waste your time, instead they focus and fuck off and do something they really want to do.......just saying.

Life’s too short, be honest with yourself first and stop fluffing about!

For more salon wisdom, email me at lisa@zingcoach.com.au, visit my website, find my video tips on YouTube or read my books, all available in paperback , eBook, and Audio www.thezingproject.com.au