36 hours a day

Many of us would like to have more hours per day. But there are only 24. And the way we carry them out depends entirely on us. No matter how trite it sounds, our 24 hours are the same 24 hours that Thomas Edison and Mother Teresa had, and that Oprah Winfrey and Bill Gates now have.

But what about more than 24 hours in a day?

Impossible? I disagree. We will not be able to get more than 24 astronomical hours, but it is quite possible to get more functional time. In fact, using relatively simple principles you can get up to 36 hours of useful time. So, here is my recipe for the 36 hour day .
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This is a list of ways to save time. Some may already be known to you, others you probably did not even think about. Performing several of them, you can release a couple of hours. Doing everything, you can get a lot of time at your disposal. Great, right? :-)

Strategy # 1: Optimize your sleep

Some of us only need 3–5 hours of sleep per day, while the rest are “forced” to sleep for more than 9 hours to rest. It depends on predisposition, and also, probably, an environment. I think there are still ways to sleep less, and rest is better. Here are a few options:

• Wake up at the same time every morning . Become an " early bird ". Taken from the blog of Steve Peacocks . I tried it and got a taste. The idea is simple. Set an alarm for the same time, get up at this time, and go to bed only when you get tired - not earlier. Steve claims that it can release 10-15 hours a week. I think he is right.
  
  Make the bedroom a quiet and peaceful place . Many people in the bedroom have a lot of light and noise. Try to minimize the noise level in the bedroom (you can buy an air filter or a white noise generator if you live in a noisy area). Arrange for the bedroom to have less light during sleep (for example, thick curtains will help). And do everything possible to remove irritants from the bedroom (TV, trash, etc.)
  
  Try a multi-phase sleep . Multiphase sleep is a system that allows you to reduce the number of hours for sleep to 2-5 per day. I myself can not confirm this (I did not try it personally), but Steve's blog has detailed information about this unusual and potentially effective sleep method.
  
  
  Save time by optimizing sleep = approximately 1.5 hours
  
  
  Strategy # 2: Optimize your nutrition
  
  The human body spends most of the energy on the assimilation of food. What goes in as food and drink definitely affects the level of energy and the amount of sleep you need. Several years ago, I was fond of weightlifting and consumed every day a lot of calories and proteins. As a result, I needed to sleep a lot to rest - sometimes 10-11 hours a day.
  
  Now I have completely changed my diet and eat vegetables, fruits, bran bread and vegetable oil. There is more energy, and I sleep much less than before. My diet is still far from perfect, but these changes literally add hours to my days.
  
  I want to recommend several resources to those who want to save time by improving their diet. First, this is Tony Robbins course Living Health . Tony is full of energy, which indicates his great health. I also recommend the book by Dr. Robert Young - The pH Miracle, the information from which was used by Tony Robbins.
  
  In addition, you can cleanse the body . I recently went through a four-day cleansing session, as described in the pH book of Miracle , and for a week and a half I felt a surge of energy. Finally, I recommend the book Juice Fasting and Detoxification , which also helped me get through this process.
  
  Save time by optimizing power = approximately 1.5 hours
  
  Strategy # 3: Do several things at once
  
  OK, doing two things at once, much more can be done in a day. But wouldn't it hurt? A woman on the highway talking on the phone is probably not the best example of multitasking. The guy in the restaurant, checking the mail on the PDA 17 times before bringing hot, probably suffers from attention deficit disorder.
  
  But I think that with proper use, multitasking is one of the best ways to save time during the day. For example, you can talk on the phone and do things where you do not need to think. Typically, such activities are washing or washing dishes. Why not make a couple of calls at this time to kill two birds with one stone? But remember: you have to think while checking mail or watching programs. And talking to a person who listens to you carelessly is not very pleasant.
  
  Another good way to do a few things is to combine exercise with normal activities. Are you going to meet friends? Go together to the gym. I often stretch (this is useful!) While reading or working at the computer.
  
  In addition, I do exercises developed by Pete Egosque . They develop flexibility and help prevent muscle damage. Most of them can be done while reading, talking on the phone, etc.
  
  There are many ways to incorporate exercise into your daily activities without sacrificing time. This is an effective way to free the schedule and keep the body in good shape.
  
  Saving of time thanks to multitasking = approximately 2 hours
  
  Strategy # 4: Be Organized
  
  Being organized is very important. It will help and save time and get rid of stress. There are various ways to learn organization. The best of all that I know (and personally use) is the David Allen Method of Getting Things Done (“How to handle things”). GTD is a management system for things to do. The effectiveness of the system lies in the fact that it helps to free the head from small tasks and use “mental operational memory” for productive thoughts and creativity.
  
  The David Allen system is not the only one. Systems of Franklin-Covey, Tony Robbins and others are also known. I do not think that there is a universal system for all occasions, but if everyone uses what suits him, then we will not waste energy on “remembering to buy toothpaste.”
  
  There is a lot of free information about GTD on the Web, and any effort spent exploring one of these systems immediately pays off. You can work more productively, reduce stress, save energy and time.
  
  Saving time thanks to organization = about 1 hour
  
  Strategy # 5: Learn to type fast
  
  The keyboard often plays the role of the primary means of communication. I would venture to suggest that on average a person spends 1-2 hours a day typing text. These can be emails, instant messages (ICQ), notes, reports, etc. Of course, for some people this number is much higher, for others, on the contrary, it is smaller. Let it be on average 1.5 hours.
  
  Now suppose that you are now typing 40 words per minute. If you could increase the speed to 60 words per minute, you would save 33% of the time it takes to type texts. 80 words per minute - save 50%. A day is saved from half an hour to 45 minutes. Ten years (not to mention all of life) can save a huge amount of time.
  
  It's funny to watch the implementation of effective business applications, while many employees are still typing texts with two fingers. The faster you can type, the easier it is to communicate with each other. The keyboard is transformed from a crutch into a natural complement of the organism for the exchange of information and the appearance of oneself to the world.
  
  I highly recommend taking some time (even a few minutes a day) to develop fast typing skills. I use the TypingMaster program for this, and I like it because it is easy to use and also allows you to track which words you most often make typos in. This is definitely a good way to save time every day.
  
  Save time with fast printing = approximately 0.75 hours
  
  Strategy # 6: Learn to read quickly
  
  Similar to typing, an increase in reading speed contributes to productivity and time savings. Many of us spend one to two hours a day reading morning newspapers, emails at work, study materials, etc ...
  
  The problem is that we do not read as quickly as we would like, and often need to read the same thing several times to understand. This leads either to the fact that we start reading less (losing interest), or spend more time on reading than necessary.
  
  There are ways to increase the speed of reading. I use these:
  
  Active reading . One of the reasons for unsatisfactory reading is its passivity. The brain works much better in a state of activity, so when reading it is useful to make notes. Take notes while reading. Underline keywords, outline, etc. The ability to understand what has been read and the speed of the reading itself will improve (even taking into account the time for notes). In addition, if you take notes, you can always go back to the material later and remember it much faster.
  
  EyeQ . I use the EyeQ program to increase the speed of reading. I think this is the fastest and easiest way to learn how to quickly process information. It makes your eyes move faster while reading, it develops the ability to weed out words that do not carry meaning, and also reduces the craving for pronouncing words.
  
  Photo reading . A few years ago, I attended classes in photo reading , and although I’m not sure that it works 100%, any system that, judging by the description, can increase the speed to 25,000 words per minute, definitely deserves attention. People who have to read a lot (students, lawyers, etc.), photo reading could well be useful and save a lot of time.
  
  Saving of time thanks to fast reading = approximately 0.75 hours
  
  Strategy # 7: Listen to podcasts and audiobooks
  
  Audio learning is a great example of multitasking. My friends know that I listen to audiobooks, podcasts, etc. for a few hours every day. Behind the wheel, while charging, while cleaning ... Over the past year, I managed to "swallow" a huge number of books (including the full versions of Bill Clinton's My Life and Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat). I could never find the time to read them in the traditional way. In addition, I virtually “attended” conferences like South by Southwest and the World Economic Forum , thanks to the wonders of podcasting.
  
  Now that you have an iPod and other portable MP3 players, it's completely simple. One of my favorite activities is a morning run with several podcasts or another audiobook. It's funny to feel that you train with benefit for both body and mind.
  
  I believe that learning by means of audio materials will become a real revolution in the next few years. People begin to value time more and more, and the ability to listen to information instead of reading opens up many paths. This is a great way to get the information you need and keep abreast of important trends for you.
  
  Save time with podcasts and audiobooks = approximately 1.5 hours
  
  Strategy # 8: Use programs for profit
  
  Appropriate programs can save time. Of course, not all. In fact, some programs, on the contrary, take time. For example, "Minesweeper". :-) But there are those who can save a few minutes every day and a few hours every week. Here are some of them:
  
  ActiveWords . ActiveWords is an application that allows you to assign hot keys to repetitive tasks.
  
  A simple example of use. Let's say someone wants to visit my office. I send by mail detailed instructions how to find me. Option one: dial them again each time. But it will take time. Option two: save them in a text file and just copy from there to the letter. This is faster, but you still have to look for the file each time and copy the text from there. ActiveWords allows you to assign a hotkey or word to this action. As a result, when I type “officedirections” and press F8, the instructions are automatically inserted into the letter. Great, right?
  
  Cloudmark Spamblocker (or another program to destroy spam) . Manually viewing and deleting spam is a waste of time. Find a good anti-spam program. For several years I have been using the program from Cloudmark , and it suits me. Almost all spam is blocked, and regular emails almost never fall into the spam folder.
  
  Another solution is to use GMail (or a similar web application). These systems incorporate good spam filtering. Many of these services offer additional functionality - for example, you can specify an address on your domain as a return address.
  
  Bloglines (or another RSS reader service) . I read about 50 blogs, including information about technology, communications, podcasting, U2, and of course, Dilbert . I could never know all this without a service that collects information from all these blogs and shows what has changed since the last time I viewed it. I use Bloglines and I like it. I can read blogs not only from the computer, but also from the phone - using the mobile version of Bloglines .
  
  Blogs are gradually becoming the best way to find out information, and if you haven’t yet got a program to read them, I recommend that you do it. For this, dozens of programs and services have been written - if Bloglines does not suit you, something else will most certainly do.
  
  Save time by using programs = approximately 0.5 hours
  
  Strategy No. 9: Watch TV Less
  
  An ordinary person watches television for about four hours a day. It amazes me. We say that we are very busy, and at the same time we find four hours a day watching TV? This makes no sense…
  
  No, I do not consider that it is only harmful from the television, or that thoughtless transmission of information is always useless. There are interesting programs, and sometimes you want to turn off your head and take a break from everything. I am talking about the fact that people devote a significant part of their life to an occupation that does not bring appreciable benefit.
  
  A year and a half ago, I turned off cable television and since then have never regretted it. If an interesting sporting event is planned - I usually find the opportunity to watch it with friends. I lost interest in simply sitting and watching everything, “what will happen next”. I think it's for the best.
  
  I'm not saying that you need to abandon the TV at all. You just need to always remember that and for what purpose you are looking. Think about it - maybe you can reduce the viewing time by 50%. There are interesting programs, but there are not many of them ...
  
  Saving of time thanks to reduction of time of viewing = approximately 2 hours
  
  Strategy number 10: Do not refuse help
  
  The last way is to look for people who could help you. Of course, it depends on what position you occupy and how much money you have. If you’re the director of a Fortune 500 company, there’s probably a lot of people working for you. But what about everyone else?
  
  Do not refuse offers of help. Suppose you move in a couple of weeks. With the help of friends, this process will be much faster and more fun.
  
  Another option is barter. You do what you know well, in exchange for what you need. For example, if you need help cleaning the house, you could find someone who doesn’t know the language well and work with him in exchange for cleaning. You will save time and cooperation will be mutually beneficial.
  
  There are a lot of such opportunities around, if you look closely. Of course, if someone helped you, be prepared to be asked to help. But now that you can save time, that's not a problem, right? :-)
  
  PS Time can be saved by searching for information on the web. If you encounter a technical problem, you can go to the Experts Exchange website - surely someone has encountered a similar problem and can offer a solution. For non-technical questions, you can use Google Answers . In such services, you need to pay a small amount for the answer - but the time saved is usually worth the money.
  
  Saving time thanks to the help of other people = approximately 0.5 hours
  
  Summing up, I note that we have the potential to increase every day by 12 hours. Cool. :-) Of course, this amount depends on the strategies used. I hope you will be able to apply at least a few of them in everyday life. Time is the most valuable resource on the planet. By saving time on one thing, you can use it on what is truly important to you, that meets your goals and brings joy. And if everyone does the same ... I think the world will change.
  
  Posted by: John Bishke
  Translation: Sergey Biryukov