First of all, I apologise for the absence of posts recently. We have just got back from our family holiday in Devon. A week or so of sunshine, rain, beaches and muddy puddles.
I did intend on posting about our holiday adventures whilst we were away but our remote-ish location and its decidedly dodgy internet connection and mobile phone coverage meant that a 10 day involuntary separation from the internet and social media occurred (gasp).
I would like to say that I coped really well and spent more quality time with Fee and Mr E and enjoyed a new-found freedom, away from social media updates and all that is addictive about Pinterest and Twitter and Facebook…
However, this did not happen. At least not at first.
When we arrived at the lovely cottage in the middle of the Devonshire countryside, the first thing I did was check for wifi. When I realised we only had intermittent wifi I felt a little bit anxious (ridiculous I know). When I found out that I had no mobile phone coverage either, I admit I did panic a little…
Did I download the emergency Peppa Pig videos for the long car journeys?
What if someone missed me on Facebook?
What if I missed out on something on Twitter?!?
By day three, after using the wifi in a coffee shop in Salcombe to check my status updates and messages, I realised that:
- No one had missed me…and
- I had not missed anything remotely important while being disconnected from the internet
It was then that I decided literally to ‘switch off’ and enjoy the rest of the holiday without checking my social media accounts or surfing the internet.
And guess what?…I had a really great time 😄
I felt more relaxed and it seemed that the days were longer and we had more time to spend together as a family to do things. We played games, went for long walks and Fee my daughter didn’t mention Peppa Pig once.
I also had more time in the evenings to catch up on the one thing I usually never have time to do… read.
One of the books I read was ‘How to Save an Hour Every Day’ by Michael Heppell.
One of the first things he says to do in the book is limit the amount of time you spend on social media. He said no one will miss you (check) and you wont miss out on anything (double check).
Now, I haven’t done a book review before, but I have decided that this book is definitely worth a mention as it is a great productivity book that really got me inspired while I was away.
I have read lots of productivity books and usually find that there are a few good key points and then a lot of ‘fluff’ to fill the rest of the book. With this book I found there was little ‘fluff’ and lots of great time saving ideas to choose from and the author got straight to the point (which is what you want from a time-saving book right?)
He also encourages you to skip to the sections that are relevant to you and while I wont cover all of the points he goes through, the main points I took away are:
– At the end of each day write down the five most important things to do tomorrow and DO THEM.
Apparently you should try and do this before going to bed as your brain has time to prepare for the day ahead while you sleep and you end up being more productive the next day. I have already put this into practice and find that I am getting the most important things done each day which is great.
– Delegate using the words ‘I need your help’ and ‘because’ as they generate a positive response.
My example: ‘Mr E, I need your help. Can you do the nappy changes for the next few days because my morning sickness is really bad at the moment’ – While Mr E’s response was not exactly positive, he did agree to do it!
– Split your week into Me Days, Key Days and Stuff/Plan Days
Me Days are about spending time on yourself, doing all the things you never usually get a chance to do e.g. go to the hairdresser, catch up with friends for dinner/lunch, hobbies…etc. but make sure you plan them ahead otherwise things can get in the way.
Key Days are when you focus on doing the most important tasks on your list. You need to make sure that people are aware when your key days are so that they don’t distract you.
Finally Stuff/Plan Days are when you plan your Key and Me Days e.g. arranging appointments, as well as doing all the daily life admin things we have to do like checking emails, running errands, food shops…etc.
The author suggests starting with 1 Me Day, 2 Key Days and 4 Plan Days a week, which I am working on at the moment.
I found this book so useful that I also got the audio-book version from audible.co.uk so that I could listen to it whilst in the car or doing the chores and cleaning.
So that’s it really, here is the link to the book on amazon :
At the moment, you can get the audiobook for free if you sign up for a free 30 day Audible trial below (if you don’t want to carry on using Audible afterwards just cancel before the 30 days is up):
As always, if you have any time-saving tips you would like to share, let me know 🙂
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