The Smart Accountant
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HOW TO: Optimize Your Efficiency at Work

July 31st, 2008 · 1507 Comments

No one seem to ever have enough time at work, so why not make the most of each minute. Working efficiently has saved me so much time that I’ve been able to take it easy some days or, if I feel like it, work on new projects. Here are a few ways I have managed to shave off those useless minutes.

Get Better Equipment

One of the biggest grips I had at my new job was how amazingly slow our computers ran. A minute of waiting for e-mail to load up, a minute of waiting for Excel to save. All of these times we spend waiting at our computers adds up to a lot of idle time. My company ended up installing extra RAM in our PC’s and suddenly like a shot of adrenaline, my PC woke up and ran everything I needed instantly. The next time you’re at work, take a look at all the time you spend waiting idle. Figure out what’s causing you to wait and fix it.

Use Technology

Right now, I can almost guarantee there is some piece of technology on your desk that you aren’t utilizing to its fullest potential. I use Excel all day to create reports and look over data. Many tasks that I do are repetitive and tedious. Some examples would be creating calculations for a list of data, writing down similar comments, or formatting reports. I realized that by using macros I could save myself all that repetitive time by recording each task I do. That way I can run that task with the click of a button.

You can save time with E-mail in a similar fashion. Do you ever feel like you send the same e-mail out ten times a day? Why not make a template for your standard e-mails and make small changes to the template each time you write one. It beat retyping the same e-mail each time.

Make Every Move Count

Every time you get out of your chair to walk around, you waste time. Why not make every walk extra useful? If you’re going to go make copies, why not do something else on your walk? You could check your mailbox or make a quick trip to the bathroom. Every time you add another task to your walk you save an extra walk.

Grouping

Like I said before, remove any repetition you have. Group your similar tasks together and do them all at once. For example, when I create weekly summary reports at work I can save them up for a month before I pass them out so that I make one trip a month, as oppose to making one trip per week. An added bonus is that I save preparation time by grouping because I only have to prepare once a month as oppose to once a week.


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Tags: Work

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