23 ways to leave work early

1) Be on time

Really start your day @ 9 am (or in our case 9.30 am). Studies have shown that the average office worker only does an hour and a half of actual work per day. Focus, goddamit, and you'll get home far sooner.

2) Bunch up all your phone calls
Don’t answer your phone for the morning, then listen back to the messages and answer them in one within. "This helps prevent you being distracted by calls when you need to be focused on a task" says Myers.

3) Put joking matters aside
If you get a good joke on email, don’t forward it. If you do, you'll create a domino effect that'll see other folks with time on their hands emailing you some other, new jokes back as a "thank you"

4) Relax your mind
Switch off the TV before you hit the bunk to ensure peak brain condition watching television stimulates your brain, making it more difficult to speak, And, says Mark Mahowald, professor of neurology a the University of Minnesota Medical School, " One night of sleep deprivation is as impairing in simulated driving tests as an intoxicated blood-alcohol level." And without any pub
fun.

5) Write a diary
For two days, note how long you spend doing every thing from e-maling to cooking a meal. You'll e horrified b how much of the day you waste." says Paul Glen, a time management consultant. And it'll be far easier to cut back on non essential activities, eating
you a free man/woman sooner.

6) Known your power hour
Most people are at their most productive in the morning, but if your "head down" time is when everyone else is as lunch, take yours late and use the quiet time to get ahead.

7) Get Going
Bear in mind that the Japanese have a word to describe dying from over-working (Karachi- if you're looking for an epitaph). A gulit free way to leave the office is to make a commitment t volunteer, an activity corporations are usually supportive of.

8) Routine Ideas
Fix a time each week to discuss staff problem. Unregulated, these issues will have your staff interrupting you throughout the day. And it's a good exercise to get biscuits in.

9) Find your voice
Before you settle down to a project, as yourself if it's someone else's responsibility. Some people fail to speak out. " This results in a hue workload for some and virtually non for others" says Glen. complain loudly like a Yank. But don't do the assent.

10) Stay on schedule
Time-table your day. Set times for email, post and projects. "People end to tie tab meetings but not their own work time" says Barbara Years, Author of 200 ways to save time at the Office.: This is a mistake as it places a higher importance on meetings, which very rarely actually produce concrete results.

11) Take a break
It may seem counterintuitive, but you can't concentrate effectively for more than an hour at a time, so you'll spend more time not getting very far. This is the time to offer fellow-colleagues a coffee- you’ll be doing them and yourself a favor.

12) Keep Saving
Long on to www.living5to9.cm, enter the time you want to leave work, then you download the Time To Go Home Alarm to make sure you stick to your goal. The time you save will be added to an overall total on the website, which will be announced on 24 October National Take Back Your Time Day. It's an added incentive to get home on time.

13) Ditch Distractions
Cull non-essential tasks from your day: checking football scores, eyeing up the marketing assistant, bidding on eBay. Write down everything you do in a day without these things and you see how much more productive you are.

14) Stay in shape
Avoid taking sick days by getting regular exercise and you'll avoid a work backlog. Figures show that less than 48 percent of office workers exercise enough to meet 150 minutes a week. Raising the figure to 70 percent would result in a total of 2783808 fewer sick days each year.

15) Have a health PC
Have a computer check up every six months. Otherwise you'll end up wasting precious minute’s everyday due to poor software, viruses and crashing networks.

16) Filter your spam
Technology research company Nucleus Research says that the average employee spends 6.5 minutes managing spam each days. Speak to IT to finds out about any spam filters already in place.

17) Turn off your mail alert
A Hewlett-Packard study has found "an average worker's function IQ falls 10 points when distracted by telephone calls and incoming emails- more than double the our-point seen in studies on the impact of smoking marijuana." Put that in your paper and
smoke it.

18) Intercept the paper storm
Hang up a plastic pocket for incoming papers. Studies reveal the average office worker is interrupted 73 times a day and it then takes 20 (uninterrupted) minutes to get back to their original concentration level.

19) unsubscribe from e-newsletters
Face it, you're never going to read them. Better yet, dot sign up for them in the first place.

20) Be a learner
Use an L-shaped desk. Designate one side for right-now work and the other for later-on work. "The L shape prevent you from being distracted by other projects," says Stephanie Denton, a co-director of the US National Association of Professional Organizers.

21) Prioritise
Don't procrastinate. Robyn Pearce, author of Getting a Grip of time warns, "Beware of jus doing maintenance work when you have big projects to finish, There is enormous satisfaction to be had if you can self-determined enough to say "no" to the easy task." It's easier to get out on time when you leave the small stuff behind.

22) Ask questions
If you can't say no, at least be learn. Try to figure out from bosses, clients and colleagues which pieces f work are the most urgent when the deadlines are and what is expected. Spending some time questioning can help you formulate your own priorities and possibly save you from having to re-do things.

23) Keep our tools organied
Whether you're a builder, an office worker or a shop manager, your equipment needs to be kept in order, otherwise you'll waste previous minutes finding rather than doing. Invest in a new tool box for the back of the truck, extra files or a notice board. Ensure everyone known where to put back any borrowed items.

courtesy- MansWorld - India Edition