Ellington

Who isn't busy this time of year? Between scheduling relatives, parties, caroling, etc., etc., etc. the season can be pretty crazy-making. Leo Babauta over at the Zen Habits blog offers The Essential Time-Saving Guide for Busy People, dividing his tips into Work, Computer and Home categories. And he should know about busy; Babauta is the father of six.

If you need a little sanity in your schedule, this is well worth the few minutes to take a look. Here's a sample of what you'll find:

At Work:

1. Do less. This is my favorite productivity tip, as long-time readers know — simplify your schedule by doing fewer things but focusing on the important things. This will greatly increase the impact of the time you do work, decreasing the time you need to work.

4. Get the important stuff done early. Pick the top 2-3 things you need or want to accomplish today, and get those done first. While on other days you might push these important things back (and possibly not get them done at all), if you do them first the rest of your day will be gravy. In fact, if you have the freedom, you can sometimes even call it a day after you get the important stuff done — the rest can wait until tomorrow.

10. Learn to say no. This is crucial if you want to have a simplified schedule. We all receive numerous requests each day, and all of them are demands on our time. If we say "yes" to those requests, we are giving up our time and committing to doing something for someone else. But if those requests aren't in line with our priorities, then we are usually biting off more than we want to chew. So learn to say "no" instead. Often this is uncomfortable, because we fear it means disappointing others. But learn to tell people that you just don't have the time to commit to this right now, and often they'll understand.

Read the rest of his tips here.