Work smarter -- not harder

The phrase 'work smarter not harder' is never more relevant than when you're juggling your current day job with starting up your own business in the evenings and weekends. Time is precious so make sure you treat it as one of your most valued commodities. Being your own boss can offer you fantastic freedom, but its easy to lose out on the benefits of a 'lifestyle business' if you don't manage your time in an efficient way.

Recent research shows that 40% of UK employees are staying at their desks longer than is necessary. This mentality can easily become an unproductive habit and spill over into the time you spend working for yourself. How many of us have sat down to 'do some work' only to spend hours aimlessly checking email and surfing the internet for 'one more article' to read -- before actually getting stuck into the job in hand?

'Presenteeism' is a growing problem in the British workplace; we work longer hours than all other Europeans and nationally put in 36 million hours of free overtime a year. Add to that the extra hours spent getting your own business up and running and you're looking at a long working week. But how much of that extra time spent chained to the desk is actually productive?

Here are a few time saving tips that we could all do with following; leaving us more productive, less stressed and freeing up the summer evenings for a life outside work:

Time management: Have a look at where your time is going and take stock of your working day. Record the time spent on tasks over the working week and look at how you can better spend it; how much time is spent on social networking sites, emailing friends or aimlessly browsing the internet? How much time is spent staring blankly at the screen not knowing where to begin? Cut out time wasting activities and leave work on time -- meaning you have more time to spend with your friends and family

Lists & prioritising: Make time on Monday morning to write a list of the tasks and projects which you need to complete that week, in order of priority, and spend ten minutes each morning making a list of the tasks to be completed that day. Tick them off as you complete them and do the most important things first.

Multi-tasking: Is a myth. Having ten documents open at once and constantly checking emails is a distraction that eats up time. You can't work on two tasks at once; commit to do one, finish it and then start the next.

Say NO: If you really don't have time to complete a project or a task within the given timescale, don't accept it. It's far worse to over promise and un-deliver than to delegate.

Email: Email is the single biggest time eater. In a culture when the speed of the response is often deemed more important than the quality, it's tempting to fire off replies to emails as soon as they arrive. Check your emails twice throughout the day and set aside specific times to answer them.

A major new study on the effect of email in the workplace concluded that compulsively checking and responding to email throughout the working day left employees stressed, tired and unproductive. Regularly checking emails -- in some cases every minute -- leads to a drop in concentration and IQ when returning to the task in hand. The study concluded that checking emails a handful of times a day is all round better for health and productivity.

Don't panic over not replying immediately -- if it's that important the person will call.

Consolidate: Look at your working week and see if you can group tasks together. Put aside one morning or afternoon to run errands and try and schedule meetings at the beginning or end of the day.

Meetings: Never have a meeting without an agenda, never let meetings run on aimlessly for hours and always summarise specific actions agreed at the end.

Summaries & Bullet points: Don't write a long report where bullet points will do, don't overcomplicate emails and spend ages on formatting a document unless it is really necessary.

Starting up and running a successful business is not about sitting at your desk longer than anyone else, it's about prioritising tasks and making the time that you do spend working really count.

Start working that bit smarter and soon you'll have more time on your hands to do the things you've never got round to doing before.