In the average day you probably spend at least an hour or more doing the various steps to accomplish one goal. The time you spend highlighting a sentence in order to paste it into google. The time you spend finding file paths so you can share it with a colleague.
These mini-tasks are not only tedious they waste precious seconds which add up to minutes. Combine with with the few minutes it takes us to switch between tasks, and you’ll see how it adds up quickly! The only solution is to best optimize your workflow so that you reduce the number and time of these mini-tasks.
A quick Google search will reveal thousands of articles on this topic. Although many of them have the same suggestions. However this particular article has some unique points and is well worth a read. One that I find really useful, and I didn’t know until I saw it here, is to use the Copy as Path option.
In Windows, to copy the path of a folder (such as M:\Important Stuff\Firm Holiday Schedule.docx), hold down the Shift key and right-click the file or folder that you want and select Copy as path. The path will be copied to your Clipboard, and you can then paste it where you need to. This tip can also come in handy when you’re attaching files to emails or filling in dialog boxes.
Another is to use MS Office’s built in PDF functionality. I’ve used this for a long time and I prefer it to using Acrobat Pro’s PDF printer or even other many of the third-party utilities. The Save As PDF feature is much less prone to crashes and faster than the apps out there. Plus it’s already built in to the app so there’s no additional IT cost.
We’re always going to be juggling tasks in an effort to get through the day. It’s a part of our job, but it’s something we need to master. By taking every available shortcut we can maximize our own productivity and take back our minutes.