Five Ways to Know When You Are Done with What You Are Doing

Don’t overwrite emails:

 Much of your time—probably too much—each day gets eaten up by email. Make a conscious effort to keep your emails as short and sweet as possible. “Get to the point quickly and use action verbs in subject lines so that both you and the recipient know what needs to happen before the email is even opened,” advises Womack. “And while long emails waste the time it takes you to write them, keep in mind that the person receiving the email doesn’t want to have to spend so much time reading it either. Chances are your boss doesn’t want or need a three-paragraph rundown of how your client meeting went. He just wants to know if the client is happy and continuing business with you.”

Quit over-staying at meetings and on conference calls:

Often meetings and conference calls will take as long as you’ve allotted for them. Set an hour for a meeting and you’re sure to go the full hour. “Pay close attention to how much of your meeting is actually spent focused on the important stuff,” notes Womack. “If you spend 15 to 20 minutes at the beginning or end of the meeting discussing your coworker’s golf game, then next time reduce the amount of time allotted for the meeting. And always know the meeting’s or call’s objectives before you begin. That way you can get to them right away.”