We all want to save time at work and work more efficiently so we can get home early, or at least on time. However, the more you contemplate your overflowing inbox, the more time you feel like you are wasting, and so many of us simply resolve to just get on with our work and put ‘saving time at work’ into the impossible pile. That is why you need just these five simple rules when you want to save time at work, to really make it happen.

1 – Value your time

When you want to save time at work, you usually want to save that time to do something for yourself, or allow you to focus on new projects or clients, instead of getting bogged down in time consuming tasks. To achieve this goal, you need to follow the first rule of valuing your time and doing only valuable things with your time.

When you can simplify your schedule by doing less, you will actually save you time by increasing the impact of the work you are now able to get done. To do this you need to use rule two, to manage your tasks.

2 – Manage your tasks

To manage your tasks in a way which will save you time you need to start by delegating everything you can. If you have things which need to be done, but they are not part of your primary role, or of a high importance, consider whether you can have someone else help you complete it. In this way you can often cut you to-do list in half and save yourself all of that time.

If you’re not able to delegate, discuss with your boss whether they can reprioritise your tasks for you. Explain that you are looking for ways to work more efficiently and tell your boss that you have a certain amount of time in a day to complete a set number of tasks – choose the numbers which work for you – and ask your boss to choose which tasks are most important for you to do. You should also point out that by focussing on fewer tasks you will actually be able to work more efficiently, and you will do a better job than if you tried to cram in all of the jobs.

Now that you have narrowed down the important tasks you need to do, group your tasks by similarity. For example, group your email response time together at the beginning of the day rather than interspersing it throughout the day, do all of your paper work at once, and make all of the phone calls in one set block of time.

You should also group your tasks by their level of importance so choose the top two or three things you want or need to get done in a day, and do those first. Then, when these tasks are completed, all of the time you have left in your day in essentially free time – time in which you can get ahead, and make sure you get home on time.

3 – Set limits

If you consistently work eight or 10 hour days then you will find you can work more efficiently and actually save time simply by limiting the amount of time you work. If you set yourself a time limit each day, this will force you to get the most important tasks done in that time. You won’t linger over your emails or Facebook, you’ll limit your coffee breaks and spend less time chatting over lunch.

There are a number of ways you can set yourself these limits, for example you could cut your work day short, or if you are required to work a certain amount of days in the office, negotiate with your boss to come in earlier. In this way you’ll beat the traffic, and there will be fewer people in the office and fewer phone calls to allow you to focus.

4 – Stay focussed

A commonsense rule, but one of the hardest to stick to, is to stay focussed in your work, and you will be amazed by the amount of time you can save. This means that instead of having numerous projects on your desk and dozens of files open, work on one thing at a time, set aside a block of time for that project, and get it done. To make sure your blocks of time are as efficient as possible, you’ll need to spend a little bit of time before hand, organising the information and resources you’ll need, so you can work solidly without searching for things you need.

Staying focussed also means you need to pay attention to the little things which eat away at your time too. These are things like having long conversations with co-workers, your social media profiles, surfing the internet. Also try and write shorter emails, as it is easy to keep writing and writing, but if you think you need to clarify your point, perhaps a phone call or short conversation would be more productive, rather than agonising over an email, and trying to make sure you’ve included everything you wanted to say, and that your message is coming across correctly.

Numerous meetings in your work week can also derail your focus. Typically not a lot is accomplished at a meeting, and yet they often take up a lot of time which could have been better spent, especially when you consider that the information each person at the meeting is sharing, could have been sent via email.

5 – Look after yourself

Making time saving improvements in your work day is done with the aim of improving your work-life balance, and so it makes sense that one of the rules for saving time at work should be to look after yourself. You can start working on this rule by learning to say no. Often you will be approached by numerous people, colleagues, clients and management, asking you to do something for them. Your initial reaction is to say yes, to keep everyone happy and make yourself indispensible. However, if you are saying yes to things which aren’t really your job, or aren’t in line with your important projects or priorities then you are at risk of compromising the quality of your work. Therefore, start simply telling people that you don’t have any time you can commit to their tasks right now, and they will usually understand – after all, they’re probably so busy they had to ask for your help – and you’ll be able to stay focussed and save time without compromising yourself.

Another important part of taking care of yourself is taking breaks. When you’re trying to save time at work this may sound counterproductive, but our brains and bodies need time to rest, to be able to work to achieve. Therefore, take a few minutes every half and hour or hour to stand up and go for a quick walk, massage your neck and then when you return to work you’ll be better focussed.

Alban has been writing for Savings Account Finder for several years. Although he specialises in personal finance, Alban also writes about personal development.