15 ways to save time in your credit union and at home for 2015

We are all busy. Busy is not productive.

This year let’s choose to make our professional (and personal) lives more productive by saving time wherever we can!

Want to see these ideas on video, watch our video (it’s about 9 minutes long) – click here.

1. Say No – No is a complete sentence. Try it out. Say it nicely. Practice this at home and in social situations. Make more room to say ‘yes’ to things that really matter.
2. Invest 15 minutes – invest 15 minutes in a strategic appointment with yourself each day (see our previous article for more ideas on how to conquer the world in 15 minutes) today and choose your three not negotiable activities for today to get you closer to your Credit Union goals.
3. Unsubscribe – get off mailing list, stop catalogs and junk mail and unsubscribe from things that clutter your life in the Credit Union and at home.
4. Eliminate Clutter – get organized. Spend 15 minutes in each clutter section, organize and move on. Hire someone if you need to. Professional organizers are not a luxury – you will feel lighter when life is organized. Look at your desk, is this the image you want members to have of you when they come in to visit you? Get organized today.
5. Play a game with time – set the timer on your phone and play a game to see how much you can achieve before the timer goes off! This is great for clearing emails, making outbound calls and reviewing documents.
6. Call instead of email – it’s so much quicker to often pick up the phone, leave a voicemail or talk to a real person. No one uses the phone anymore, be the person who makes an impact with the sound of your voice and achieve so much more rather than be another email in someone’s inbox to create a more personal touch with your members.
7. Limit social media – do a social media drive-by (we do it while drinking my morning coffee) –check out all social media platforms for 15 minutes and feels great!
8. Listen and learn – Play podcasts while you get ready in the morning, drive to your Credit Union or while you are working out. Great way to keep informed on our industry and invest in your personal development.
9. Have the news read to you – we love the app Unamo for a real live person to read up to date news – check it out. You can set up lists to say ahead of news and trends.
10. Get it delivered – Amazon delivers almost anything. Find out if your local dry cleaners, grocery store – find services to save you time in your personal life so you feel more organized.
11. Barter time – trade your time for others. Share car pools for your kid’s sport, trade a spreadsheet for a PowerPoint presentation with someone on the team – your talent for time.
12. Group everything – if you are running errands group them together, in your home place like itemed things together, put your keys in the same place every time (in your handbag or your home). In the branch make sure supplies and documents are all located in a central area for easy access for the team.
13. Halve meetings – start immediately – instead of 60 minutes, choose 30 minutes – voila – save time! Your team will thank you for it and it gives you more valuable time to concentrate on members.
14. Restrict screen time – commit to those around you that you will limit your attachment to your cell phone time. Focus on the team member or your member that is sitting in front of you. They will thank you and you will be more engaged.
15. Get the app – there is an app for everything. Find the ones you love. We like Noteshelf for note taking, Evernote as a collating system for all our ideas and notes, Cozi for shopping and Pzzizz for power napping. What’s your favorite app?

What ideas would you add to save in your Credit Union this year? We’d love to hear from you.