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Does this scenariosound familiar? Yourfriends are out tossingbackcocktailswhileyou're stuck atwork,making buddies rvithyour building's Iate-night cleaning crerv.To help, rve turnedto time-managementpros for advice onhowto spend lesstime on the job andnot piss your boss

offin the process.(Odds are she doesthis stufftoo-or shesiozld!). Oh, andlesson one: Read thison your lunch break.

o Everlr morning atwork, doyour mostimportant taskfirst. And decide thenight before rvhat thatis, says Julie Morgen-stern, author ofNeaer

Check E-mail intheMorning."Nolonlywill it save youthe timeyou'd spendmullingoveryourto-do list, not know-ing rvhere to start,but the reliefandenergyyou'll getfromtacklingyour biggestproject first willboostyourpro-ductivitytherest ofthe day,"she says.

o Prepare for ameeting like agood party guest."Think of it this rvay:Instead ofbringingabottle ofwine, yourdutyis to shorvupon time, and comewith somethingyou

can contributei saysMerlinMannof4Sfolders.com, aweb-site dedicated topersonal productivity.Speakearlyandfocus on solutions andactions, Save chataboutthe news forlunchhour.Andifyou reallyrvant togo the extra mile,offer to help planthe agenda. "Whenyou'rethe personrvho neverrvastesotherpeople's time,"addsMann,lou'llbe surprisedbyhorvreluctant they'llbecome to rvaste yours,"

e Beware ofthe"nibblers." call theminterrupters, callthem distracters, callthem rvhatever-butdon'tlet them nosharvayatyourday!Whenyour chatty corvorkerstops by to rehash herrveekend, tell her, "I'mon deadline right norv,but let's grab coffeelater," suggests JanYager, Ph.D., author ofWork Less, Do More.Or ify'our needy friend(or, sorry, even yourmom) dials in for herregular afternoongossip fur, "you don'thave to pick up," saysMorgenstern. "But

ifyou do, askher,'Canwetalkrvhen I'm not attheoffice?"'Any-

one rvho rvantsyou to get ahead at

rvorkandhave alifewill understand.

o Stayorganized.To avoid rvasting 20minutes figuring outlvhere that spread-sheet ran offto, Yagerrecommends keeping

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your "hot" file-thethingyou referencethe most-out on yourdesk; everything elseshould be put arvay.And taking a few min-utes to tidy up everytimeyou finish abigprojectrvill saveyoufromthetsunamipileup effects ofdelay-ing too long. Ifyouneedto, "buddyupwith a coworker andspend 15 minutes'crash cleaning'on aset basisiYager says."In the process ofgetting organized, youmightevenbuilda relationship witha colleague."

o Find outwhereyour losttime is going.Formanywomen, that'sthe Internet, saysMorgenstern. "Itisn'tContinued on nart ytge >|

EverlrDay!No matterhou longyourto-do list,ea:pefts sag these tips uill helpyou get it all done that much mo?'equickly. BY LAUREN B RAD s rrAW

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116 GLAMOUR.COM AUGUST 2OIO

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i> realistic for mostofus to stay offline atrvork, but ifyoulog on to look ateaety-fftfng, it's like goingto the mall with nopurpose. That's dan-gerous!" Same goesfor checking e-mail. Allthat dinging can bedistracting. Mann rec-ommends turningyournotifier offand check-ingatsettimes, sincerapid-fire replyingonly causes you to losefocus, somethingthat is critical to han-dling big projectsandmanagingyourtime better. As for per-sonal errands, ifyouhale to run out, keepyour eye on the time,and try not to getdistracted (by, say,4O-percent-offsales).

o Use the 8O-2O rule.Thinkabouthowoften you've spent an

extrahour "finessing"a presentation or alesson plan thatwas...alreadyfinished!"That constant strivingfor perfection canspin into a paralyzingtrap that halts proj-

(6ro,,rouneaer uLste

people's time,uou'Il be

sirprised. fu1hou reluctant

ects,"warns Morgen-stern. She suggestsapplyingthe 80-20rule: Only 20 percentofyourtasks needto be completelyper-fect; the other 8Opercent can be "goodenough." Sure, youdon'trvantto look ]ike

you're slacking-butthe truth is, Morgen-stern says, "many of myclients have actuallydiscovered that oncethey stopped obsessingover everything they'reresponsible for, theirversion of 'good' turnedout to be their boss'sversion of'great."'

o Plan to leave early.Ifyou're constantlyrvorkinglate, seta goal to scoot out 30minutes soonerthan

stern calls the tech-nique "crunchingyourcontainer."And ifyou need a nudge get-ting outthe door, makeaplanwithabuddyfor after lvork so you'remore likelyto call it aday. There's a reasonthey callithappyhour.

theY'll be to Youleavenorv'when

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SAVE MEMONEY!BY CARMEN WONG ULRICH

What else can I use couponsfor besides groceries?-M.M.,31, LOSANGEIESI rarely pay for any-thrng these days-from a Geek Squadvisit to a handbag-without looking fora coupon on the lnternet first.oAt redplum.com, ljust found$25 off my local cleaningservice. At coupon.com, I finddeals on office supplies, flow-ers, even magazines. Fatwallet.com has cash-back offersfrom places like Bloomingdalesand Orbitz, as wellas discountcodes-like my recent score:20 percent off Klehls cosmet-ics. Then there! groupon.com,where you get deals in yourarea on everything from spaservices to skydiving throughthe power of group buying.o The biggest of these couponsites is thedealmap.com, whichcompiles more than 300,000deals from other websites. Youtype in your zip code andselect a category, and it doesthe bargain hunting for you.

Carmen Wong Uhichis a personal financeexpeft and the author ofGeneration Debt: GkeControl of Your Money

i

The #lWayto LeaveWbrkoirTime

Show up on tinre! When youEet a late srart, you've already setoff a cjomino effect of runrringbehind on your tasks before you veeven walked in the door, sayexperts. And whatever yor.l do,adds Morgenstern, don't givein io "just one more task" syn-drome at the end of the day. Thattendency to try to cross a few"little" things off your to-do listjust as you're about to !eavework can trap yoLi there for hours,she says. Do it in the morningl

WO?'k qU'iCkie Clock out, woman: Working overtime has been linked to a 60% higher risk of heart problems.

I18 GLAMOUR.COM AUGUST 2O1O