How To Make Time Go Faster At Work

It doesn't matter if you're in the office or working from home, sooner or later, you're going to wish you could make time go faster because the passage of time feels like it's stopped and everything drags at you.

They say time flies when you're having fun, but when you're bored, time crawls.

So with that in mind, while we can't actually make time pass faster, we can help you make time go by faster in your head and maybe even help you look forward to the working day again.

How To Speed Up Your Working Day

Take Your Eyes Off The Clock

Firstly, clock watching is a terrible idea. Every kid knows that their class will never end if they focus their attention on the time as it passes by.

In fact, there's a scientific concept known as “chronostasis” that says if we focus on the minutes and hours, then the world does slow down.

If you want time to pass, the first thing to do is stop watching the clock.

Do Meaningful Work (Most Of The Time)

Nobody's routine or job is built wholly from meaningful work but if everything you do is something you hate?

it's time to change your job or role. Talk to your boss, seek out training, or look for a new position, but make sure your busy week is full of things where you enjoy productivity rather than resent it.

Doing endless work that you loathe is a recipe for burnout, especially if you're working from home.

Learn To Get In A State of “Flow”

Flow state is a “state of peak performance” and basically, we get into flow when we are doing work that challenges us but isn't so challenging that we can't do it.

When you get into this state, time just flows around us and it can seem like you've spent five minutes on a task that took more than an hour to do.

It's one of the best ways to make life more bearable and everyone's work should force them into a state of flow, at least, once a day.

Know Your “Ultradian Rhythm”

You can think of the ultradian rhythm as your innate work pattern. And for most people, this means, if you want the workday to feel like time is going efficiently, for every 90 minutes you work, you should take a 20-minute time out to rest.

We know that if you're in a call center there may be no way to make time like this, but if you're working remotely, then building a break time into your routine is pretty easy and it will make you more productive.

Give Yourself A Pat On The Back

If you reward yourself for a task well done, the time can fly by as you're going to be caught with your attention up on the finishing line and much less on the hours put in to create the work.

Make A “To-Do” List

Working aimlessly can really drag your perception of time, research says that one of the easiest ways to free up your mind and focus on getting things done is to write a to-do list.

Don't make the list an endless one, just have say 6 items that you need to get done each day and stay engaged. That way it always seems like you're making progress.

Learn To Block Your Time

You can make time seem to go faster by creating blocks of time and then assigning tasks to each block.

Thus tasks are given full attention within their block. And by breaking down the day into “bite-sized chunks”, you're always looking at the passage of a relatively small amount of time rather than a long, slow day.

Do The Stuff You Hate First

If you want your brain to be happy, and operating at top speed – you don't want to spend the whole day dreading the filing.

If you start the day with the least pleasant work, once it's behind you, you can draw mental strength from that fact and because you start the morning with the most energy, you'll probably get that work you hate done much faster than you would in the hour before you go home.

This will also help you maintain a healthy work-life balance.

Don't Forget To Have Fun

One of the easiest ways to combat work stress and make the time fly is to take a few moments to have fun at your desk.

Tell a joke with your colleagues, or engage your manager in a quick question and answer session, time goes much less slowly when we have fun.

Stay Positive!

If you find this hard, get some of your favorite music and play it through headphones until you feel positive. Or do a quick home workout if you work remotely.

There is a total correlation between our mood and the speed at which we perceive time to go by. So, stay positive and the day will end faster!

Final Thoughts

Time doesn't need to creep by at work, all you need is our awesome tips and you'll soon watch it race past you!

If the passing of time is still dragging, though, even if you use our tips, it's probably time to seek a new challenge of some kind.