This one trick can maximize your weekend and improve your work week

This one trick can maximize your weekend and improve your work weekThis one trick can maximize your weekend and improve your work weekRecently Ladders reported on the shocking amount of Americans that are putting off important things on their to-do lists. Many find that there just isnt enough time. In fact, the average American said they have as little as 26 minutes of free time a week.Eventually, administrative tasks that demand our attention begin to add up, smothering us. This feeling of being overwhelmed is a bane to productivity and overall wellness.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreIs there an effective way to maximize our free time?The Power hourGretchen Rubin, happiness expert and author of Outer Order, Inner Calm, provides some interesting insights into the curse of poor time management. Towards the end of a busy work week, panic begins to set in - so many tasks, so lit tle time. According to Rubin, its all about the first step, or the power hour, as she slickly called it.Give yourself an hour, Rubin told CNBC,Power hour is when you set aside an hour on the weekend to just do all the things that youve been procrastinating about.The thing that keeps most of the items on our checklist right where they are, is lack of exigence. You dont need to schedule that appointment right this minute, which means you likely never will. Setting aside an hour to knock things off the list, irrespective of their respective time sensitivity will better ensure they get done.In her book, Ruben recommends we actualize this process by making a list of all the unpleasant chores, we need to get done and then knock them out every week. Little by little, we can get a lot accomplished, says Rubin.The concept of the power hour was born out of a simple but often forgotten principle its much easier to keep up than to catch up. When we think about our to-do lists as one collective mass, they become very intimidating. Your list should be viewed as a collection of mini-components, all individually deal-with-able in due time. Have the things youve been avoiding doing in the back of your mind during the work week, then devote a little attention to them when Saturday rolls around.So do as much as you can do along the way thats going to make it more pleasant for you as you go through your work week. Thats going to make less work for you on the weekend, Rubin adds.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people