6 Ways to Improve Your Time Management
Feeling overwhelmed is an emotion many working professionals, business owners, and entrepreneurs are all too familiar with. While there are exercises and routes one can take to decrease feelings of overwhelm and stress, getting organized is one that both is preventative and effective. Learning and practicing good time management skills are a simple solution to organizing tasks and earning more productive work days.
So now that we have determined a possible solution, how do we approach it? Let’s look at six different ways one can improve his or her time management skills in the workplace –
1. Create a Schedule
How often have you forgotten an appointment or not relayed a message because you forgot to write it down? It is difficult to remember and recall every detail of an occurrence due to all the events and minutes that happen in between. Simply putting pen to paper and writing down what you need to get done is more effective, as it removes the thoughts out of your brain and onto something physical you can see, hold, and reference back to as needed.
One way to keep a schedule is to carry a planner or organize a virtual calendar on your personal devices, so that you have access to your schedule at any moment. This means no longer having to wrack your brain to remember what you might have scheduled, and if you can squeeze in another meeting.
An additional positive to carrying a planner is that most planners have spaces for notes and to-do lists. This means you can combine all of your thoughts, ingoing and outgoing, and tasks that need to be achieved around with you during the day. Within that space, you can map out your daily, weekly, and monthly goals and track your progress. Allowing yourself to have data as you tackle your workload will help you effectively prepare for the chaos ahead.
2. Weigh Your Tasks
Now that you have all of your thoughts and goals written down, take it one step further and prioritize them. Prioritizing is key when it comes to time management, as it teaches you how to spend your time effectively. As you weigh your tasks, you might notice that you have been spending more time on duties that don’t have as much importance to your business as others do.
Once you have determined what needs your attention the most, you can determine how much time to delegate to each task. You may even find that there are responsibilities that would be better suited to someone else that you can pass them off to.
3. Delegate
Delegation is crucial as this will give you time, which is something all professionals need more of. In many cases, professionals like to take on a larger workload or more responsibilities because they feel as though they can carry them out better than anyone else. While it is important to assign the right tasks to the right person, sometimes relinquishing control and freeing up your time will allow you to do a better job on the responsibilities that really need your attention.
Take some time to figure out who on your team could handle a piece or two of your workload. This might even be an opportune time to groom a colleague or employee with a new skill or higher position in the company. Thus, further enhancing their abilities and skillset, allowing even more to come off of your plate.
4. Place Deadlines on Projects
Maybe you are someone who has trouble completing work on time, if even at all. For some individuals, the more time they have to complete a task, the less likely it will get done because there is no motivation.
Placing a deadline on a project or a goal gives you something to strive for and gives the project an end date. Too often projects drag on past their expiration date and hang over us until we shove them aside or cut them loose. If a project is really worth achieving, make an effort to finish it (and in a timely manner).
Think about how much time your project will realistically need to be completed. You can even bring in your teammates to help you sketch out this timeline. Once you have gathered your data and determined an end date, stick to it. Do not allow yourself to continually add on time or push back dates. Make it a priority to keep yourself accountable.
5. Avoid Multitasking
This might be a new one for some of us to hear! Many times we hear the opposite – that if we learn to do several things at once, we’ll be twice as productive. However for most of us, this could not be farther from the truth.
Dipping our hands into multiple projects or tasks at once tends to let our focus and concentration fly away. If your head isn’t fully immersed in the task at hand, you won’t be as productive and it make take double the amount of time you budgeted for.
Learn to keep your eye on the prize, and on one prize at a time. Use your to-do list and planner as a resource if you need to, by writing down a list of all the goals you’d like to achieve.
6. Say “No”
It is not as easy as it sounds…or is it? Saying “no” does not have to be hard, painful, or insulting to the other party. Saying “no” in many cases is a healthy choice. The truth is that you do not have to be a hero and do everything 100% of the time. Prioritize your workload and your time, and use that to make decisions wisely.
When you take the time to get organized and prioritize how to manage your time wisely, those previous feelings of stress and overwhelm will start to dissipate. Time management is a key tool to a productive business, a productive work ethic, and a productive emotional state. The more you practice this skill, the easier it will be and the more time you will find on your hands to successfully complete your work day.
