Busy or Productive? Trusted Tips on Time Management
How did we all end up like this? Not enough hours in the day, taking work home, emails at midnight, the Blackberry on the beach and “catching up” at weekends. It’s getting so that having fun starts to seem like hard work. After all, when are you going to factor it in? Families become things you “juggle” rather than enjoy and when was the last time you had a good night’s sleep?
There are so many demands on our time and energy we’re in danger of burn out. But with a few tweaks 24 hours in a day really can be enough time to do it all and have time over to kick the leaves and sniff the breeze.
Often our audiences cannot see how they can possibly find a way through the workload, hit their targets and still have a life. They may have tried countless ways but end back at square one defeated and deflated and considering supermarket shelf stacking as a career option.
Here we share just a few of our tried and tested solutions that with a bit of planning and effort really can deliver the results you need and perhaps even give you time over to start a new hobby too.
How To Buy Time.
Let’s start by looking at how you use your time at work. Write down everything you do each day- talking over coffee, water cooler chats, admin, lunches, travel and try to work out how much time each of those activities take up. Where are you wasting time?
Are you the person, other people use to get their work done while your own work is piling up? Quite often, in order not only to look good or just out of plain fear, we take on extra work or tasks that we know we will struggle to deal with. If that’s your story then it is time to be responsibly negative and learn to say no.
Could you use your voice mail to monitor calls when you need peace and quiet to concentrate on important business?
Look at how you can simplify things even more; what needs to go, what can you drop?
Try whenever you can to build in a safety net of time so that you can add polish to your work, be more creative and have time for unforeseen hitches.
Here is an at-a-glance guide to help you manage more:
Be unavailable – let colleagues know politely that you can’t talk or be interrupted for the next X hours.
Have daily achievable goals you write out each morning and check throughout the day how you’re doing and what you have achieved. This will build confidence and add meaning to your day.
Match your task to your mood – find out when you are most productive – 10am or 2pm and do your most demanding and creative work then.
Think of the three D’s when looking at your chores – Do It, Dump It or Delegate It
Use “dead” time such as commuting/long car journeys, waiting for clients, to help yourself. Read a good book, listen to relaxation tapes or checking and planning your diary for weeks ahead all benefits you.
Aim to leave at a reasonable hour each day and stick to it.
Meet your partner or friends for lunch more often.
Under promise and over deliver.
Get a coach.
Susan Tomlinson and Carole Ann Rice provide bespoke development and coaching solutions to improve motivation and performance of managers and their teams. We specialize in coaching women in business to build confidence and success. Get additional resources and our workbook “Speaking for Success” at http://www.realcoachingsolutions.co.uk
Provided by: Guest blogger
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