Each of us has exactly 24 hours a day, although sometimes this number is not enough for us. Before His Majesty time, we are all equal. People who know how to competently handle it and with their resources have much more time than the rest. What time management skills can we adopt?
To begin with, it is worth remembering why we need the ability to properly allocate time at work. And you need it in order to avoid stress and burnout, to maintain love for your profession and the joy of life in general. 4 simple rules will help you solve the tasks in time.
1. Filter information
It’s funny that the very essence of time management has nothing to do with time as such. It doesn’t matter how well you can organize yourself in the intermediate steps if you still get too many tasks at the beginning and don’t end up finishing them by the end of the day. Therefore, the first thing to do before drawing up a plan is to decide what to leave in it and what to delete. How exactly?
- Specify the details. Never settle for a task, project, or partnership right away. Figure out how much time is at your disposal, what is the deadline, whether the customer or your colleagues have an idea of what the result should be. Consider the information and decide if the project is worth your time.
- Say no. Evaluate how the project relates to the rest of your goals and objectives. If you are not sure, check the calendar. If you can’t fully engage in the proposed task at this time, honestly say: “Thank you, no.” This is better than ruining relations with a customer or employer in the future.
- Assess your options. Be direct about how much time you have and how many hours you can devote to the project. In addition, specify whether you need to be at the workplace, how urgent the task is, how often you need to report on the results.
2. Stick to a schedule
Start by drawing up a schedule, enter there a plan of action and time for their implementation. But just a filled diary or electronic calendar is not enough. Two useful habits will make this system truly effective.
- Don’t let ideas slip through your fingers. Anything that comes to your mind – ideas, observations, comments. – fix too. Do not be lazy to sort them out, put them on the shelves, so that later you can use them for your own good.
- Update plans. Once a day, a week or a month, review tasks, evaluate opportunities. But do not mindlessly postpone the deadlines. This may not be the best way to reflect on your reputation.
3. Prioritize
If you can’t always decide what to do right away and what to do next, try using the Urgent-Important system. There are four possible combinations of these two elements of the equation.
- Not urgent and not important. Just don’t. Remove the task from the list so that it does not confuse and does not take time and nerves.
- Urgent but not important. Try to get out. Delegate authority, try to make sure that the task is completed by those who entrusted it to you. Just because it’s not important to you doesn’t mean it’s not a priority for them.
- Urgent and important. Get started right now.
- Not urgent, but important. Take the time to tackle this task. After all, we often postpone deep, complex projects indefinitely. Simply because we are afraid to take them on. And there are goals that you can’t achieve overnight. Think over the steps to achieve them and also write them into your plan.
4. Choose a role
To manage your time wisely, you must always understand what tasks require you to do. Which of the two roles is yours on this project?
- Manager. If you “play” this role, then you talk a lot with others, solve problems, make appointments. You need to think quickly, win over or push. In a word, you are the one on whom the external side of the matter depends. You are constantly looking into the future to understand what your decision may turn out to be now. Tip: Don’t rely too heavily on apps, mailing lists, and other online features. It is much better if you meet the performers in person: this will win people over to you.
- Creator. In this case, you need solitude to approach the task thoughtfully. You do not have to compose letters and make appointments, issue two decisions per minute. You must be immersed in the moment, live in the present. Tip: try to be alone with your thoughts and work. Turn off reminders on your phone and work email, hang a “Busy” sign on your room or office door, or come up with your own way to ensure privacy. Discuss with colleagues or family why temporary retreat is so important to you.
Of course, you can try different tricks, apply a variety of systems, options, strategies. But you can negotiate over time and succeed only when these skills become a habit. As we remember, it is impossible to do everything. So, this “everything” should be sorted, filtered, prioritized and correctly applied the proposed rules.