Below are some methods on how to maximize time and be more productive; finding more time for one as well. Points to ponder about time management:
a) Time. What is time and how much do you really have?
- Understand the importance of time and choose to make a better use of it.
- Realize making full use of time can improve a manager’s and personal staff’s performance.
- Adjust how you think about time, improve your awareness of how you use time, and make change for peak performance. Notice that when we are aware of what we do, we are able to control it.
- Knowing that by thinking you can “catch up” if you work longer vs. focus in doing what you are doing now.
Working longer does not guarantee results but focusing on the very task that you are doing. Focus is the key point here. When we focus, we are not distracted by the surrounding and actually achieve more. We would not loose unnecessary time and by doing more now, we can avoid working ‘longer’ later.
b) Planning
- Making a plan that helps you accomplish your goals; objectives based (i.e. not just listing down tasks needed to be completed but the goal needed to be accomplished, driven to succeed).
- Knowing what you have to do: the concepts of importance and urgency
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Urgent |
Not urgent |
Things that are urgent may have to be completed first and if two tasks is urgent, the one that is more important take the pie.
- Notice that planning ultimately motivates you to finish your tasks, allowing you to get more of your 24 hours with more time to relax
- Schedule is not your prison but as a guidance
- Planning ahead; knowing the direction you are heading will help a manager achieves his goal faster. When there is more time, one can perform more, have more rest and ultimately be a happier person. This helps increase productivity as a whole.
c) How to say NO! (to get work done and rest)
- Learn when to say NO with grace and ease to defend your calendar
- Staying focused, avoid distraction and prioritize
- The misfortune of multitasking; every now and then managers have to multitask but often we got distracted and do not achieve as much. The key point is focus!
- Knowing that you NEED rest and sleep.
- Helps you to concentrate better and achieve more
d) Handling Interruption
Interruptions in one’s day are perfectly normal and a common thing. As a good manager, one has to be able to handle such interferences appropriately. It is in the dynamics of management that one have to face various issues that may arise suddenly each day; our superior can ask for something urgent when we are in the midst of finishing a dateline, we need to attend to an unexpected meeting from a client or guest, chatting over the phone or simply loosing focus and doing something else.
You can however handle interruptions wisely and some interruptions can be avoided.
To successfully manage interruptions:
- Setting a time limit for any unplanned or unexpected meetings and conversations
- Using appropriate and polite body language to sign that the meeting time is over or way too long without saying it out
- Always bring a discussion back to the main point if the meeting agenda is diverting
- Being able to say no
- Do not take on other people’s problem
- If possible, politely inform the other party on your current task
To successfully avoid interruptions:
- Remove yourself to another place where there are less distractions
- List outgoing calls and try to limit each call to say, three minutes; speaking only important points
- Establish a ‘no interruptions hour’ in the day.
- Allow your team members/ staffs know that you need to meet a dateline or finish a current task and put other tasks in the pipeline
- Plan and arrange your meeting at a venue that you can control your meeting and leaving time
- If you are comfortable working with a buddy/ partner, use this to your advantage as when more people are doing the same tasks, it is easier to focus and rule out the distractions
e) Handling Procrastination
Procrastination is something that many people have to face and overcome in order to have proper time management. Everyone procrastinate to some degree but how can we minimize it? Procrastinators usually have to work just as long as other people or longer but they lack productivity because the time is invested in the wrong tasks. It is important to understand the difference between urgent and important as mentioned earlier. Often people do things that seemed urgent but not important without considering the outcome. Another common cause of procrastination is feeling overwhelmed by the task. We may not know when to begin or think we do not have the resources we need. So we end up doing something in our comfort zone and not completing what’s important.
You can overcome procrastination by:
- Identify when it happen and recognize the cause of it
- Understand how it happen and take immediate action against it
- Try to overcome the source of the problem (level of difficulty, resources, etc.) by working together with someone
- Ask someone to check on your progress, peer pressure works
- Reward yourself every time you complete to a certain stage
- Notice the negative consequences of not being able to deliver on time
- Setting a tighter personal deadline to push yourself into doing the given tasks
- Break bigger projects into smaller and manageable tasks; complete the easier ones first
- Having the proper mindset and know that you can overcome the given problem; pushing it away in your mind would not solve the problem
The key to controlling and ultimately combating this destructive habit is to recognize when you start procrastinating, understand why it happens and take active steps to better manage your time and outcomes.
f) Thinking and Behavior
- Breaking free from old habits; which causes time and money/ profit loss
- Do not engage in activities that are destructive, it only causes you to loose time that cannot be won back
- Do worth while activities that help you to grow
- Laziness, procrastination and delay, how to overcome them?
- Fears and phobias, internal conflicts, old hurt, failures; how they siphon you from your extra time
- Handling stress and facing tests
g) Time Tracking
- Time Awareness and Time Tracking
- Unexpected scenarios can happen…
Some questions to help you track your time spent:
1. Did you accomplish your most important priority?
2. What trends do you notice about the way you spent your time?
3. What was the most productive part of your day? Why?
4. What was the least production part of your day? Why?
5. What or who caused the majority of interruptions?
6. What could you do to control these interruptions?
7. What were your three biggest time wasters?
h) Taking a journal
You can time track by using a journal or an activity log. One get to see how he/she spend their time on daily activities. You would (surprisingly) realize that a lot of your time is spent doing unnecessary tasks especially during your work time. By taking the activity log you can start omitting consciously tasks that wastes your time. This will allow you to be more productive and effective. According to the Pareto Analysis, we only spend 20% of our time doing up to 80% of our work. This shows that if we are to focus, better results can be achieved each day.
By analyzing your activity log you will also be able to identify and eliminate time-wasting or low-yield jobs. You will also know the times of day at which you are most effective, so that you can carry out your most important tasks during these times.
i) Taking Control
- Taking control of your time and work/ study space and pace
- Organizing your desk to be effective! ( Think of what to and not to put on your desk; some things can be a great distraction)
- The goal as a motivation, without motivation you will feel lack of control and tired
- Making decisions…quickly and appropriately (Decisions worth making and worth forsaking)
