Time-Management Tips

"If only there were more hours in a day."

Sound familiar? What if the problem wasn't actually lack of time but lack of time management?

Most people could probably gain complete control of their workday by becoming more organized and implementing a few simple time-management tips.

Organizing

I write down everything I want to remember. That way, instead of spending a lot of time trying to remember what it is I wrote down, I spend the time looking for the paper I wrote it down on. — Beryl Pfizer, writer

Organize both the physical and the virtual. Not being able to find things when you need them creates stress and eats up time. It may only waste a minute or two each time, but over the course of the week this can translate into hours lost.

Avoid unnecessary distractions. Your desk should face away from office traffic, especially the door. Every time someone walks by the door, it's a natural reaction to look up. Remove clutter from your desktop. Designate a work space that is the domain of only what you are working on at that moment.

Keep a "to do" list. This is the most important day-to-day time management tool. It should be updated at least daily and everything on it should be prioritized. Review and update it each time you finish or address a task. Priorities change on an ongoing basis, so remain flexible. At the very least, pick one main item on the To Do List to be completed by the end of the day.

Use a consistent, effective filing system. Web addresses should be meticulously organized and bookmarked using folders and subfolders. Your filing system should be consistent throughout an office.

Setting Goals

In the absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it. — Robert Heinlein, science fiction writer

Set specific, measurable goals with deadlines. How can you manage your time if you don't have priorities? How can you prioritize if you don't have both business and personal goals? The simple answer is you can't.

Create personal and business mission statements. Ask why are you doing what you're doing. Then figure out your overall personal and business long-term goals, then medium-term goals detailing how to get to your long-term goals, then short-term goals essentially laying out what you need to do now. You don't need to constantly review and revise your medium- and long-term goals, but stay flexible for short-term and day-to-day goals and be open to adapting them to circumstances and opportunities.

Prioritizing

I am definitely going to take a course on time management ... just as soon as I can work it into my schedule. — Louis E. Boone, textbook author and professor

Every day, divide the tasks on your "to do" list into A, B, and C priorities. Do the most important things first. To help bolster your morale, always try to achieve at least something significant by the end of the day. Avoid putting off unpleasant tasks. Get them done and out of the way as soon as you can.

Become a good delegator. Delegating duties is usually a win/win situation for those involved. For the person delegating the responsibility, it frees up much-needed time to concentrate on higher-priority tasks. For the person or persons being delegated the task, it provides an opportunity to prove themselves. There may be a slow benefit curve while the delegated person is trained to do the task, but in the long term the time benefits are obvious. In addition, making people individually accountable for certain tasks puts pressure on them to adhere to superior standards.

Task Management

We have so much time and so little to do. Strike that, reverse it. — Roald Dahl, writer, from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Break tasks into manageable and achievable blocks. Instead of being intimidated by the size of the overall task, you may find that it's easy to focus on smaller steps in succession.

It's better to be methodical than fast. Speed encourages mistakes, which lead to lost time. It's okay to slow down in order to do a thorough job. Productivity isn't about speed; it's about doing the right things correctly.

Be sure to allocate sufficient time in your schedule to achieve each task. It's worthless to prioritize tasks if you don't allocate time to complete them. But be realistic in your designation of time in a daily schedule.

Just because you can multitask does not mean you should. The common perception is that access to technology is actually improving productivity, but there is plenty of research to show that it does the reverse. You can probably get more done by focusing on just one thing at a time. If you must multitask, do so wisely.

E-Mail

Email, instant messaging, and cell phones give us fabulous communication ability, but because we live and work in our own little worlds, that communication is totally disorganized. — Marilyn vos Savant, advice columnist

If possible, handle an e-mail only once. If that is not possible, then prioritize it and take immediate action: Either delete it or reply to it. If neither of those applies, take action anyway. For example, if the e-mail could best be answered by someone else, forward it to that person. Or, if it requires more information to answer, place it on your "to do" list to address again on a set date and send out relevant e-mails to obtain the needed information.

Take control (rather than lose control) of your e-mail. Technology has allowed for more freedom in the sense that we are no longer tied to a physical office, but don't let e-mail invade your privacy or rule your life. In addition to turning off the "new message alert" on your Blackberry or iPhone, check your office e-mail on a set schedule only. It is not time-effective to read and answer every e-mail as soon as you receive it. People who expect an immediate response probably won't use e-mail to contact you.

Be descriptive in the subject line of your e-mails. This can help organize e-mails and keep track of ongoing threads so you can find them quickly. Also, if the e-mail communication subsequently moves on from the original subject line content, consider starting a new e-mail with a new subject line that describes the new thread content.

Scheduling and Managing Time

Time sneaks up on you like a windshield on a bug. — John Lithgow, actor

Rule of thumb: Schedule only half your workday. The most common mistake in time management is to schedule too much into each workday. Problems, pressing matters, and phone calls that must be made take away time from a schedule. There will be plenty of ways to fill up that other half of unscheduled time.

Learn to say "no." It's in most people's nature to be accommodating. But if you are ever going to come to grips with time management, you have to set boundaries around your time. What is urgent may not be important, and vice versa. Your time is a precious resource, so guard it from misuse by others.

Find out your peak performance time. Everyone has a time of day when he or she is most productive. Find out when this is for you and schedule demanding tasks for those times. Then turn off all electronic distractions and focus on the task at hand.

There are no "best practices" when it comes to time management. As with any goal-setting and task-management strategy, there should be a way to continually measure its effectiveness. What works great for one person may not work for another. Trial-and-error is your best ally in deciding what works best for you.

Schedule non-work time into your day. Regular breaks throughout the workday are vital to maintain concentration and productivity. You can't make the most of your time if you are tired or unfocused because you've been staring at a computer screen or talking on the phone for hours at a stretch with no break. In addition, a well-balanced life is essential to maintaining energy levels and good health. Making time in your schedule for exercise and fitness, as well as family and social time, will be beneficial in the long term.

Meetings

If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings." — Dave Barry, humorist

Take control of your meetings. Meetings should be occasions where issues get resolved, not approached with trepidation because of a preconceived idea that they will be a waste of time.

Always start on time. Be punctual if you want everyone else to be punctual. Put together an agenda with time allotments. Make sure everyone knows beforehand what the meeting is about and the issues to be discussed.

Make sure there is a decision of some sort concerning each item on the agenda. "We will discuss this further in the next meeting" is better than no decision at all.

Effective time management is not an urban myth, but it does require a mental switch as much as a physical one. Organization is the key, along with a focused, single-minded mental attitude and a methodical approach to solving problems and accomplishing workplace tasks.