Listen to this article
Time management is planning and controlling the time you take to finish your work. It is an essential skill that every employee and employer should have. If you don’t know how to properly manage your time, then you will find yourself stressed, overloaded with tasks, and can even miss your deadlines.
Bad time management has a very negative effect on overall productivity and performance, therefore, today, we are giving you 6 tips to enhance and master your time management in the workplace.
Ask Yourself How You’re Spending Your Time
Right from the moment you get to work to the moment you leave, how are you spending your time?
Observe your activity during your working day, how much you’re spending eating breakfast and lunch, how much you’re spending taking a break, and how much time a single task take. Observing will make you realize what you’re wasting your time doing, which can help you figure out how to organize and manage your time.
Avoid Multitasking
Some jobs require this skill but you shouldn’t multitask when you are working on important tasks.
When you multitask, you won’t be able to focus properly, you will be dividing your time into multiple tasks, which decreases your productivity and you won’t be able to give the best result. Multitasking will make you feel overwhelmed and stressed, you need to focus on each task at a time as shifting your focus from one thing to another can make you confuse tasks with each other.
Create A Daily Schedule And Set A Timeframe
List all the tasks and projects you have and create a daily schedule for them and then start working accordingly.
At the end of each day, create a schedule for the next one; list your urgent tasks that need to be delivered and set a timeframe for each task. Creating a schedule can make you commit to finishing on time.
In fact, checking things off your schedule can boost your energy and encourage you to finish tasks as soon as possible. People love crossing things off their list, it makes them feel they’re achieving something. Having a schedule can also help you have some free time during the day and achieve a little balance.
Stop Yourself From Procrostanaiting
While working you will find yourself getting easily distracted and you end up leaving your tasks to start doing something else.
You have to eliminate the distractions as they can be limitless, once you start working on your tasks you have to focus and dedicate your time to work so you can finish on time. Stop checking your social media every minute and stop interacting with your colleague while working, and don’t take calls unless they are urgent.
Learn To Say No
Your tasks are your priority, therefore, you should be the one to decide whether you can work on more assigned tasks or not.
Managing your time while doing your tasks, mean that you’re working according to their urgency, which means that the very first task you work on is the most urgent one. Therefore, if your colleague or manager wanted to assign you another task, then politely refuse and tell them what you’re working on currently. If you didn’t say no, you will find yourself overloaded with work, which can be very stressful and can affect your mental and physical health.
Only you know if you have the time to finish other tasks or not, so you’re the one who has to decide whether to take them or decline.
Group Your Tasks
For better management, group all the similar tasks together and start working on each group.
For example, if you have a number of emails that require similar responses, then gather them all and write your response and start emailing back. If you have certain phone calls to make then dedicate a certain timeframe and start making these calls. This is part of organizing your tasks and prioritizing them; try to finish the ones that don’t require much time as fast as you can.
You have to know that time management will help you stay organized and will increase your productivity and decrease your stress.