Do you have tons of things to do but have so little time? Don’t worry, you’re not the only one! This dilemma is common to any employee out there. One of the solutions to this problem is time management. Good time management allows you to accomplish more in a shorter period, which increases your focus and lowers your stress. So, here are some time management tips for you!
4 Time Management Tips that Work
Accept that time is limited
Before you start to manage your time, you have to accept that you only have 24 hours a day. You also have to accept that you can’t allocate all your time for your work—that you have other things you need to pay attention to aside from your job. You may think that you need to finish all your work within the day, but know that it’s not healthy to always pull overtime. As much as possible, try to finish your tasks within the required 8 or 10-hour work period. And if you can’t, there’s always tomorrow.
Set realistic goals
Once you’ve accepted that you can only do so much in one day, ask yourself this: what do I want to achieve?
Setting specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound (SMART) goals will help you manage your time better. Having goals will allow you to focus on the more important things first and give you direction as you go through your day.
Plan your day
Now that you have your goals, start planning your day. List down the things you need to do. After you’ve listed all of them, sort them by priority. Put the tasks and responsibilities that need immediate attention at the top of the list, and those that you could postpone later at the latter part of the list.
Remember to include in your day plan the meetings you need to attend, calls you need to make, and any other things that will take up your time. You could also include times when you can be “interrupted” from your work so that you can accommodate others. Another thing to note is to add buffer times where you allow your brain a breath of fresh air. This way, stress isn’t your enemy as you move from task to task.
Block distractions
Don’t let yourself be sucked into your time-wasters such as social media. If you have a lot of things to do, it’s best not to give in to distractions. Block the social media sites that suck away your time and attention.
Also, you’ll surely receive emails, messages, and calls throughout the day. While it’s a definitely good thing to be responsive, it doesn’t mean that it’s always a good thing. When you receive an email or message, figure out first if you need to respond to it immediately or if you could respond later (i.e. during your downtime). Make use of “Do Not Disturb” indicators when you absolutely have to get work done.
No matter what you do, you can only have so much time in a day. That’s why managing your time effectively is essential to making sure that you do what you need to do. What time management tips do you have?
