Time – these days – seems to be speeding up. You start the year, blink twice, and you’re celebrating the end of the year. If you don’t manage your fleeting time well, you will end up not making any productive use of your time. And, unfortunately, your boss will be left questioning whether he or she made the right choice in hiring you…
But don’t fear! There is a way that you can get around this. If you adopt time management techniques, you will be able to get the most out of your day, stay on top of your work, and make yourself an invaluable asset to the company. Read on to find out more about the time management techniques that will help you be the most productive that you can be!
Set Achievable Goals in Time Management
On a physical journey, you’ll never get anywhere unless you have a destination that you want to get to. The same applies in time management. However, in order to ensure that you reach your time management goals, you need to make sure that these goals are ‘S.M.A.R.T’. According to this, your time management hoped-for outcomes must be:
- Smart
- Measurable
- Agreed-upon
- Realistic
- Time bound.
Beware the Curse of the E-mail
For many people, the biggest sapper of time is the automatic window which pops up every time an e-mails lands in your inbox. Why? This is because we get distracted by the new arrival, forgo the task we’re working on, and when we return to what we had been doing originally it takes us twice as long to get back into our rhythm.
Disable this automatic notification and only check your e-mails when you’ve completed the task you were working on or want to take a break. You’ll be surprised on how much more you get done!
Keep Track of Your Time
Time is a funny thing… When you don’t keep track of how much time you’re spending on a particular task, you could spend five times more than you should completing this particular duty. Why? This is because you’re not keeping track and actually seeing where your time is going. It’s the same as with money: if you don’t keep track of what you spend, you’re likely to overspend. If you don’t keep track of the time you spend, you’re extremely likely to overspend on your time.
There are many tools that you can use to keep track of your time.
One of the most famous techniques is called the Pomodoro technique which was developed by Francesco Cirillo at the beginning of the ’80s. What he proposed is that, during the day, you divide your time into increments of 25 minutes. These are called pomodoros which is the Italian word for ‘tomato’. After each pomodoro, you will take a five minute break. After four pomodoros, you will take a 15 – 20 minute break. In this way, you increase your productivity and creativity as you keep your mind fresh and focused.
Do you want to learn more about time management techniques? Do you want to know how to master your work day? Global Business Solutions’ Supervisory Skills Workshop will teach you this and so much more. Follow this link for more information.