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Posts Tagged ‘best use of time’

If you are like most men and women in the corporate world, then you are extremely lacking in the ?time department? when it comes to getting all of your work done. You are facing multiple projects, all at the same time. Each one has it’s own deadline that seems to be climbing your back on a constant basis. So how do you manage your work so that you can create more time and get your tasks done, all without the stress of racing the clock? The answer lies in learning to create a working list and you must know how to properly categorize this list. In today’s article we will discuss the importance of creating a list of your jobs and how to prioritize them for maximum results, and in record time.

If you want to get ahead in today’s fast-paced world then you have got to be conscience of the job that you are doing and when you are doing it. You have to be aware of knowing what tasks need to be dropped from your plate in order to work on the items that count the most. And the best way to stay focused is to create your master working list and then back that list with ?action?.

The first step that is required is to drop everything from your mind, sit down in a quiet room, and then list down all of the things that you need to do. Do not hold back with this list. Write everything down that involves your workload. Every little detail counts, including telephone calls that you have to make, projects that you wanted to get research on, emails that have not been returned, etc.

Your next step is to take this list of tasks and properly prioritize them. There are numerous ways in which you can categorize these items. I personally label four different columns on paper as the A-column, B-column, C-column, and D-column. My A column are the jobs that are the most urgent and if were left unfinished would result in disastrous consequences. My B-column would then have the items listed that are equally important, but do not have the same urgency. My C-column are tasks that I need to get to, but could be put off for a day or two such as emails, phone calls, and favors. Finally, my D-column are simply items that have no value at all and are time-wasters. These are things that may eat up my time and could wait until I was home, like doing research on the computer, ordering something online, or chatting with my wife on the phone about what is for dinner.

And finally, the third step is all about action! All you have to do now is make sure that you are spending your time on those activities that have the most urgency first, and not wavering until the job is completed. Your other tasks can wait. You should not move on to your B and C tasks until your A-tasks have been complete. Keep in mind that there will always be roadblocks that come up that may interfere with your work. This is a part of life and cannot be helped. Your job as someone who is properly managing his time is to overcome these obstacles and keep on your most urgent priorities until the job is finished.

Properly managing your time can help you to effectively produce more results, increase your free time, and lower your stress levels. One key component of time management that we are going to cover in today’s article revolves around getting into the habit of meeting your deadlines.

Can you recall back in high school or college where you knew you had a major test or exam coming, but waited until the last minute to study for it? Instead of pacing yourself and chipping away at learning the information for the test day-by-day, you waited until the very night before the test and pulled an ?all-nighter? in order to cram all of the information in. Ironically enough, this type of behavior leads to poor productivity and of course, loss of sleep!

There are many men and women in business that treat their projects much like the ?all-nighter? example above. They are assigned an important job and let the assignment sit and sit until they are literally racing the clock to get the work completed on time for the boss. And what is the typical end result? A project that is faulty with mistakes as well as unwanted stress caused by the delay. In addition, your time will be squeezed thin even more for other tasks that are pushed to the limit because of your reckless time management skills

There is of course, a better way to handle your priorities, that will not involve stress, loss of sleep, and poorly finished projects. And that better way is simple: Start on your work assignments as soon as you receive them. If your boss gives you a report or a project to have finished by a certain date, then do not wait until the last minute to start working on it. Start immediately! In fact, start planning that day. The same goes if you are self employed. Actually, being self employed means that we must totally master this habit of meeting personal deadlines or else our business will sink.

You can start to take action on any given project by creating a separate project list and break down the assignment into sections. Now take out your planner and assign a section for each day, or however you see fit. For example, you may have a project that will take you a total of 10 hours to complete, but the deadline is not for another five days. Most procrastinators and time-wasters will wait until the day before the deadline. Instead, your goal is to schedule small chunks to be completed one at a time. Perhaps you can schedule this report to be worked on 2 hours a day for the next five days. Or maybe you want to break it up into hour segments. Any which way you choose will work, so long as you work your plan.

Although this advice is merely common sense, you would be surprised as to how many men and women are ruined by putting off their tasks until near the end of the deadline. By breaking this habit you can start working on them long before they are due and the quality of your work will reign supreme. Time management is not at all complex to integrate into your life, it simply takes discipline.

If you are reading this article then it is quite obvious that you have also fallen into the rut of doing more work, but getting less in the way of results. The good news is that you have found the right place for all of your time management needs. Although getting a thorough education on managing your time properly is beyond the scope of this one article, we hope to set you in the right direction with all of our free time management resources and advice found throughout this website.

Do you find yourself coming in to work early, staying late, and even going as far as taking your work home on the weekends? As a person who wants to be more productive, you are probably feeling as though you are working harder and longer each day, but not making any progress. Ultimately you find yourself buried under all of the work that you feel will help you ?get ahead? but then you are left drained, tired, and without any quality time for yourself.

In the past, there has always been well written material available to help us manage our time but the advice given years ago inside these publications would not work in today’s world. Today we find ourselves inundated with any numerous amount of wireless communications where people can always get in touch. In fact, we are expected to be available both night and day in most of our careers.

Our computers are almost tied to us at the hip and with fast communication programs which allows us to be available by email, messenger programs, and even by way of work discussion forums, it seems we can never leave work. Add to that the need to always have our cell phone equipped for incoming calls as well as voice-mail that seems to be available on an platform. Think about for a moment just how ?plugged in? we are today and you will start to understand why managing our own time is given the cold shoulder as we are feverishly working to keep up with everything coming in.

For example, in the old days of the office we would have been happy just to be able to get a letter via FedEx to someone by the morning of the next day. Today we are expected to send documents immediately to the recipient. This is done by either faxing a file from one computer to another, attaching the document by email, or by attaching the files to download via a company website area.

There used to be a day where our offices were filled with secretaries who would type up our memos, prepare reports, gather research for presentations. Today however, these much appreciated office secretaries have been replaced with personal computers in which we are responsible for writing our own memos, sending our own reports, and designing our own presentations.

Have you ever been sitting at your desk completely staring into space trying to figure out what to do next? Assuming that you have a list of items that you need to work on, the only way to stay on top of your workload is to keep that list fresh in your mind.

Sometimes the secret to getting things done during the day is to keep reminding ourselves of the work that lay ahead. We can do this by having a prioritized list of items that need to be accomplished during the day. And it is not uncommon to have multiple tasks being worked on at any given time, with each one as important as the other.

In order to keep from drifting away from your current job, the best piece of advice that I was given is to keep your list of tasks fresh in your mind by reviewing them often throughout the day. Keep your ?to do? list on top of your desk at all times. Whenever you complete a task, take a look over at your list, cross it off, and then ask yourself ?What is the best use of my time, right now?? The move on to your next task.