A statement I come across many a times is –
“I do all the things I should be doing for effective time management like thinking about my next actions such as :-
• What is my next task?
• Who do I need to get in touch with?
• Where do I need to be for an appointment?
• When is that deliverable due?
However the idea of time management doesn’t seem to work for me, and I’m just not getting things done”
If you are in the same scenario we suggest you look at the things you need to STOP doing and not the things you are doing!
Being unprepared:
Set up an hour in the week to have a weekly review and get in control of your workload for the week ahead, chase up people for information you are waiting on and look at your upcoming events in your calendar.
Use your journey time to and from work to plan your day ahead so you know exactly what needs to be done on that day before you get into the office and stick to it!
Loosing concentration:
Going through albums of your best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s mother’s new litter of kitten on Facebook can be an “aww” moment you want to share with the world but how will it help you get further on your next action?
Ban yourself from using social media when working on a task.
Checking emails every 2 minutes:
When working on an important task the last thing you want is a pop up in the corner of you screen appearing telling you so and so has sent you a new email.
This is a lose lose situation if you check the email your taking time away from the task in hand and if you don’t check it you add a sense of pressure as you know you have new emails in your inbox which need your attention.
Turn off your email notifications!
Give yourself 10 minutes or so every hour to check and sort out your email and then get back to your next action.
Attending meetings you could have skipped:
Ever been in a meeting thinking why am I here I could be getting on with my work right now?
Make sure the meetings you are attending have an agenda, ask why the meeting is being held and if you are really needed. Make sure the meeting has a start and end time so you know how long you will be away from your next action. Finally end the meeting with actionable items and due dates so you don’t have to go over what was said in the meeting.
If you still feel unsure about where you are going wrong Think Productive UK have in-house and public time management training workshops around the UK.
The workshops will help you understand the systems better and help you implement them so you know how to use them. Find out more here