Managing your time wisely can be empowering as it gives you a sense of great control and with a sense of control comes increased productivity – and a decrease of pressure and anxiety.
These time management tips will help to reduce workplace stress and help you become more organised and ease that feeling of overwhelming work load.
1. Clear your mind
The mornings are for fresh starts and having a 101 things on your mind is not a good way to start the day. If you struggle with getting things off your mind we suggest using a technique called “Morning Pages” I came across this technique reading a book called “The Artists Way” by Julia Cameron.
It works like this: take 3 pages of A4 paper and a pen. It’s early in the morning. You’ve poured your coffee. Sit down with the pen and paper and write. Write whatever comes to mind. Don’t stop writing until you have filled 3 sides of A4. That’s it.
This technique allows your mind the time to blurt out all the gunk and release it – all the worries or anger, ideas or excitement that might otherwise preoccupy you all day are gone, and you feel much more focused.
More info on this technique can be found here
2. Keep personal and professional separated
A lot of us use calendars of some sort in the office to schedule meetings and projects but we hardly use this process to manage our time out of the office. Block in some home time and social time in your calendars just like you would your work time.
Get in the habit of NOT checking your emails when in your “home block” or “social block”, it’s incredibly frustrating to have a conversation with someone as they check their emails every five minutes, turn it off, emails can wait until your next ‘work block’.
Personal problems can affect your professional life which can lead to depression, check out more tips on how to ease depression with time management here
3. Say NO to distractions
A lot of people’s time management system fails because of distractions. We all love a little noisy around on Facebook to keep up to date with what your friends are up to, but how will this help you towards your task in hand? Ban yourself from using social media at work.
Realising that the phone is there for YOUR convenience and not the callers is also a great tip. If you in the middle of an important task divert the call to answer phone, you can follow up the call once you’ve finished the task.
More reasons why time management systems fail can be found here