You’re struggling to meet deadlines at work. How can you get your time management skills on track?

Time management problems often have several root causes. I find that time management suffers more and more as an employee consistently demonstrates strong performance. The better they are, the more they are trusted with additional responsibilities. This is a major oversight on behalf of the manager. I've coached my team to ask specific questions when being given new projects, starting with when is it due and what is the overall priority. If they have a competing priority, I recommend they tell the requester that a prioritization meeting may be needed with the impacted stakeholders to establish an overall stack rank order.

1. Figure out how you're currently spending your time. 2. Create a daily schedule—and stick with it. 3. Prioritize wisely. 4. Group similar tasks together. 5. Avoid the urge to multitask. 6. Assign time limits to tasks. 7. Build in buffers

Use one "bucket" to capture all your tasks. Whatever you choose - make sure all tasks go in there. If you have tasks divided between notes, email, calender etc. things can get lost very quickly.

To improve time management skills for an employee struggling with deadlines, HR can offer resources such as time management workshops or coaching sessions. Encouraging the use of tools like task prioritization, setting realistic goals, and establishing effective scheduling techniques can aid in better time allocation. Additionally, fostering an open dialogue to identify any underlying issues affecting productivity and providing support or accommodations when necessary can contribute to overall performance improvement.

When facing challenges with meeting deadlines, I turn to the RPM method, a powerful strategy I learned from Tony Robbins. As Robbins wisely said, 'Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.' RPM—Results, Purpose, Massive Action Plan—provides a structured approach to prioritize tasks, align actions with goals, and take decisive steps toward success. By applying this method, I not only overcome obstacles but also demonstrate my expertise in effective time management and goal achievement.

SMART goals are a good place to start because if your goals are vague or unspecific, you won't know where to start. So, using the SMART goals framework, you can ensure your goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. If they meet these criteria, working on them will be a lot easier, and it will be easier to see progress, therefore guiding your efforts and boosting your motivation.

Unlock the power of an effective strategy to transform your life today. - Visualize the top three goals that will make a significant impact on your life. - Create a list of the necessary actions and steps for each goal. - Set up a weekly system to measure your actions and stay accountable. - Identify the distractions that derail you and create a tighter plan to control your time. - Use the Pomodoro Technique to enhance productivity by working in focused 25-minute intervals with 5-minute breaks in between.

It's always good to prioritise your tasks: which one needs urgent attention? It also helps to ask how soon something may be needed; for all you know, it may not be as urgent as you deemed it to be. Lastly, do not hesitate to ask for help.

I prioritise all my tasks along 2 axis: Urgency and Importance. Urgent and important tasks get done first. I share this with my line manager so they are aware of my priorities and have the chance to over-rule me as required. I review this at the end of the day.

The third step to improving your time management skills is to prioritize your tasks. Prioritizing helps you decide what tasks are urgent and important, and what tasks are not. You can use a matrix, a list, or a tool to rank your tasks based on their impact and urgency. Then, you can focus on the most critical tasks first, and delegate, postpone, or eliminate the less important ones. This will help you avoid distractions, stress, and procrastination.

Prioritizing tasks is key for performance. One good framework to use is the Action Priority Matrix. The matrix has four quadrants: Urgent and Important: Address immediately. Important, Not Urgent: Schedule carefully. Urgent, Not Important: Minimize or delegate. Not Urgent, Not Important: Avoid or eliminate. Sorting tasks into these groups helps people organize their work better. They can focus on things that need immediate attention and are important, while also making time for important tasks that aren't urgent yet, to avoid rushing later. There are several software that allow you to use this Priority Matrix in a more gamified way. I like Ultidash (it's a Chrome extension).

Set priority and execute the task one by one after understanding the situation is the key here, finding the gap and loop holes, Do the root cause analysis, and move ahead by providing necessary support and wisdom.

For your most important tasks - schedule these in your diary as meetings with yourself. Blank diaries get filled with meetings to the deteriment of your tasks. Schedule enough time to complete your tasks.

For workload planning, two things are very important - Planning - Timing Out of 8 working hours, you need to identify those tasks which are time bound. For eg. Tasks related to a product launch has to be prioritized. After analysing those tasks, one must see how much time consuming it is. Is there a way you can get it done sooner by taking help of the right person? For eg. If there is a task related to data analysis, someone who is pro in excel might come handy. In the world of digital, there are alpt of AI tools which can come handy.

Planning your day and week is the key to meeting deadlines. Start your day with the task that needs least amount of time to be completed. Following with the important tasks to be completed and spend the rest of the day on any other task that should be done.

Focus on your most important and urgent task. Turn off your email and all pop-ups/distractions. Focus on it and do not start anything else until it is complete. Then report that it is done (remember a task is not complete until you've told someone you've done it). Then move onto the next.

Remember we like novelty. If you're using timers to focus your attention (because that is what we should focus on instead of time) then switch up tasks. You could spend 30 minutes on admin, sorting emails and then 30 minutes on a report. Doing different tasks types helps you have some novelty. If you get into a 'flow' state, that's different as,that's when you're doing deep work.

Keep some quiet time. You cannot rush and keep working from one project or thing to another without a break. Everyday block some quiet time and a day to rejuvenate after very hectic project deliveries. This will improve on your velocity of work and decision making.