Powerful Time Management Strategies for More Productive Work
Kuntal Khanapurkar
Digital Marketing Specialist at Vibe Media Group the premier media company focused on Technology, AI, Data Science and Innovation.
The most essential asset your company should have to help grow?
Many people think about money, which may be close, but it's not the right answer.
Time is the most important resource.
People are hired by the founders so they can devote more time to tasks that are important.?We make use of the latest technology and tools in our work, which means less time is wasted working on manual tasks that are tedious and tedious.
Companies are purchasing time with money in order to grow and keep up with growing consumer demand.
This is why efficient time management is essential.?It's not just beneficial for your business, but it can also help your personal growth in your profession.?Imagine how much you'll learn if you only have one or two hours a day to master a new skill.
However, how do you organize your time and team members to make them more productive at work?
Why Time Management Strategies Matter
The average worker is spending about two hours each day performing non-work-related activities, according to research conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
80percent of the typical workday is spent on jobs that have little or nothing of value to the business.
These figures reveal how much time is lost without even knowing it and you could be in the same situation in your workplace.?There's nothing wrong with having a time of relaxation at work.?If more than a quarter of your working day is devoted to non-productive work, something has to be done before your company's performance begins to decline.
Atlassian's in-depth workplace survey has revealed the amount you're losing due to poor productivity.
Businesses pay employees anywhere from$1200 to$4,100 annually due to the spamming of unneeded emails, and ineffective communication. A staggering $ 37 billion has been spent on meetings that are ineffective!
In today's highly competitive market it is not feasible to waste hundreds of thousands of dollars on unproductive tasks if you are operating with low margins.
Many companies have attempted cost-cutting measures by creating efficiencies in their workforces, but they could have reduced the amount they spent by increasing their employees' time management.
However, it is not only employees who are responsible for this problem.?The stress levels have reached an all-time high as businesses strive to solve problems at lightning-fast paces.
This is why employees are prone to slipping under pressure, especially in the event that they aren't paid according to their work.?This results in the poor performance One of the causes is working too much to keep calm in stressful situations.
What happens when your company is able to handle a decent workload but your productivity isn't as high?
Our brains are terrible at time management.?Nobody is born an expert in managing their time.?It's a matter of practicing it just like other skills and the same is true for your teammates.
The more you apply the principles of time management that you have learned The more efficient your team will be due to repetition.
Below are some tips for managing time. ideas to aid the members of your group:
1.?Know How You Spend Your Time
The most common mistake is spending your working time doing the wrong things.?It's fine to take a break via social media, however, it shouldn't get to the point of being constantly distracted from the daily chores.
Other indicators of inadequate time use are:
Finding little results after a tiring day.
You're not doing what you're supposed which is known as procrastination.
Stressing about future events, instead of focusing on the task at hand.
Talk and talk, but no action.
One solution to this issue is to do an audit that takes place over time.?Consider this as an audit of your tax returns that you can use for the day-to-day activities of your life.
The aim is to figure out what you do every day so that you can cut out unneeded events that hinder you from completing your tasks.?Then, you can use this information to create a unified and efficient work schedule that will improve your performance even more.
A time audit consists of three components:
What are you looking to spend your time? things that are achievable?
How do you spend your time today? indefinitely?
What can you do to adjust your schedule to reach your goals?
Let's say that you wish to master the basics of accounting in order to help you with your new job.?You want to commit between five and six hours per week to courses in online accounting.
When you do a time audit and analyze your time, you realize that only an hour per week is dedicated to studying.?Your schedule is reorganized to be in line with your goals and( hope to) adhere to them.
The first step in time audits is to make tables. Both digital and physical charts function perfectly.
Add the column in your table for each one of your week's days.
You could jot down fewer days, but we recommend an entire week to maximize efficiency.?The table's rows should be set early in the morning( e.g. the time is. 6 a. 5 m.).?Extend your rows in 30minutes increments, until the close of your day.
Here's an example task list to help you understand the audit.
To start tracking your time, mark the columns every thirty minutes, providing a brief and succinct description of the is the specific task you're performing at that moment.
For a week, do this and you'll be able to find time-sinks that are not productive in your schedule and make the needed changes.
Time audits are crucial and should be the initial phase of any time management plan.?Instead of making wild assumptions, you will get a real thorough analysis of the way you manage your time. This serves as a solid base to make other workflow improvements.
2.?Start With a Clear Focus
The world's top athletes share a feature between them.?They possess incredible concentration levels that inspire them to go beyond their comfort zones to reach success.
It is interesting that the most successful business leaders and entrepreneurs have this passion for attaining their goals.
Many studies and research studies have been conducted on the positive impact of prioritizing your work to increase productivity.?In the end, you'll be able to be more productive if you've got an objective in the back of your mind, however it's equally important to set achievable and measurable objectives.
However, setting a goal won't get you there on its own.?It is imperative to act to achieve success.
Do essential and valuable activities in the early morning, when you're having the most energy and concentration.
Many of the people who have made it big( like Sir Richard Branson) swear by this, which is supported by scientific research as well.?You don't need to be up early in order to have your morning routines go smoothly.?Any time between 6 and 10 a. 5 m. is effective so long as you're constant.
Another important aspect of focus is to prioritize the best objectives and tasks.?Make sure you complete tasks which will help you get closer to your goal, even though you don't like them.
It is also important to differentiate between important and urgent tasks.?The most important tasks often lead to objectives that are beneficial to you on both professional and personal levels as long as you are diligent in doing them.
The urgent tasks however typically stem from an individual's goals( For instance. the case of. your customers).?But, you must take action immediately to address urgent issues or face consequences such as losing a project or job, for example.
Tony Robbins has a great method for achieving goal-focused that is known as the rapid method of planning( RPM).?The technique, which stands for Goals, Results, and Massive ActionIt is based on three main questions:
What are you really looking for?
What's your goal?
What's your big action plan?
It's like the time audit that we performed earlier, but using a different method of goals.?The RPM technique is an excellent method to begin taking control of your time and there's nowhere better to learn than from the man who is the source.
3.?Build a Smart Daily Schedule
You are aware of how much time you have to devote in a day, and what your main objectives are.?What can you do to connect these two elements and bring them into harmony?
Make sure you follow a smart daily routine.?A typical schedule isn't enough to yield results.?If this is the case, schools and businesses that still use the waterfall model shouldn't be able to get their staff to be productive.
Your schedule must be more than an outline of timeslots to be efficient.
You might want to consider adding time-blocking to your program similar to Elon Musk.?Time blocking can be a productive method where you organize your day into blocks and create the basis for your day-to-day activities.
The tasks are allocated to each block, with the smallest buffering between blocks.?The practice of time-blocking to a perfect degree isn't easy because you must determine how long each task takes.
It will also boost your efficiency to never- ever-before-seen levels if you keep at the right way and follow through.
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Think about the implications of the planning error when you are planning your tasks.?We're not good at estimating the length of time the task will take.?In reality that, even if completed a task previously, you could be in the wrong place regarding the time required to complete it.
Luckily, we all can learn to do this better as time goes by, and through regular practice in time blocking.
Make use of online scheduling for time blocking because it's simpler to establish them and manage in the future.?Schedules written on paper and pencil take time to create which can be a waste of time.?A majority of providers offer integration with commonly employed business tools, so you'll be even more efficient in your work.
It is possible to ask what makes time blocking work if it confines the tasks to predefined times.
It could be a hindrance to productivity when an assignment doesn't perform as planned.
What happens if a project can take a month or a week to finish?
This is the point at which Parkinson's Law comes into play.
Cyril Northcote Parkinson, a well-known British author, said in the year 1955, that there is no relationship between the quantity of work performed in a firm and the number of employees.?Also, we're wired to be able to follow timelines and not the other way around.
Try to force yourself to complete the task in just 30 minutes.?Then, set yourself four hours to complete the same task.?It is likely that you will need four hours to finish it, even though you are competent in doing it faster.
Time blocking utilizes this to boost productivity, which is why it is so popular among business managers.
4.?Use a To-Do List the Right Way
To-do lists are useful, but as with every other technique for productivity are useless If you're not determined to stick with them.
The reason the majority of lists don't work is that they're:
too long
too vague
It is unclear what should be not clear on what needs to be.
Let's review some tested strategies to get over these challenges and make to-do lists that are highly effective.
The first, and the most important, is to simplify tasks.
What is simpler to accomplish, finishing an entire book in two hours or reading one chapter per day??The latter is easier to accomplish, which makes it more likely for you to not overlook it.?Every little action adds to larger ones, which is the reason why you need to break down your work into smaller tasks that lead to completeness.
Be realistic when making your schedule.?Break down major tasks into small chunks( such as the time-blocking example from earlier) and strive for smaller successes to keep your motivation high.
Then, create your to-do list for the following day but not today.?This will give you time to think about how to finish your work, much like a chess player preparing for the next move.
It will also be easier to get started immediately, rather than wasting 15 minutes of your valuable morning energy to plan your day.?FastCompany has an excellent piece on how experts organize their lists of tasks to ensure maximum efficiency.
Be sure to keep the tasks on your list to a minimum and manageable.?If you have too many projects, it takes your attention away from the main thing performing work.?This is called"the Zeigarnik effect, in which your attention is glued to not-completed tasks instead of completed ones.?The more work you are assigned and the more distracted you will become if you aren't able to complete them all on time.
It is also possible to look at dynamic time management if you have trouble staying focused for long durations.?With dynamic time management tasks are assigned for at least the next three or four days.
This helps you stay focused as you are forced to finish the most important tasks in the shortest amount of time without the stress of long to-do lists( See point #3 about Parkinson's Law).
5.?Learn to Delegate
Small-scale business owners and first-time entrepreneurs are often fooled into believing they're Superman.
They do more work and do not employ people in order to cut costs.?At the end of the day, they've reached a point at which nothing is accomplished due to the constant influx of deadlines and emails from clients.
Delegation skills are an essential skill for every business leader.?Sure, you can accomplish some tasks on your own.?But, is it worth your time?
Do you want to invest 10 hours every month closing deals and expanding your business rather than spending that same time on the maintenance of your website?
It is best to spend time on high-value tasks. One of these is the development of team members.?Apply the 30x rule in order to make the most of training for employees.?The rule states that managers should invest "30x the amount of time training someone to do a task than it would take them to do it themselves".
If you only have 10 minutes to complete an assignment, you should take five hours training employees to complete the task.?The time saved each day by not having to perform this task amounts to forty hours of additional time each year.
The benefits you will reap surpass the time spent training if you use the time you have.
6.?Say No to Perfectionism and Procrastination
Procrastination and perfection are linked in various ways.
For instance, an individual who is a perfectionist could be unable to finish a project according to the plan, which causes him to abandon the task completed in the hope of dealing with disappointment.
It's best not to be an idealist if you are unable to overcome failure and completely remove procrastination.
However, procrastination doesn't have to be necessarily a negative thing.?It's okay to allow some buffer time between tasks to have some much-needed time to relax.?It's possible to be a procrastinator and yet accomplish your goals.
Use the 80/20 rule.
The 80/20 rule suggests that 20 percent of your effort makes the eighty percent of your success.?To figure out the 20% you have, write down the tasks that will bring them closer to your objectives.?Pick the task that will have the most impact on your goal and focus your efforts on it.
Stop the habit of completing work at half-time.?If a project takes longer than anticipated Break it down and makes sure you block additional time to finish it at all costs to ensure that you don't drag yourself into an endless loop of unfinished work.?Complete the work you started at all costs.
Combining these strategies with underpromise and overdeliver and you'll be on your way to more efficient time management.
7.?Get Organized And Do One Task At A Time
Contrary to popular belief Multitasking doesn't increase your productivity, even if it feels like you completed quite a bit of work.
Researchers have created a proof of principle that shows that our brains lose as much as 40% of their productivity when we shift tasks.?Driving while texting is a gruesome but true illustration of how multitasking could be a problem if you concentrate on multiple things at the same time.
Remember a time when you were extremely efficient??You were working on multiple items at once??Most likely not.?You probably were focused on a single task and putting all your attention and energy focused on it. And you surely achieved impressive results that justified the effort.
This is why only one task perform.
You've got all the energy and energy to put into it that will lead to more satisfaction and improved performance.?It's not possible to accomplish this with the multitude of high-pressure tasks to complete even if you're able to complete these tasks.
How can you stop multitasking?
Sort your tasks in order of highest to lowest in priority.?You'll want to complete your list one by beginning with the most crucial task.
If you're doing similar tasks like sending out multiple emails to clients during the course of a day, you should group them together and follow a regular timetable to ensure that you do not disrupt your routine.
Try single-tasking for a while and you'll be wondering what you did to spend all that time managing tasks during the previous time.
8.?Stop Interruptions and Time Wasters
Sometimes, the problem with productivity isn't the person you are, but someone close to them.
It could be a coworker who interrupts you every 10 minutes to ask questions which could be answered in a matter of seconds.?It could also become an app that draws into you so that you don't think about work.?Consider your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and the like.
It is impossible to be productive until you stop these interruptions.?Make use of productivity apps that limit the use of your phone after a certain amount to prevent you from checking your phone.
The art of saying no is one of the most effective productivity strategies you can employ at work.?If you feel that a coworker is making you feel uncomfortable do not be afraid to tell them no.
If you're looking to unwind make use of a timer in order to record your breaks.?The Pomodoro method breaks it into 25minutes with short breaks between.?This lets you be productive, while also giving you time to unwind.?After five sessions, take more time to recharge. Then, keep going until the end of your day.
Do not wait for people who do not value your time.?Meetings that start five minutes late aren't a major issue.?When you multiply them over multiple meetings, However, you're dealing with a problem.
If a customer or team member is always late to meetings, you should plan you make a list of them to ensure you don't miss a meeting.?Being punctual is essential to productivity, and you must be able to communicate this to those who are around you, too.
Start Managing Your Time Today
You are in control and have the strategies to change your approach to time management.
The above tips will bring you and your team there, but none of them will be effective if you do not take action.?Make the decision to alter your behavior and lead your business towards greater productivity and time management, one step at a time.
There's never a better time to start than right now.