SMART WAY OF PLANNING AND PRIORTIZING

SMART WAY OF PLANNING AND PRIORTIZING

Leverage Your Organizational Skills

Your ability to improve your organizational skills and prioritize tasks is a measure of your overall competence. The better the plan you have, even if as simple as creating a to-do list, the easier it is for you to overcome procrastination and get started, to eat that frog and keep going.

One of your top goals at work should be for you to prioritize tasks by using your organizational skills to get the highest possible return on your investment of mental, emotional and physical energy.

Note: If you don’t already use them, I suggest you take a few minutes to read my post about how to set and achieve SMART goals.

The good news is that every minute spent planning saves as many as ten minutes in execution.

It only takes about ten or twelve minutes for you to prioritize tasks by planning out your day and create a to-do list. This small investment of time will save you at least two hours (100-120 minutes) in wasted time and diffused effort throughout the day.

Create Your To-Do List

Put your organizational skills to work and prioritize tasks by always working from a list. When something new comes up, add it to the list before you do it. By knowing how to prioritize tasks, you can increase your productivity and output by 25% or more from the first day that you begin working consistently from a list.

Having such a system in place will make it much easier to achieve everything you desire – especially longterm goals, such as writing a book.

Improve your organizational skills and make out your to-do list the night before, at the end of the workday. Move everything that you have not yet accomplished onto your to-do list for the coming day and then add everything that you have to do the next day.

When you make out your to-do list the evening or the night before, your subconscious mind works on the list all night long while you sleep.

Time Management Tools

Often you will wake up with great ideas and insights that you can prioritize tasks and use to get your job done faster and better than you had initially thought.

The more time you take to make written lists of everything you have to do, in advance, the more effective and efficient you will be.

This time management analysis is the same tool I’ve used to consult with thousands of people over the last 30 years, and now it’s my gift to you

Your 4 Master Lists

There are four different lists that you need to create for different purposes to enhance your organizational skills and manage your time.

1) First, you should create a master list on which you write down everything you can think of that you want to do some time in the future. This is the place where you capture every idea that comes to or every new task or responsibility that comes up. You can then prioritize tasks later.

2) Second, you should have a monthly list that you make up at the end of the month for the month ahead. This may contain items transferred from your master list.

3) Third, you should have a weekly list where you plan your entire week in advance. This is a list that is under construction as you go through the current week.

4) Finally, you transfer items from your monthly and weekly lists onto your daily list.

These are the specific activities that you are going to accomplish that day. As you work through the day, tick off the items on your to-do list as you complete them. This activity gives you a visual picture of accomplishment and improves your organizational skills. It generates a feeling of success and forward motion.

Prioritize Tasks For Ultimate Efficiency

When you have a project of any kind, begin using your organizational skills by making a to-do list of every step that you will have to complete to finish the project from beginning to end. Prioritize tasks by organizing the project by priority and sequence.

Lay it out in front of you on paper or on a computer so that you can see it. Then go to work on one task at a time. You will be amazed at how much you get done in this way.

Remember that the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 Rule, says that 20% of your effort tends to produce 80% of your results, so prioritizing efficiently is a must.

As you work through your lists, you will feel more and more effective and powerful. You will feel more in control of your life. You will be naturally motivated to do even more. You will think better and more creatively and you will get more and better insights that enable you to do your work even faster.

Master Your Time

When you use organizational skills to prioritize tasks and plan each day in advance with a simple to-do list, your day will go by faster and smoother than ever before. You feel more powerful and competent. You eventually become unstoppable. Thank you for taking the time to read this blog and you enjoyed it, please share and leave a comment.

Develop practical guide to effective self and time management

8 TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT

Time is precious, particularly when it comes to running a small business. Yet there are never more than 24 hours in a day. Some entrepreneurs respond to this fact of life with focus and purpose. Others freak out.

Are you in the latter group? You don’t have to be. With the right approach, you can work efficiently, productively, and relatively stress-free.

Here are eight tips for effectively managing your time:

1. Know your goals.

Make sure you’re engaging in activities that support your business goals, both short- and long-term. Everything else is a potential time-waster. Your daily plan should revolve around working on tasks and activities that directly relate to generating income and growing your business.

2. Prioritize wisely.

Stephen Covey, co-author of First Things First, offers an organizational tool for your to-do list based on how important and urgent tasks are.

Looking at what goes into making up your day, where do your activities fit into these categories?

· Important and urgent — Tasks that must be done. Do them right away.

· Important but not urgent — Tasks that appear important, but upon closer examination aren’t. Decide when to do them.

· Urgent but not important — Tasks that make the most “noise,” but when accomplished, have little or no lasting value. Delegate these if possible.

· Not urgent and not important — Low-priority stuff that offer the illusion of “being busy.” Do them later.

Write down your three or four “important and urgent” tasks that must be addressed today. As you complete each one, check it off your list. This will provide you with a sense of accomplishment and can motivate you to tackle less essential items.

3. Just say no.

You’re the boss. If you have to decline a request in order to attend to what’s truly important and urgent, do not hesitate to do so. The same goes for any projects or activities that you’ve determined are headed nowhere: Be prepared to move on to more productive tasks. Learn from the experience to avoid wasting time later on.

4. Plan ahead.

One of the worst things you can do is jump into the workday with no clear idea about what needs to get done. The time you spend thinking ahead and planning your activities is trivial compared with the time you’ll lose jumping from one thing to the next (and rarely completing anything). Depending on your personality, try one of these options:

· The night before — At the end of the day, take 15 minutes to clear your desk and put together a list of the next day’s most pressing tasks. It’s a great decompression technique, and you’ll feel better sitting down at a clean desk in the morning.

· First thing in the morning — Arrive a few minutes early and assemble your prioritized to-do list (see #2). This may prove to be the most productive part of your day.

5. Eliminate distractions.

Start paying attention to the number of times someone interrupts you when you’re in the midst of an important task. Track self-induced interruptions, too, particularly those of the social media variety. Your smartphone is extremely useful, but it’s also addictive and among the most insidious time-wasters known to mankind.

It may take a massive exercise in will power, but shut the door and turn off your phone to maximize your time. Instead of being “always on,” plan a break in the day to catch up on email, call people back, talk with staff, etc.

6. Delegate more often.

If you’ve done a good job of hiring talented, dedicated employees, there’s always more work they can take off your desk. Running a successful small business depends upon the owner’s ability to think about what lies ahead and not get mired in day-to-day operations. Look for opportunities to pass responsibility for specific tasks to others on your team.

7. Watch what you spend

How many productive minutes are you packing in each week? Use this simple timesheet trackerto quickly and easily clock in and out of various tasks or projects throughout the day. Switch jobs or tasks with just one click using the TSheets mobile app, or track time directly from your desktop. Then generate robust, real-time reports to see exactly where you’re spending your most valuable asset — and where it’s being wasted.

8. Take care of yourself.

Be sure to get plenty of sleep and exercise. An alert mind is a high-functioning mind and one that’s less tolerant of time-wasting activities.

5 Ways To Encourage Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is the level of commitment, passion, and loyalty a worker has toward their work and company. The more engaged an employee is, the more work they’ll put forth.

Only 32% of employees in the United States are engaged, according to a Gallup poll. That means over two-thirds of employees nationwide are disengaged with their work.

Picture two employees: One comes into work 10 minutes early each day, is excited to be there, and constantly comes up with and shares ideas for improving operations. The other employee gets to work on time every day, does the bare minimum, and counts the time until they can leave. Which employee is highly engaged?

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT ETIQUETTE

For a business owner, the answer is simple. You want hard-working employees who are actively engaged with the work they do. You can create a culture of organizational engagement by doing the following.

1. Don’t Skip Onboarding And Training

If an employee doesn’t have a handle on their responsibilities, they won’t be engaged. Instead, they’ll be confused, frustrated, and rushed to catch up, which leads to disengagement.

Employees who can master their workload have a better shot at taking pride in what they do. Workers who are eager to meet their goals are engaged with the company. Onboarding and training new hires are some of the most important steps you can take to ensure employees are engaged at work. One SHRM survey reported that one-third of new hires left their jobs after only six months. You have less than six months to get employees engaged with their position.

With a successful onboarding and training program, employees will learn how to effectively do their job. This is the time they can engage with you and ask questions, offer ideas, and voice concerns.

For most employees, onboarding and training is also the time when they bond with co-workers and develop a connection to the company. Studies have shown that the more friends employees have at work, the more engaged they are. One study found that only 28% of employees with no work friends were engaged, versus 69% with 25 or more friends. Onboarding encourages relationships among employees.

2. Set Company Goals

To run a successful business, you need a business plan with a list of goals you want to accomplish. To engage employees, you need to involve them in reaching business goals.

You should set annual, semi-annual, quarterly, and monthly goals so employees have something to work toward. Reaching goals is something that encourages employee engagement.

Employees want to know how their position fits in with the other positions in the company. And, they want to learn how their work affects your business as a whole. You can set general company goals as well as goals within each department. That way, each employee knows how their work is impacting the departmental and overall success of your business.

3. Acknowledge Employees

Employees don’t automatically become engaged when you give them more praise, thanks, or any other type of acknowledgment. But, employees can quickly become disengaged if they feel like they’re invisible.

Engaged employees have a sense of comfortability and camaraderie with your business. Again, it’s important for employees to know their co-workers and develop friendships with them. But it’s also important to develop a relationship of respect and friendship between employer and employee.

When I say acknowledge employees, I don’t mean give them praise for every little thing they do. I’m talking about things like saying “Hello,” “Have a good night,” or “Thank you.” And when the employee puts in extra effort, acknowledge them.

Your employee engagement management should emphasize acknowledging employees for their hard work. According to Gallup, employees who aren’t recognized are twice as likely to quit.

At Patriot Software, we have TVs that broadcast accomplishments, anniversaries, birthdays, and more. We also acknowledge employees in our monthly newsletter.

4. Focus On Employee Development

There are many reasons job seekers apply for and accept a position, like salary and benefits. But, many workers also want the opportunity to grow their career. One Gallup poll found that 87% of millennials (and 69% of non-millennials) view development as important in their jobs.

Employees want to develop their skills and continue challenging themselves. They don’t want to do monotonous tasks that require minimal effort. Engaged employees constantly use their mind and enhance their skills.

You can focus on employee development in a few different ways. You might add new duties to the employee’s position to prevent boredom, allow room for growth in the position, or offer a job rotation program so employees do different tasks every so often.

Another way you can emphasize employee development is by offering educational assistance. This is a great perk that lets employees further their education. It shows employees that you value their career growth, and it also allows you to add new skills to your business.

5. Don’t Micromanage

If employees are told exactly what to do and how to do it, they won’t have the time or motivation to engage with the work. They’ll be more like robots. Employees can’t be engaged if they don’t have freedom in how to do their jobs.

Micromanaging can be damaging to your business. One business found that micromanaging resulted in 68% of employees saying their morale was dampened and 55% saying it led to a decrease in productivity. Lost morale and productivity leads to actively disengaged workers.

I don’t like micromanaging at Patriot Software, and my managers don’t like it, either. We encourage employees to work on their own, come up with their own ideas, and bring those ideas to the table. If we are watching over their shoulder every step of the way, employees wouldn’t have the freedom to develop their own ways to problem solve and engage with the work.

Instead of micromanaging, I let each employee make decisions about how to accomplish their work. This leads to higher levels of engagement. And, employees know they can reach out to their managers (or me) if they ever have any questions.

Start by looking at the big picture. Leave the details up to your employees, and you’ll end up with workers happy to put their own methods and ideas into action.