It's the end of the workday and you're exhausted. It was another busy day as evidenced by your disheveled desk and overflowing inbox, but you can't help feeling like you didn't really accomplish that much. As you reflect on the events of the day, you realize that you had three meetings, two of which were a total waste of your time and you spent a good part of the afternoon putting out fires. As a result, you barely had any time to work to work on the project that is due to your boss tomorrow. Looks like your in for another late night at the office.
There is a reason that time management continues to be a topic of interest in the business world. It is one of our most precious resources so we are constantly trying to get more of it and to figure out how to best leverage the bits of it that we get. Yet, the race against the clock continues leaving productivity and efficiency in it's wake.
So, what do you do? How does make the most of his or her time? Here are some tips:
Eat That Frog
In Brian Tracy's well known book of procrastination antidotes "Eat That Frog" he discusses the power behind consuming your frog early and often. Did you ever have something on your to do list that you really didn't want to do? That's your "frog." Making sales cold calls, writing an article for a company newsletter or working on your LinkedIn profile are all examples of things that many of us simply don't enjoy doing and so we create reasons why we cannot tackle those tasks. We think to ourselves, I will make the calls when I catch up on my emails. Of course it rarely works out that way. We become busy with some other task while those calls move further and further down the priority list. The further down the list, the greater the feeling of dread we have in taking care of it. According to Tracy, the best thing to do is take the task you least enjoy and start the day by working on or completing that task. Not only do you accomplish something, but the feeling that goes along with taking care of something that is not that interesting to you, energizes you and sets up the rest of the day for success.
Make Lists
The to do list has been around for...well, forever. It's one of the simplest and most effective ways to keep yourself on track with the myriad of things that you must do every day. That is of course if you use the list effectively. If there are 9 things on the to do list it's important to prioritize them and tackle them accordingly (don't forget to Eat That Frog!) Many of us, including yours truly, have fallen into the false satisfaction of crossing things off the list. In other words, if there are 9 things on the list and I accomplish 7 of them in a day but I don't take care of the 2 most time sensitive and important items then I haven't really done myself any favors or saved any time. I like to create a master list that I continuously add to and then transfer select items on the list to my daily to do list. This keeps me from feeling overwhelmed but it also keeps me on track. Find a system that works for you and stick to it. There are great apps and tools to help with this too! Check out Evernote and Errands for great list making tools.
The Secret
The to do list is never complete. There will never be enough hours in the day to complete every single item on your list (which is why it's important to prioritize.) This is the nature of to do lists-they are on going. Keep this in mind and stay focused. It will help you feel less frazzled when something unexpected comes up that demands your attention.
More time management tips to come! As always, please share your insights and suggestions!
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