Managing Time During Busy Workdays
Time management is a popular category in many book stores where authors have contributed thoughts and ideas to improving productivity, especially in the workplace. Although this idea has been around for quite some time, there continues to be a significant demand. One reason is the lack of effective time management skills in today’s work environment. There are a number of tips that successful time managers have mentioned as helpful to someone interested in improving productivity.
One of the biggest time wasters of today is email. This can be an effective form of communication if managed correctly. First, block out relatively short periods of time during the day to read email. Avoid the trap of reading them as soon as they pop up in the inbox. Coworkers know how to reach you if it is an emergency. Second, learn to take immediate action for each email. Don’t get in the habit of scrolling up and down, reading and re-reading them. Schedule that meeting, reply succinctly, or generate a task to work on later. Finally, don’t reply more than twice to the same topic. Improve efficiency by calling the person to resolve complicated issues.
Those who claim they are good at multi tasking may not fully understand how inefficient it is. Numerous reports have confirmed that although multi tasking makes you faster, you actually accomplish less. Some of the world’s leading CEO’s have trained themselves to work on one thing at a time before moving on to the next seemingly urgent task.
Watch an organized person and witness what they do at the beginning of each day. What you will see is a 15-30 minute review and prioritization of the day’s tasks. These few minutes each day can save you many precious hours. People effective at managing time can accomplish more in a day using a task list than someone who just goes with the flow. Why? Because they minimize disruptions knowing what little time they have to complete the tasks.
Interruptions can rob you of your time and prevent you from accomplishing the tasks you planned for the day. Be realistic and know that you will have them. Therefore, plan contingency time in your day to “catch up” on tasks that may have been delayed. Analyze disruptions to verify if they are valid or not. For the repeat offenders, speak with them politely but assertively about how and when they can address issues with you. Finally, get your phone to work for you and not against you. Use voice mail more effectively to avoid times when you are focusing on completing a task. Implementing these tips all at once can be overwhelming. Keep it simple and work on one at a time. Incremental improvements to your productivity is better than good intentions, which can lead to the same old results.
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