Here are six time management tips that will increase your productivity two or threefold. One major factor in time management is self-discipline and one’s ability to enforce it. A time management plan must be adhered to, and the initiative must be taken to accomplish given tasks.
1. Be wary of multi-tasking.
Contrary to popular belief, a number studies have shown that multi-tasking may actually have detrimental effect on a worker’s output. If a person is concentrating on multi-tasking and if he is suddenly asked to attend to something else, it takes him almost twenty minutes to regain his rhythm and get back to his original task which he had left unfinished, thereby losing precious twenty minutes in the process.
The general misconception is that if a person attends to varieties of tasks at a time, efficiency improves and takes care of the monotony aspect too. Whatever be the belief, the truth remains that the human brain is not designed to attune itself to multifarious tasks simultaneously. The concentration level suffers by trying to navigate between various works, on account of lack of coordination between mental and physical performances, and this may reflect on the output adversely.
2. Plan ahead.
This comes back to Time Management. People simply must plan when they have a lot to do. Plans such as to-do lists have to be put in place. Avoiding procrastination and sticking to a list will help keep things on track and moving forward. A person does need to understand a need for flexibility at times as well. Other ways to plan well are confirming appointments, prioritising, and effective delegation.
3. Uncomplicated schedule making.
While easy, it is vital for people to devise schedules that suit their individual biorhythms. For some, careful study is ideally done early in the day, so these individuals should avoid planning this type of work for evening hours. Invest the time to evaluate what suits your individual talents and tastes, and devise a schedule accordingly.
Parcel out your time in 50 to 100-minute increments dedicated to specific tasks. Make sure to schedule in 10 to 20-minute breaks between work times. Schedule tasks that require lots of focus for times when you won’t be interrupted. When working on one task do not let yourself be distracted by anything else you have to do.
4. Become a master of the 8-20 rule.
Also known as the Pareto Principle, this rule means that roughly 20% of anything you do will generate roughly 80% of your achieved results. The main idea is that a lot of things in our lives, like efforts and rewards, are not distributed evenly. Some of them contribute less or more than some other things. What one must bear in mind is that it might actually be a fact that roughly 80% of a bridge built was built in just 20% of the time, but it still needs the entire bridge in order to work properly. This observation requires a person to keep in mind the potential for putting too much effort into too little return on that investment.
5. Break tasks and activities up into smaller tasks.
It is much easier to take the time to analyze any job and spate out the work that needs to be done than to try taking it all on at once.
6. Make meetings work for you.
Try to only attend a few key meetings. When you do attend a meeting, make sure it does not last longer than an hour. If a meeting is extending beyond one hour, you can excuse yourself and leave, but try to do it in a non-offensive way. There is nothing worse than a meeting that wanders off the set agenda so try to remind people to stick to the prepared discussion items.
Paul is a trainer, facilitator and coach with Priority Management; a Global leader in time and workload management training. He specialises in utilising tools like Outlook to achieve better results in terms of productivity for individuals, teams and organisations.
