Here are the results of an UNSCIENTIFIC survey of how effective people manage their time.
- Plan for tomorrow today. Near the end of the day, make a list of what you have to do tomorrow – hard things first.
- Delegate your tasks. That seems fine except for those to whom there is no one to delegate to!!
- Prioritize. Put the most important things first on the list and get to work.
- Exercise. During the day, take a break or two and get some exercise – even if it is just walking around the block.
- Block out some time. Block out from one hour to two hours during which you will not do anything but work on cleaning up your “to do list.”
- Don’t “multitask” all the time. Block out a couple of hours where you can concentrate on doing one thing at a time.
- Keep your desk CLEAN! It’s remarkable how easy it is to get things done with a clean desk!
- Plan phone calls in advance. Make a list of the phone calls you have to make and make them in order.
- Toss out the nonsense. Some of the tasks you have created for yourself just plain don’t have to be done – so toss them out.
- Avoid distractions. Position your desk so you won’t be able to see everything that is going on around you and be distracted.
Obviously if another survey is done, one might come up with some different tips and perhaps in a different order, but these are pretty sound.
Learn how to manage your time!
You will be more productive, enjoy your job more, and be much more effective.
~ CCJ