Managing time can be a constant battle, especially if you are someone who does repetitive tasks and is easily bored, or discouraged to do your everyday work. This continuous struggle can be present in any person’s daily life. Whether it be an adolescent teen that has to do their chores, or a business man about to conduct a meeting of some sort, it is a constant battle throughout every person’s life. You may be asking yourself, what could be done to keep up with the everyday things life has to offer? The answer is to practice some of these time management skills and to regularly incorporate them into your daily routine to effectively get your work done as effecient as possible, time wise.
1) Get on top of things of things that get on top of you
What I mean by “get on top of things that get on top of you,” is that every now and then, an individual may feel lazy and put the thing that has to be done off, until later. This is a common habit many people resort to without realizing it, and truth is, it is a very bad habit. Realizing this type of behavior and shielding it from effecting your everyday routine at work and at home, can save yourself from getting any unwanted attention.
Personally, I have found that when putting things off, my mind is never at ease and is always thinking about what I should be doing. But when I am on top of the things I have to do, I am at ease with a positive outlook of whats to come. Overall, this is a healthy habit to adapt into your life and daily routine. Moreover, it is better for your health, work skills, availability, and more.
2) Have a routine or a schedule that you can follow day by day
Although this is generally overrated and suggested the most, having a routine or schedule that you can follow day by day can drastically reduce the amount of time it would usually take to finish a certain task or a series of tasks. If you didn’t know, people involved in office work often follow a certain routine and it is for a number of reasons. To improve healthy work habits, organization, time consumption, and more. Nowadays, you also see almost all industries incorporate this time of behavior, even fast food.
3) Simplify tasks to be less time consuming as possible
You may be asking yourself, what I do mean by “simplifying tasks to be as less time consuming as possible?” If you browse the web by clicking on the start button then scrolling over the Internet Explorer icon to open it up rather than make a short cut of the web browser on your desktop, that should be something you can do to simplify the amount of time it takes from your day. Tiny things like these add up and can really give you extra time to spend with your family, friends, or time for you to rejuvenate from the hardships of life that you have to face day after day. Whenever doing something that is repetitious, this is a tip that you must incorporate.
4) Find out where you’re wasting time.
If you have a certain habit that gets in the way of you finishing your tasks, it is best to avoid these types of habits that can be burdensome. Whether it be the traditional conversions you may have with your coworkers, or pet peeves that may get in the way of you dong your work, these are all things you should try and eliminate. No matter how big or small it may be, it only does harm, time wise.
An example would be a teenager trying to do their homework while watching television. Although the teenager may argue that he can multi-task, fact is that the brain cannot fully absorb information from both sources at the same time – no matter how fast a teenager looks up and down. In this scenario, you would want to eliminate the teenager’s habit of watching T.V. Realizing what is wasting your time and then eliminating it, is a sure-fire way to reducing the amount of time it takes to finish a certain task.
5) Create Small Goals
Create incentives by creating small goals that you look forward to reaching. This positive thinking can overall help improve and help motivate you to perform better at work, or at home. There are simply no down sides to this type of thinking. Except perhaps, you creating too big of a goal that you begin to become discouraged. Follow a pace that you can follow and slowly build up to more bigger goals, is to key to creating effective goals.
6) Prioritize what is more important
Another healthy behavior is to prioritize which activities is more important and have them on the top of your to-do list. Having the crucial activities that are required to be done first, is a great habit as it will teach you to better manage your time – especially for those individuals who have a really tight schedule that is constantly overlapping. Knowing and deciding which task is more important on the spot, is a very great skill to have. Prioritizing what events are more important will help practice for that hectic type of scenerio.
7) Learn to delegate or to outsource
If you are an owner of a business and is constantly hassled with loads of tasks that has to be done everyday, it may be wise to learn to delegate or to outsource the tasks. Fact is, it is extremely more comfortable and stable if all the work wasn’t reliant on a single person managing a business. Although you may say you are a hard worker and you are able to maintain a business everyday, can you really? Think about it. There are 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, and 365 days in a year. Now answer me and say you can handle everything by yourself as a sole business owner.
For many beginning business owners, trying to hire responsible people may sound at first, scary, unreasonable, and a bit risky for their business. However, many have found that hiring people has greatly improved their business and created many positive benefits for the business owner. An example would be that the business owner now has more time to be able to pin-point reasons for their profit margins, and think about how he/she can better improve their business’s model and infrastructure. A sole business owner doesn’t have that luxury.
Now you may argue that the business owner is losing money because he has to pay his employees. Well, chances are if you are unable to maintain the business by yourself, you should have a sufficient amount to maintain a reasonable size work force. The main question here is, is it really worth it? I won’t get into the details, but in the long run, hiring delegates or outsourcing the work is worthwhile because it is more stable, and creates an overall positive outlook of the business and for those managing it
If you answered yes and is confined to a business that requires your assistance almost 24 hours a day to make a profit, I’d be more worried about your health.
8) Use time management tools
Using time management tools can be a great time saver, especially if you are involved in data entry positions. Having softwares like Excel or any tools in general at hand that can save you minutes or even hours of your time, can be a tremendous time saver.
A fun activity I would like to do is to calculate how much time I save after a weeks or a months period. Try it, usually you will get shocking results.
9) Time yourself
Being aware how much time it takes you to complete a task and challenging yourself to be as quick as possible, can be a great way to improve your work skills. Being both quick and precise are valuable skills for any sort of job.
10) Be organized
Last but not least, be organized. It is a prized quality that every boss want their employees to have. The ability to know where everything is placed, is not only a tremendous time saver, it is both professional and in someway shows how much you value a certain job. It is sort of like body language, but in another form. Being organized have no negative downsides to it so taking the extra time to organize your belongings and your work station, can be worthwhile as it shows respect to your boss and that you take this job seriously.