Time Management: Our 10 tips.
17 April 2013
Read by 2359 persons
Managing your time is a matter of organization. A few very simple changes in habit are enough to save you precious time, both at work and at home.
1. Make lists and prioritize your tasks
Time management starts with good organization. Learn to make to-do lists. Know how to prioritize those that are urgent and easy to solve. Good time management also means learning to focus: only deal with one subject at a time!
If you work with Outlook, feel free to create a list of tasks to be completed. When one of these tasks has been completed, rather than deleting it, cross it out. It's always rewarding to see your work progressing.
In your diary, use different colors to distinguish the most urgent tasks from the less urgent ones.
In your mailbox, create subfolders: pending, to be processed, processed, urgent, not urgent... These subfolders must reflect your organization. Assign them colors or tracking indicators according to their status. These indicators are very effective, they allow in particular to avoid forgetting to process a task.
2. Listen to yourself
Feel the right time to do things. There are days when you are efficient at making numerous calls, others where you would prefer to avoid contact, draw up reports and tidy up your office...
However, avoid procrastination by constantly postponing tasks you dislike. Alternate those that interest you and those that you dislike.
3. Know how to delegate
Tasks that you consider less important to carry out, easier or less within your skills can be subcontracted. Involve colleagues, interns, friends or family, and trust them!
Delegation helps to empower those around you and to relieve you of tasks that are not necessarily your responsibility.
How to know if a task is your responsibility: ask yourself how it corresponds to your mission imperatives.
4. Be clear and concise
Good communication contributes to better time management. If your orders, instructions and recommendations are clear and understandable, you will gain efficiency.
If you are organizing a meeting, make sure that the agenda is clear, that it is shared by everyone and that all the people involved have been aware of it before it starts.
Start on time and announce the planned end time of the meeting from the start.
5. Get a diary
Don't neglect the usefulness of time management tools or software: diaries, calendars, schedules. They allow you to organize your days, your weeks and are precious memory aids.
Today, with shared or connected diaries (Outlook, Google Calendar...), it is very easy to share appointments, send invitations to your correspondents and do it directly from your mobile phone. This way, there is no more risk of date errors or poorly noted appointments.
6. Learn to know your rhythm to adapt your time management
Listen to your biological rhythm. If you are more efficient in the evening, organize yourself to perform the most difficult tasks at that time. If you think better in the morning, make sure that the time slots devoted to reflection are more numerous than those devoted to more mechanical activities.
7. Don't be afraid to say no
If you feel that it is impossible for you to provide a service, do not hesitate to report it. It is better to be sincere. Nobody is indispensable.
8. Learn to identify time-consuming activities
Knowing how to manage your time means learning to control the distractions that distract you and make you waste time unnecessarily. Think about isolating yourself by turning off your phone or closing your office door.
If you receive a lot of emails throughout the day and these emails overwhelm you by depriving you of time for other activities, then consider "cutting" this flow for 1 or 2 hours. Your mind will then be 100% available for other tasks.
When you return from vacation, keep the first day to check the emails received in your absence. Only organize a meeting or make an appointment the day after your return.
9. Allow yourself breaks
Plan relaxation time in your diary and take it without guilt. Your efficiency and concentration are closely linked to your level of stress and fatigue.
Taking a step back allows you not only to judge what you have done and what remains to be done, but also to give time to reflection.
10. Set realistic goals
Good time management must be realistic. Don't plan to complete a multitude of tasks in record time. Set yourself challenges, but without discouraging yourself.
Completing a task avoids being faced with the feeling of guilt that arises when you haven't completed something. Conversely, finalizing a task provides a certain satisfaction. Also, don't leave things to do aside.
Posted on April 17, 2013.
Pratique.fr
1. Make lists and prioritize your tasks
Time management starts with good organization. Learn to make to-do lists. Know how to prioritize those that are urgent and easy to solve. Good time management also means learning to focus: only deal with one subject at a time!
If you work with Outlook, feel free to create a list of tasks to be completed. When one of these tasks has been completed, rather than deleting it, cross it out. It's always rewarding to see your work progressing.
In your diary, use different colors to distinguish the most urgent tasks from the less urgent ones.
In your mailbox, create subfolders: pending, to be processed, processed, urgent, not urgent... These subfolders must reflect your organization. Assign them colors or tracking indicators according to their status. These indicators are very effective, they allow in particular to avoid forgetting to process a task.
2. Listen to yourself
Feel the right time to do things. There are days when you are efficient at making numerous calls, others where you would prefer to avoid contact, draw up reports and tidy up your office...
However, avoid procrastination by constantly postponing tasks you dislike. Alternate those that interest you and those that you dislike.
3. Know how to delegate
Tasks that you consider less important to carry out, easier or less within your skills can be subcontracted. Involve colleagues, interns, friends or family, and trust them!
Delegation helps to empower those around you and to relieve you of tasks that are not necessarily your responsibility.
How to know if a task is your responsibility: ask yourself how it corresponds to your mission imperatives.
4. Be clear and concise
Good communication contributes to better time management. If your orders, instructions and recommendations are clear and understandable, you will gain efficiency.
If you are organizing a meeting, make sure that the agenda is clear, that it is shared by everyone and that all the people involved have been aware of it before it starts.
Start on time and announce the planned end time of the meeting from the start.
5. Get a diary
Don't neglect the usefulness of time management tools or software: diaries, calendars, schedules. They allow you to organize your days, your weeks and are precious memory aids.
Today, with shared or connected diaries (Outlook, Google Calendar...), it is very easy to share appointments, send invitations to your correspondents and do it directly from your mobile phone. This way, there is no more risk of date errors or poorly noted appointments.
6. Learn to know your rhythm to adapt your time management
Listen to your biological rhythm. If you are more efficient in the evening, organize yourself to perform the most difficult tasks at that time. If you think better in the morning, make sure that the time slots devoted to reflection are more numerous than those devoted to more mechanical activities.
7. Don't be afraid to say no
If you feel that it is impossible for you to provide a service, do not hesitate to report it. It is better to be sincere. Nobody is indispensable.
8. Learn to identify time-consuming activities
Knowing how to manage your time means learning to control the distractions that distract you and make you waste time unnecessarily. Think about isolating yourself by turning off your phone or closing your office door.
If you receive a lot of emails throughout the day and these emails overwhelm you by depriving you of time for other activities, then consider "cutting" this flow for 1 or 2 hours. Your mind will then be 100% available for other tasks.
When you return from vacation, keep the first day to check the emails received in your absence. Only organize a meeting or make an appointment the day after your return.
9. Allow yourself breaks
Plan relaxation time in your diary and take it without guilt. Your efficiency and concentration are closely linked to your level of stress and fatigue.
Taking a step back allows you not only to judge what you have done and what remains to be done, but also to give time to reflection.
10. Set realistic goals
Good time management must be realistic. Don't plan to complete a multitude of tasks in record time. Set yourself challenges, but without discouraging yourself.
Completing a task avoids being faced with the feeling of guilt that arises when you haven't completed something. Conversely, finalizing a task provides a certain satisfaction. Also, don't leave things to do aside.
Posted on April 17, 2013.
Pratique.fr
