My tips to save time at work
9 September 2014
Read by 2564 persons
Between emails flooding in, the phone constantly ringing and meetings following one after another, you're worried you won't be able to finish your files on time. The solution: an optimized work schedule. Here are some tips to avoid being overwhelmed.
Manage your emails
Set aside a specific time slot for your emails. Instead of being disturbed every five minutes by your email alert popping up, only open your inbox when you arrive at the office in the morning, for example.
Take 30 minutes to respond to your emails and then close your inbox.
Then, you will only open it once or twice during the day.
Turn off your phone (yes, really!)
It's difficult to make progress on a file when the phone is ringing non-stop. When you want some peace and quiet, switch to voicemail.
If you don't have voicemail, organize with a colleague: they answer the phone for you in the morning and take notes of your messages, and you do the same for them in the afternoon.
Once you've finished your urgent work, check your messages and call your correspondents back if necessary.
More radical but very effective if the phone is ringing incessantly: pick up only when you have finished dealing with your file/meeting/appointment!
Schedule your breaks
Once again, Christine has arrived in your office, coffee in hand, eager to tell you about the show she watched the night before. The problem is that you have 12 files to finish, a presentation to prepare and a client to meet by tonight.
No question of letting yourself be disturbed by all these chatty colleagues who take your office for a break room.
To have some peace and quiet, ask your colleagues to call you before dropping by, or better yet, to send you an email.
Otherwise, agree with them on a time when you all meet to take your break at the coffee machine.
Plan ahead
Think about making a work schedule to avoid working in a rush as much as possible.
Most of the time, you have a long-term deadline for submitting your files. Instead of tackling it the week before, plan ahead. Six weeks before the deadline, dedicate one to two hours per week to your file. This will avoid nasty surprises at the last minute.
List and prioritize your tasks
In professional jargon, this is called a "to-do list": it's the list of things you have to do. Instead of cluttering your mind, your tasks are written down in black and white.
Note down everything you need to do, from the most urgent and important things to the most trivial details. Prioritize them by highlighting the most important ones, and cross them off as they are completed.
This will help you see more clearly in your work schedule and avoid forgetting things!
Allow time for the unexpected
If you always work in a rush, you have no room in your schedule for an extra file or an unexpected meeting.
Unfortunately, at work, nothing ever goes as planned, and there is often an event that disrupts your plans. And then, it's panic.
Save yourself stress by keeping a time slot in your day dedicated to the everyday unexpected.
Aufeminin.com
Posted on September 9, 2014.
Manage your emails
Set aside a specific time slot for your emails. Instead of being disturbed every five minutes by your email alert popping up, only open your inbox when you arrive at the office in the morning, for example.
Take 30 minutes to respond to your emails and then close your inbox.
Then, you will only open it once or twice during the day.
Turn off your phone (yes, really!)
It's difficult to make progress on a file when the phone is ringing non-stop. When you want some peace and quiet, switch to voicemail.
If you don't have voicemail, organize with a colleague: they answer the phone for you in the morning and take notes of your messages, and you do the same for them in the afternoon.
Once you've finished your urgent work, check your messages and call your correspondents back if necessary.
More radical but very effective if the phone is ringing incessantly: pick up only when you have finished dealing with your file/meeting/appointment!
Schedule your breaks
Once again, Christine has arrived in your office, coffee in hand, eager to tell you about the show she watched the night before. The problem is that you have 12 files to finish, a presentation to prepare and a client to meet by tonight.
No question of letting yourself be disturbed by all these chatty colleagues who take your office for a break room.
To have some peace and quiet, ask your colleagues to call you before dropping by, or better yet, to send you an email.
Otherwise, agree with them on a time when you all meet to take your break at the coffee machine.
Plan ahead
Think about making a work schedule to avoid working in a rush as much as possible.
Most of the time, you have a long-term deadline for submitting your files. Instead of tackling it the week before, plan ahead. Six weeks before the deadline, dedicate one to two hours per week to your file. This will avoid nasty surprises at the last minute.
List and prioritize your tasks
In professional jargon, this is called a "to-do list": it's the list of things you have to do. Instead of cluttering your mind, your tasks are written down in black and white.
Note down everything you need to do, from the most urgent and important things to the most trivial details. Prioritize them by highlighting the most important ones, and cross them off as they are completed.
This will help you see more clearly in your work schedule and avoid forgetting things!
Allow time for the unexpected
If you always work in a rush, you have no room in your schedule for an extra file or an unexpected meeting.
Unfortunately, at work, nothing ever goes as planned, and there is often an event that disrupts your plans. And then, it's panic.
Save yourself stress by keeping a time slot in your day dedicated to the everyday unexpected.
Aufeminin.com
Posted on September 9, 2014.
