Yesterday addressed some basic time management techniques, and today we’ll continue along those same lines. It truly is cliche, but nothing is more important than your time. (OK, maybe oxygen…I would rather have oxygen than time) We aren’t always in tune with the things we are doing that can truly be time wasters. So without further ado…time management tips take two.
We all need priorities
No matter what your job is, you better have a good idea as to what’s important, what’s urgent, what can be moved to the bottom of the pile and what can be tossed into that rectangular filing cabinet called trash!
Not having proper priorities in life and at work is a major time-killer as you waste your time doing things which are completely unimportant. Take five minutes in the morning to review your calendar schedule and see what are the most important tasks and meetings for that day, and then make sure they move to the top of the priority list.
There are some excellent task management tool on the market but I would be negligent in my duties if I didn’t mention that both Calendar.AI and Calls.AI both has task management functionalities built right into the calendar and CRM.
Motion to delegate…approved
Sometimes we have a slightly overdeveloped sense of our own self worth and get caught up trying to handle everything ourselves. If you are working with a team this can be a huge time-waster as indeed there is a potential to delegate so many tasks. Aside from showing the team that you trust them and their judgement, it also frees you up for other issues with truly only you can attend too.
So peruse the tasks in front of you and think, “Does this need my specific attention or is there someone else on the team qualified to handle it.”
Want to make an employee feel a little extra special? Set a meeting in your calendar and explain to them how you trust them implicitly and are therefore handing off some additional tasks to be under their responsibility.
Fascination with procrastination
There were so many splendid quotes about procrastination I couldn’t decide which one to use! Another major time killer is procrastination. First it gnaws at our brain as in the back of our minds we know we should be doing something else.
Second of all, a lot of times while we’re procrastinating we’re wasting time doing something entirely useless. We hardly procrastinate putting together a monthly report by updating the content on our website!
If you are the type of person that likes doing things last minute, schedule time in your calendar as last minute as possible for tasks. If you schedule them in your calendar too early you’ll find yourself just wasting the time away.
Reward yourself
Choose an area from any of these time management lists which you feel is most relevant for your to improve it. If that doesn’t work, just schedule time time in your calendar to make it happen! Then set yourself some sort of measurable goal. Did you accomplish your goal? Great, be sure you treat yourself to something fun! Time management doesn’t have to be a chore and can certainly be gamified to add some enjoyment to your day!
No amount of time management techniques will ever give us the time we desire, but we can certainly try and squeeze every last minute of the time that we have.
