Time Management - 5 tips and tricks

Productivity is measured by results; however, if something always seems to get in the way of you being effective, the following may be helpful. 

For most of us, routine tasks become obstacles without even knowing it. By streamlining your tasks and setting priorities, you can better manage your time, thus increasing your effectiveness and productivity.

Prioritize Your Day

A to-do list is great, but too often we have more to do than we have time to complete the list in a day. Tasks get delayed, dropped, or add pressure to finish when it is not necessary. Even though you may have a thousand and one things you want to do each day, the reality is you need to complete some tasks, while many other tasks can be delayed. What you need to do is identify those items that require your immediate attention. These should represent your to-do list for that day. By selecting the significant tasks, that is, the need to do and the immediately need to do with realistic time frames for completion of each will start you on the path to effective time management.

At the end of each day evaluate your list, did you complete each task in the time estimated? If more time was required note that for future use, if less time was required, note that as well. If some tasks were not completed, or even started, note this, too, and add them to the next days to-do list. Finally, draft tomorrows task list before you leave the office.

By following this simple procedure, while maintaining a consistent pattern of setting realistic task lists and monitoring your completion rates and time, you will find you will begin to accomplish more, reduce your feelings of inadequacy, and improve your productivity.

Have Stated Objectives for Meetings

To often we go into meetings with employees and clients with no agenda or clearly understood expectations. Before a meeting, identify the purpose of the meeting, points you want discussed, and the result or results you expect to achieve. Write all this down and take your written notes with you into the meeting. As each objective is achieved mark it on your outline. Any changes, modifications, or lack of action should be identified, as well.

Avoid wasting time by starting to list your expectations in order of importance. This will save time and enhance your ability to quickly reach consensus of your key objectives.

Take Time for Yourself

As successful business people, we are typically workaholics; however, to maintain your focus and creativity, you need to step back and give yourself time to reenergize. This means get out of the office, for brief periods of time, and go for a walk. Use such moments to think about something other than your business or work. You will be surprised how often business solutions will pop into your head during these times of reflection. The added bonus is your body will benefit from the reduced pressure and the exercise will do you good.

Have Established Answers for Frequently Asked Questions

When frequently asked the same question by either employees or customers, take note of it and draft a simple, understandable answer that can be used as the standard response. Or, if possible, just come up with a quick answer that can be shared with staff as company policy. Either way, this will avoid having to deal with the same issue directly every time it is raised. This has the further advantage of allowing you to save time for more important issues.

The exception to this approach is when the question identifies a potential or urgent problem. Then, of course, you need to resolve the problem.

A Clean Desk is an Efficient Workplace

I saved my favorite time management tip for last. Stay ahead of your tasks by organizing your desktop, keeping files neat and orderly in designated cabinets, and place on your desk just one task or project at a time. Computers have simplified this with the ability to store large amounts of data by various categories or tasks. Take advantage of the software available to organize your business records, letters, memos, reports, accounts, and projects. Make hard copies of those items that are essential and use a back-up software program for all critical aspects of your work.

Develop a schedule for routine tasks, such as, signing checks, returning phone calls, and answering mail. Set aside specific times of the day to perform these tasks. Make sure others, in your office, know you are not to be disturbed during these times.

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            In the future, other suggestions will be offered to enhance your efficiency. Let me know what time management tricks work for you and any comments you may have concerning my suggestions

Like our Tips
Here are other articles that you may find helpful
Spending Time Wisely
Power of Full Engagement
Make the Most of your Work Hours

Spending Time Wisely

I often spend a lot of time thinking about how to get the most out of my days. I shared with you a last month some of my favorite time saving tricks and thought that you might be interested in a few more!

1. You already know this one, but it bears repeating: Eat right, and get enough rest and exercise! You might be reading and this and thinking, "I thought that you were going to tell me how to get more done not add to my list of things to do!" Well that's not the case! Scientifica studies will tell you that the above is the fundemental key to a productive life!
Food is the fuel our bodies need, and what we put in them makes a difference to our energy levels. Sugary foods, coffee and soda will give you energy, but they will also make you crash after a limited amount of time. If you eat 3 small, healthy meals a day with high protein snacks in between, you will find that your energy will be consistent throughout the day.
Anything that gets you up and moving counts as exercise; take the dog for a walk, take your kid to the park, or go for a bike ride! Not only is it  good for your body, but it's a great way to relieve stress. If you do not have a current workout routine, be realistic and cut yourself some slack. Go for a walk for 20-30 minutes before you try and run 3 miles.
Sleep is so important, and we've all heard the studies, so I will not go into that yet again. :)

2. Set up a time limit to complete a task. As a business owner, you have email to check, bids to get out, appointments to go to and so on and so on. Checking emails alone can take the entire day. Set time limits for each project, at the end of the set time, move on to your next project. Depending on where we are in our production schedule, I can be handling 5 separate types of jobs. I create a folder for each one and cycle through them, I make sure to prioritize whatever is most  important and I spend my time accordingly.

3. Know when you work best. Each person has a best time of when he or she does business. Start 
tracking when yours is and plan your days accordingly. I prefer to into the office really early in the morning, to get my paperwork done and free up the middle of the day to meet with customers, and then come back to the office and work on projects that require more paperwork. For some reason, I can concentrate on paperwork better from 7-10:00 am and 3-5:00 pm than I can in the middle of the day, when the phone is ringing and there are lots of other people in the office.

I really hope that these tips help! I will share more with you soon 
and I would love to hear some of your favorite tips!

Book Review: Power of Full Engagement

The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal By James E. Loehr & Tony Schwartz

I would recommend this book to just about anyone; from a CEO to a business owner to a housewife. It looks at the whole picture of time management and not just small portions. With the use of real life examples, questionnaires, and simple to read principles, the authors help you start seeing the areas in your life where you may able to make changes that allow you to be more productive.

They suggest 4 basic principles that will help increase your energy:
1. Manage your energy, not your time There is nothing we can do about how many hours there are in a day. We gather energy from four separate, but very much related, sources: Physical, Emotional, Mental and Spiritual
We must try to nurture each energy source; this book does a good job at helping you see why each source is important, as well as helping you find the sources that will be meaningful to you.

2. You must take time to recharge Loehr noticed that top ranking tennis players would take the time between each set as they walked back to the service line to lower their heart rate. This brief moment allowed players to sustain a consistent playing level throughout their game. He suggests that you must schedule moments in your day to recharge your energy. This could be as simple as deep breathing, listening to music while eating your lunch, or going for a quick walk.

3. Train like an athlete Athletes push themselves a little bit further with every practice, yogis move deeper into poses with every breath. The end goal is to accomplish a little bit more with every workout. Why should life be any different? Stress should not be considered a bad thing, just a chance to strengthen a muscle. Make sure to push yourself, but allow yourself time to recover.

4. Routines will save you on energy and keep you focused A routine will allow you to move through specific times during your day without putting too much thought or energy into what you're doing. The ritual aspect of it can also help you create your strength and define your values. Loehr explains that is also okay to change your routines to help keep you excited and energized.

"The Power of Full Engagement" is broken up to two parts: Part One discusses the major premise and theories of the book in easy to read and understand sections. Part two is a guided process with questionnaires and worksheets you can start to find your own methods for your best performance.

The book is written with great examples and real life stories. I found it very easy to follow along and got a lot a great ideas on how I can make changes in my own life. I love when I find a book that can make an impact in my day to day way of living. The goal now is to apply what you have read and to stick to it. I will definitely read this book again.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this book, and if there are any other books you'd like to suggest for review, please let us know!

Make the Most of Your Work Hours

You know how it is; it’s 5 o’clock and the pile on your desk is still huge. Your unchecked emails are a mile long and that important client project that you were supposed to get to has still not been taken care of. So what do you do?
Pack it up and work on it at home?
Come in a couple of hours early tomorrow?
Or just ignore it?
We’ve all been there, and we all hate the doom and gloom feeling of the never ending To Do pile.
So, what can you do about it? I‘ve made time management a personal cause of mine and one that I tackle every single day. I have had to come up with a lot of tricks to be able to accomplish my business and personal goals. Today I would like to share with you three of my daily must do tricks. They might seem too easy to be helpful, but trust me they are! I use these tricks in my business and personal life as well.

1. Set the mood. I learned this one in college. When I was a freshman my father gave me a couple of CDs that are designed to help with productivity or concentration. I would put the CD on while I studied and found the hours would go by without my thoughts wandering. I took them with me to the office and play them when I am having trouble concentrating. I swear by them. One of my favorites is The Archangelos Chamber Ensemble Music for Concentration 
2. Make a schedule At the end of the day, I take a look at my workload and guess how much work I will have to do and map it out. This helps me stay on track, with the task at hand and if I find myself dragging my feet on a task I remind myself that I have a schedule to stick to and no time to waste. Here’s an example of my schedule (I work 4 ten hour days... hence the long hours but it works great for me!)

7:00-8:00 Check emails, LinkedIn and voicemail
8:00-9:30 Paperwork
9:30-11 Call Back Customers
11:00-11:45 Sales Training
11:45-12:00 Check Emails
12:00-12:30 Lunch
12:30-3:10 Work on Current Mailing Date
3:10-3:30 - Check Email
3:30-5:00 Client Appointment

This would be just example and on most days something always comes up, but I find I stay more focused and on-task knowing that my day is all planned out.

3. Check Email on A Schedule This is my newest trick and I LOVE IT. I hate having emails in my inbox so I am always checking my mail (For example I will be making a phone call and the phone will be ringing so I will check my email while I wait, or someone will put me on hold so I will check my email...you see where I am going with this) I have found that checking my emails on a schedule has helped me stick to my schedule which then makes me more productive.

I hope that these easy tricks help you make more time. Please share with me your time saving tricks! I look forward to hearing from you!