There are days when it feels like time just flies. Sometimes I feel I’ve only just sat down and it’s time to go home – the day has passed and my list of jobs has got longer not shorter.
We all have times when we could do with a couple of extra hours in the day to just get done what needs to be done. This plays havoc with stress levels, not to mention work/life balance.
So what can be done about it?
How to Find Out What You Really Do with Your Time
Before you start to make any major changes to your routines you need to know how you’re using your time at the moment. A great way to do this is to keep a time diary.
Draw up a sheet (by hand or in a spreadsheet program like Excel) by having 6 x 10 minute blocks going across the top and each hour going down the side – see the picture below.
For a week write down everything you do in the relevant 10-minute block(s). For this to work you have to be absolutely honest about your activity. And do include going to the loo, telephone calls, tea breaks etc.
Once you have your data you can then analyse it to see if you can make any changes to how you work or what you do.
I did this exercise last year and discovered that I got interrupted – lots, and made a cup of tea every hour!
Taking Action So You Use Your Time More Effectively at Work
Now you know how you use your time you can make changes to the way you work. You’ll be amazed at how small adjustments can make a big difference to the time you have in your day.
One of the first things I did was to structure meetings with my colleagues so that I didn’t get interrupted quite so much – and I didn’t interrupt them!
We arranged to have specific times when we would get together to discuss matters. Only if a matter can’t wait do we interrupt each other. On the whole it’s worked well but we have to keep on top of it else we slip back into old habits.
I still make a cup of tea every hour though – it helps keep my brain functioning.
To find out more techniques on how to make the most of your time check out our Effective Time Management course. It’s helped me enormously and I now have lower stress levels and a better work/life balance.
