Sometimes, at the end of the day, I sit at my desk and wonder where the time has gone! I don’t seem to have achieved half as much as I intended to when I came into the office in the morning. I’m sure you feel the same way, so here are some tips to help you do more in the time that you’ve got:
- Most of us get lots of emails – some that are important, others that are junk. It’s how you handle them that matters. Don’t go back to your inbox every time you hear the ‘ping’ that alerts you to a new email. Instead, unless you are waiting for something that needs dealing with urgently, try to answer emails in batches. Schedule specific times in your day when you sit down and deal with them. Then be ruthless. Delete anything that is of no interest, answer anything that needs your attention and set up a separate folder for those offers/ezines/flyers that you might read but haven’t time for now. At least they are no longer cluttering your inbox.
- Try to keep your desk clear. Yes, it takes time to file correspondence and put things away. But this is nothing compared to losing a file or a vital piece of correspondence and having to spend hours searching for it in a pile of paperwork. Also, a neat desk actually helps you to feel more positive and work better.
- Avoid wasting time on the telephone. Don’t try to contact people at lunch time – they will probably be away from their desk. Instead, consider phoning them just before lunch or just before they are due to go home. We can guarantee they’ll keep the call short and to the point as they’ll be itching to get away! Don’t be tempted to spend too long on social niceties at the start of the call and end it as soon as you can do so politely.
- If you can sort out problems by email or phone, do so. But if you can’t avoid a face-to-face meeting then take control. If possible, go to the other person’s office so that you can leave when the discussion has ended.
- Make sure you keep a diary so that you know exactly what you are supposed to be doing…and when. This will help you with another important aspect – planning your work so that you tackle it in a logical order.
- And that brings me onto the final point in this post – procrastination. This is putting off certain tasks because you’re reluctant to tackle them. There are many reasons for this. The job might bore you, you might not be sure how to go about it, the deadline is looming and you don’t think you can get it finished in time… But if you stop procrastinating and start planning, life gets a lot easier.
I hope you find these few simple tips useful – and that they help to reduce your stress levels. If you want more information (and some help in organising your time better at home as well as at work) then you might want to have a look at our Effective Time Management course. There will never be more than 24 hours in a day but it will help you to make the most of them!
