At work, time management is one of the most important skills you have. Certainly, it’s as important as job-specific knowledge, since it doesn’t matter how good you are at your work if you can’t get it done on time!
A good worker gets things done with time left over – and bosses take notice of workers who are able to achieve this. If you want to be noticed more at work, get better at time management using the seven laws listed below and things will start to improve immediately.
Law #1 – Write lists
You may think that you can keep all of your daily “to do” tasks organized in your brain. But unfortunately, you’re wrong. Research shows that writing things down not only helps you by providing a handy list of tasks to reference, but even the process of writing priorities down makes it more likely that you’ll remember everything that needs to be done.
Writing lists should be one of your top time management tools. Lists only take a few seconds to write, but provide important structure to your entire workday.
Law #2 – Set priorities
Now that you’ve got your list finished, go through it again in order to determine which tasks should take precedence. Then, you can rewrite your list with your priorities at the top, underline them or highlight them with a marker – whatever you need to do to tell your brain that these items need to be done first.
In general, you should be able to instinctively feel which tasks come with a sense of urgency attached. Is there a task your boss really needs finished? Or are there items on your list that will be important to the whole business – not just you or your one department? Items that fall into either of these categories should be considered priorities from a project management perspective.
Law #3 – Make sure you have what you need before you start
While you’re making your “to do” list, create a separate list of all the supplies you’ll need to accomplish your work tasks. It’s easier to gather your supplies – whether that includes physical items or web resources – before starting, rather than to go searching for things as you’re working. If one thing goes wrong (maybe you can’t find the right website or the reports you need), this mishap can throw off your whole time management as you run around trying to locate the item.
Law #4 – Focus on essentials
Once you’ve created your list and compiled your supplies, start by working on your priorities! Of course, that’s a no brainer. Work your way down your prioritized checklist as if your job depended on it (let’s face it – it usually does).
But because you only have so much time in a day, it’s also important to recognize when to set something on the back burner. Due dates are a good way to judge this. If one project has a little wiggle room – take advantage of that to complete other tasks that must be finished first. If two projects are equally important, identifying the one with the stiffer deadline is a good way to determine what to attack first.
Law #5 – Don’t go off on a tangent
As you tackle your high priority items, you might be tempted to reward your hard work with a few minutes of email and social networking site checking. However, if you allow yourself even one minute on these non-essential and non-work related tasks, you’re opening the door for a lot of time wasting. Make it a rule that you won’t open any of these pages or programs until you’ve crossed at least 1-2 items of your “to do” list!
The same goes for non-essential office socializing (as in, gossiping). There’s a big difference between staying after a work meeting to talk business and gathering with colleagues to talk about other workers. The latter eats up your time and reflects poorly on you and your office culture. Again, steer clear and focus your time on productive work instead.
Law #6 – Keep things organized
Once you get organized, stay that way! If you have everything where you need it – a healthy arrangement of notes, reference guides and all the office supplies you’ll need at your beck and call – don’t be tempted to let things slide.
Otherwise, you’ll find that once you start the slide towards disorganization, it’s hard to stop. Your time is too valuable to be wasted on reorganization – so instead, focus on curbing the disorganization as it happens.
Law #7 – Self-evaluate
Finally, keep in mind that it’s a good idea to check in with yourself every so often in order to gauge how well you are managing your time. You can do this by examining your day, your week or your month – whatever interval works best for you. During these time management evaluations, ask yourself if you’ve been routinely accomplishing all the goals you’ve set. If you haven’t lived up to your potential, make a list of all the different ways you can rectify the situation.
Being an effective time manager isn’t easy, given the constant struggle we all face against distraction and disorganization. But with these seven time management laws, you can begin your journey on the road to optimal time management skills – no matter how disorganized you were to begin with. Take these pieces of advice to heart and your career prospects will thank you
