Time Management Top Tips

Time Management Top Tips

Managing your Time Effectively

Managing your time more effectively begins with a willingness to do something different.

Time Management Top Tips

1. Environment

• Are you free to manage your environment as a whole?
• Are you able to find other places in your building to work without being interrupted?
• Hot desk so you only put out what you’re working on that day.
• Find one small change to organise your untidy desk space.
• Change your environment – go for a walk.

2. Saying No

• Challenge your tendency to say yes. Practice saying no in the kindest possible way (don’t forget your interpersonal skills)
• Create a short check-list to assess whether you can complete tasks in a reasonable time.
• Be firm and diplomatic in dealing with allocated meetings, paperwork, telephone, visitors etc.

3. Boundaries

• Plan a time slot for me-time just for you.
• Create ‘Dummy’ meetings.
• Be specific on meeting agendas.
• Manage people’s expectations as regarding your availability and their claim on your time.
• How does your poor management impact on your stress?

4. Technology

• iPhone/calendar reminders.
• Use ‘out of office’ to complete tasks uninterrupted.
• Diarise tasks.
• Flag emails to come back to.
• Headphones to block out interruptions.
• Use a diary and/or an activity planner to schedule when to do things.
• Ask people to email their queries or requirements to make them easier to forward if necessary.
• Set up a template for others to use so to avoid them taking up your time.

5. Timing

• For one day only, log how long it takes to do your tasks.
• Change the time you create your to-do list.
• Use a specific time to send/check emails e.g. 9:00am, 2pm & 4:30pm.
• Weekly wrap-up list of to-dos completed.
• Share your calendar so people know when you’re not available.
• Review the day on the train in the morning/evening.
• Planning ahead when you know people will be out of the office.

6. Organisation

• Break big tasks down into stages.
• Plan time in your diary for your long-term jobs because they need it.
• Diarise using post-it notes.
• Group similar tasks together.
• Key dates for work on a schedule are emailed to all those involved.

7. Delegation

• What tasks can you delegate?
• Delegate one thing every day.
• Don’t work unpaid overtime.

8. To-Do Lists

• In what form do your to-do lists work.
• Create a manual list and organise them in order of importance/priority.
• Include unplanned activities in your list and re-prioritise.
• Try a to-done list

Don’t Do Everything on This List

This is an extensive list of things you can look at to help manage your time and improve your productivity.

Don’t get caught up in trying to implement everything.

Pick only the things that resonate with you and that you are likely to apply.

The magic here is to make some changes that stick.

10-12 minutes invested in planning your day will save at least 2 hours of wasted time and effort throughout the day – from “Eat the Frog” by Brian Tracy

As the saying goes:

“If you keep doing more of what you’re already doing, you’ll get more of what you’ve already got!”

Time Management Top Tips

Impact Factory runs

Open Time Management Courses

Tailored Time Management Training

and personalised

One-to-One Time Management Training

for anyone interested in

Time Management

Time Management Training in London