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And what goes for meetings goes for whatever job you have to do. Preparation always pays off. Make
time to prepare.
No time for rest.
The last two statements at beginning of this article illustrate this. There is something seriously wrong when staff of a company consistently and regularly feel they have to work their breaks, or when a manager cannot take his vacations year after year. No-one can work continuously and unremittingly at their top efficiency. Inevitably productivity will drop. It is therefore in everyone’s interest that proper rests are taken. It is in interest of individual, of his colleagues, and his company.
So how to ensure that this is done? Give vacations a level of priority in your planning. Stick to planning. Don’t imagine that you are indispensable. You will be wrong. You will be surprised perhaps ( even disappointed ) to discover that company continues to exist and function during your absence. Do same for your team. Make sure that they are rested and refreshed for peak performance.
And now, in conclusion, just a few general rules for making most of your time.
Don’t put off unpleasant tasks.
Don’t put them to one side because they are unpleasant. Do tasks in order dictated by importance of result. Do unpleasant tasks early in day to provide an incentive to finish them before moving on to something more attractive.
Chop up big tasks into small manageable ones.
A huge task lasting several days or weeks can be depressingly daunting. Divide it up into smaller sub-tasks of short duration ( a few hours, say ). Each time you finish one of sub-tasks you will get a boost and a feeling of satisfaction. The overall huge task will be whittled away steadily and with relative ease.
Allocate time for specific minor tasks (phoning, messages, etc.)
These are sort of things that can eat away at your day until you do little else. Give yourself a strictly limited time at same time every day to deal with your mail, for example. Stick to time, and stop when time is up. Then get on with something more productive. Apply this to anything that for you is routine, necessary, but not principal object of your work.
Keep an organised desk.
This avoids paper shuffling familiar to many people as they search amongst documents strewn all over their desks, and it allows you to concentrate in a more effective way on what you are doing.
Try to keep on desk at any one time just those papers relevant to task on which you are working. Don’t let your eyes be distracted by piles of papers related to some other unfinished job. It will only make you think of other job instead of one in hand. Don’t let your desk become your filing cabinet.
If you really have to keep papers for several separate jobs on desk together at same time (maybe you are expecting a phone call concerning one of them), then put them neatly to one side away from your immediate line of sight.
Remember. Time that has gone has gone forever. Make most of what you have got.
Arthur Cooper is a writer and publisher. For more of his articles go to: http://www.arthurcooper.com/ For articles ebooks and courses go to: http://www.barrel-publishing.com/
