Wondering where
day has gone? Still not finished with work even though it's nine at night and you were supposed to go home at six? Here are some tips to help you manage your time better.Take brief walks - I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but one of big secrets to effective time management is simply talking walks. You see, little emergencies and crisis's can suck up your attention, focusing you on unimportant (yet seemingly real and significant) details. By talking a brief, five to ten minute, walk now and then, you can give yourself time to clear your thinking, drive out cobwebs, and refocus your attention on what is important.
I always make sure to schedule meetings for one hour, then finish ten minutes early. I use those ten minutes to walk outside, stroll around parking lot, just breathing deep and looking at clouds and nearby mountains. Believe it or not, this adds hours to my productivity every day, because it clears my thinking.
Delegate - If you are a manager or supervisor, you must, must, must delegate. This cannot be stressed enough. As you move up management ladder your job becomes more and more getting others to do, and less and less to doing it yourself. Managers who do things are NOT managing their time effectively.
Delegate authority - Allow people to make decisions. This is a great way to get more done with less effort. For example, is it really necessary for you to have to personally approve every single purchase? Perhaps you can just set guidelines (like office manager can spend a certain amount per month on supplies) and not worry about details of what's ordered, who it's ordered from and so on.
Do NOT bypass people and do not allow yourself to be bypassed - You've got a job and you've got some authority. Do not ever allow someone to go around you to get something done, and don't, unless you have no choice, go around another. Why not? Let's say you are a supervisor, and your boss has habit of giving orders to your people. Guess what? You are not doing your job, and your boss is not allowing you to do your job. Insist (gently) that your boss allow you to do what you are being paid to do - supervise. If you allow office manager to decide what to purchase, then don't tell her what to purchase.
For example, If you have vendors selling to you (and you have authority to purchase), do not ever allow them to go to your boss to override your decision. If they do make attempt, warn them ONCE. On second time, fire them and find either a new salesperson or new vendor. IF YOU ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN, THE SALESPERSON WILL KNOW YOU HAVE, IN REALITY, NO AUTHORITY.
Prioritize - Sometimes it's too easy to get fixated on small, unimportant details and projects which don't matter to anyone. Other times someone will claim something is critical, yet in truth it is not. For example, in my business we get told some computer problems are critical and must be fixed immediately. After all, a program is broken and causing problems, so it must be fixed now. On examination, I'll often find that bug has been in system for years, and my attitude is if something exists for years, it's not a crisis to change it.
Prevent frequent interruptions - Probably biggest time waster of all are people who insist on approaching you and starting a discussion. Here's what happens. You are working on a project, brilliantly putting finishing touches on that proposal. Someone walks over to your desk, interrupting you, and asks for your advice. Before long, you've been distracted from your proposal for over thirty minutes. Your "friend" leaves, satisfied and happy, and you forget all about your proposal. The next day, you get chewed out by your boss because it's not done. Sigh.
The solution? Keep interruptions short and to-the-point. You cannot always just tell them to go away (that's considered rude) but you can direct them elsewhere. You can also tell them to send you an email with their comments or questions so you can get to it later, or you can ask them to schedule a meeting. Nine times out of ten, they will just go away and not do either - and if they do, perhaps it was important after all.
