Having great time management skills is something people often say they have at job interviews. What are they, though? These tips will help you stay on track and be the boss of your day. Own your time, don’t let time own you!
1. Persevere
Stick with it when things don’t go right. Build up your own personal strategies for dealing with pressure, like going for a walk to clear your head. Take a positive attitude towards failure, because you learn most from mistakes.
2. Share tasks or problems with others
Asking for help when you’ve tried your best but you know you need extra hands to get something done on time is an important time management skill. Asking for help does not make you look weak.
Top tip: If you’re short of time, sometimes you have to say no to others!
3. Avoid procrastination
The best time to do something is usually NOW. Taking action leads to further action. Staying still and putting things off leads to – you guessed it – inaction.
Organise your work to meet deadlines, and give yourself a reward when you achieve a goal.
See this TED talk on procrastination and learn how to overcome your instant gratification monkey!
4. Log your time
Write down everything you do in a week to identify areas of your life where you waste time and the times when you’re most productive. Schedule your demanding tasks for the times when you’re most productive!
5. Take regular breaks
Get up and move around at least once an hour if you’re at the computer. This helps to refresh your mind.
6. Create good habits
Try to do tasks at the same time and in the same location each day.
7. Prioritise
Do urgent and important tasks first, not the easy ones first. Have a reminder system so you get alerts when you’ve got an important deadline or task coming up. You might find the 80/20 rule really useful to help you get the important things done first.
Top tip: Truly effective people focus on the important tasks first. Efficiency and effectiveness are not the same!
8. Avoid distractions and interruptions to your work
Keep your desk tidy, and check your email at set points in the day if you’re getting too many emails and they distract you from the important stuff.
Oh, and steer clear of Facebook and Twitter. They’re rewards for achieving your goals, not part of your daily things to do list! Take care of yourself and don’t get caught up in social media overload.
9. Action planning
Set clearly defined goals. Make them realistic goals you can definitely achieve.
Break tasks down into steps and do one task at a time.
10. Keep a to-do list
We’re going to keep saying this forever, but a to-do list is such a game-changer! Keep a to-do list and update it every day. Write down deadlines and emphasis key points.
Top tip: Also keep a ‘done’ list so you can keep track of your achievements. Moving something to ‘done’ from the to-do list is actually quite satisfying.
11. Review your progress
Revise your plans as needed – because life is flexible, and you need to be flexible too. Have a Plan B ready at all times in case your main mission doesn’t work out the way you expected to. Whatever your goal is, come up with several routes to achieve it. There’s no one ‘right’ way to success!
You can review your own work and actions with this free worksheet.
These time management tips were brought to you by Bruce Woodcock, University of Kent (bw@kent.ac.uk) and used with permission.
