Time Management And Getting Organized At Work

We have worked with many individuals and small offices in getting organized so they can work more effectively, find things easier and live or work in a less cluttered state. Once this is done the challenge now becomes how to manage your time as time management and organization do go hand in hand.

Here are some time management tips to get you on the right track.

Busy vs. overwhelmed

We are all judged on the actual results we produce rather than the number of hours we spend doing something or “looking busy”. Stay focused on the task at hand and minimize multi-tasking as few of us are actually very good at being able to give your all to more than one task at a time. Clutter around us is a distraction that often interrupts our focus and reduces our effectiveness on the task we are trying to complete.

Priorities and prime time

Identify when you feel that you are at your peak during the day. When do you feel the most productive? Are you a morning or an afternoon person?

Save the really important stuff for this time so you can give it your best. If it is really important don’t give it anything less.

Maintain balance

Work can easily consume us and have a negative effect on both social and family lives. A Boston College Center survey confirmed that executives who are able to balance work and personal life are less stressed, feel more successful and can manage both their work and personal lives much easier. Find the balance, reduce the stress and enjoy life!

Benefits of setting goals

Setting goals is important for all aspects of your life. How else can you identify the priorities or the things that require your time now and what can wait? Schedule time for yourself, write it down in your planner, and use that time to work on those priorities.

Make sure this time is blocked out and ensure that you’re not disturbed. Setting goals will make you work smarter and allow you to manage your time more effectively. Achieving those goals will give you a sense of accomplishment and increase your chance of success in your personal and business life.

Personal policies

It’s very important to establish our own personal policies in both your personal life and your work life. These policies can help you achieve your goals and should be policies you believe in and live by. A business policy could be simply that you will not work on weekends or no more than 2 evenings a week in order to help balance your work and family time. Or perhaps you’re always working on large projects so one project must be handed off if another more important project is brought to you.

Personal policies can include not snacking after dinner or donating a certain amount to your favourite charity each month. Policies should be used as guidelines and feel free to change them as circumstances dictate. There may be times when working more than you want to is required and will benefit the family life.

Use these tools to bring more balance to your life, to get you more focused and organized and to reduce stress. Let us know how you make out!