Time Management Tips For Professionals

Tips for entrepreneurs

Time management is important for the success of any business, as too much wasted time can eat into productivity and eventually into profits. It’s vital that employees all take responsibility for managing their time better.

By looking at a number of relatively simple and practical methods of handling time better, it’s possible to make changes, as long as everyone involved is able to commit to making it happen.

The following tips can help you step closer to mastering time management.

     1. Urgent and Important

To a large number of people, these two words are synonymous. However, that’s not the case, and when you are organizing your day and creating your to-do list, you need to know the difference. Urgent means that it needs to happen first, and that it can’t wait. Important tasks are those that you plan to do but do not need to happen right now.

Some examples of urgent tasks would be emergencies and crises, a sudden demand from a customer or client, tasks and projects that are due soon, appointments, reports, and dealing with immediate staff issues. Those that would fit into the important – but not urgent – category could include scheduling and planning, research, testing, creating, and designing.

Some requests are not important at all. If they are trivial or somehow pointless, then you can usually ignore them.

     2. Turn Off Notifications for Email and Texts

Supervisors often become slaves to email and their phones. They have constant messages and requests coming from their bosses and from employees and coworkers. 

When you have notification set up on the email system or phone, you know every single time that someone tries to get in contact. This means you could be spending most of your day checking and responding to texts and emails. This is counterproductive. 

It is a better idea to turn off the notifications and only check the email and phone a couple of times a day. You can set aside time then to take care of the requests.

     3. Look at Your Routine

How efficient are you with the things that you do? Are you jumping from one task to another without ever really making much progress on any of them? It is time that you stopped multitasking. When you think about the concept, it seems as though it would work well. 

You work on several projects at once, and it seems as though you should get more done. However, when you aren’t able to put enough attention and focus on each of those projects, they will all suffer. 

You may be able to start a number of projects, but chances are you will not finish all of them, and if you do, it could mean that they are not up to par. Stay away from multitasking at all costs.

If you are spending a lot of time on the Internet for work, you have to really be honest about how much is work time and how much is time for you. If you are checking your social networks, looking up a personal site, or shopping online, then you are wasting time, even if it is just a few minutes here and there. You need to stop these activities if you want your employees to do the same.

     4. Keep a Time Log

If you have not tracked your time before, now it the perfect time to start. When you track your time, you will see where you are spending it and what is taking up most of it during the day. Once you have about a month of time logged, you can see where the biggest issues are, and then you can start to make changes to address those problems.

The key to making this work is to record everything that you do so you can keep track right down to the minute. You will be able to see how much time you have in the day between all of the interruptions that can occur. 

Many entrepreneurs find that they are lucky if they have ten to fifteen minutes from one interruption to the next. Now that you know where the issues lie, you can start to make some changes.

     5. Create Daily and Weekly Plans

You should have both daily and weekly plans that address your goals and everything that you need to accomplish in that time. This helps to give you more focus on the things that you have to do, and when your boss knows your schedule, they may be less likely to make unreasonable demands on you. Whenever you are creating a plan, it’s a good idea to allot some “emergency time” just in case something comes up that pushes you back in the day. This way, you can still keep up with your schedule.

     6. Reduce the Number of Meetings You Hold

Entrepreneurs have to hold meetings occasionally. However, you should not be the type of supervisor who has several a week and certainly never more than one in a day. The meeting needs to have a goal and focus, and you need to limit the time that your employees spend in those meetings. Cut the meeting time down whenever possible.

Take the time to identify time management problems that your employees might be having and help them address those issues. It’s time to train them, not berate them for their lack of skills in managing their time. Everyone has trouble as some point, so share these tips with them. Help them learn how to track their time as well, so they can see the areas they can improve. Having everyone in the department, and perhaps company wide, using the same time tracking software can offer some great benefits for everyone.

Tips for employees

Our lives seem to becoming busier and busier and most of us feel like there are never enough hours in the day to do what you need, or want, to do.  While it may be impossible to check off everything on our “to-do” list, there are things you can do to help prioritize your time.  

Plan ahead

If you seem to have a clear idea of what needs to be accomplished the following day, you can set a plan the night before. Do this by making a list of everything you want to accomplish at work the next day and figuring out the time you will need to finish each task.  This includes all of your projects and assignments and even things like how much time you will need to get ready in the morning, or what you will have for lunch.  The more comprehensive your plan, the easier it will be to stick to it; bringing a packed lunch will save time in your day so you don’t have to drive around deciding what type of fast food you want to indulge in, and leaving enough time in your morning routine will cut down on the chances of you leaving important things at home or arriving to work late.


Be ready to re-assess

Even if you think you have a solid plan set, new projects and deadlines will likely arise throughout the day.  When this happens, stay calm and simply re-assess your day.  You will need to take the time to adjust your schedule accordingly and plan out how you will accomplish your new tasks.  You may feel like you don’t have time to stop and think about how you will get things done, but believe me, taking 30 minutes to plan will pay off in the end; you will actually save time because you will know how to handle everything that comes your way with ease.


Prioritize

Prioritizing your projects is extremely important when you are planning your day.  You want to tackle the toughest, most important or urgent project first, so you can ensure they are done and done well. An added bonus is you won’t have to worry about them for the rest of the day, either! Next, schedule in the rest of your tasks including certain blocks of time to answer phone calls and emails; keep to these times to eliminate unnecessary distractions (this means staying off your cell phone too!).  You may have to fight the urge to respond to an email the second you see the mail icon pop up in the corner of your computer screen, though!


Break it down

When prioritizing and scheduling your projects I find it is also helpful to break them down into individual tasks rather than looking at them as a whole. Not only will this allow you to schedule your day better, but it will keep you from feeling overwhelmed from the size of what you must complete. For example, which of these statements sounds better to you? “I have to plan an entire in-service for my company in addition to my daily tasks and I’m not sure how I’m going to do it,” or “This morning I need to look at catering options for our in-service, and after that is complete I will start researching possible guest speakers.” Frankly, thinking about the first statement makes my heart rate increase, while the latter seems completely manageable.


Keep your calendar close

To some it may seem old-fashioned, but I insist on carrying a yearly planner-yes, the kind made of paper. In fact, I have one larger one I keep in my office at home and a smaller one that I carry in my purse; this is in addition to putting everything into the calendar on my cell phone. 

While my cell phone definitely comes in handy by saving me with its awesome alerts (which can even calculate and incorporate my drive time to appointments), there is still something gratifying about writing down all of the things I have coming up.  

Plus, it is so much easier for me to open my planner and see my whole month ahead of me instead of tapping through the days on my phone to see what I have planned; I feel this eliminates the possibility of missing something or double-booking.  

Plus, if I’m talking on my cell phone I can pull out my planner and have quick and easy access to my schedule to ensure I am free for an appointment instead of guessing.  So for me, I find that putting appointments in both my paper and digital calendar is a no-fail way for me to schedule my days; it may be something that works for you, too.

Keep your desk clear

This will help alleviate some of your stress at the office and at home, and allow your work to shine.

You may have your to do lists and schedule in order, but to be your best your desk should be in order too.  First off, if your desk is organized, your mind will be more organized too and you will feel less stressed. Plus if everything is in its own place you will always know where to look, instead of wasting time digging through piles of papers or messy drawers for something you need. So when you are scheduling out your week make sure to block off time to re-organize your work space; you may want to do this on Fridays when it can often be less busy, and this will also allow you to start the next week off with a clean slate… literally.


Do not disturb

If you absolutely cannot be disturbed while working on a project, and you have an office, do not be afraid to put up a “do not disturb” sign. At my previous job at a University where I had an open door policy, there were times when I was on a strict deadline to finish reports so I would need to shut my door and put up a sign that said “In a meeting… please schedule an appointment at the front desk.”  This way I could make sure I was able to focus on my work and then meet with others at a time that worked best for both of us, and at which I could dedicate my full attention to them. 

If you do not have an office, simply let your co-workers know that you are on a tight deadline and won’t be available for a bit; you may even want to pop in some headphones while you are working to avoid any distractions.


Just say “NO"

We all want to be team players but sometimes being too much of a good sport can cause you to be overwhelmed. It is, without a doubt, impossible to say “yes” to everything that comes your way.  In order to manage your time effectively there are going to be some times when you have to say “no.” Choose which tasks are the most significant and will have the biggest impact on you and your work and say yes to those; say no to those that will not.  

You can be polite when declining invitations or ideas, or may even be able to come back to them at a later time.  If there are too many things that you feel are extremely important and need to be done, it may be time to delegate.


Don’t be afraid to delegate

I find the best way to delegate is to politely reach out to members of your team, explain how you are feeling, and simply ask for help.  This tends to work a lot better than just saying “You need to help me with this.” If you are willing to take the time to explain why you are asking for help and what a great impact your co-workers will have, they will likely be more than happy to help you.  

If you ask for help, however, you need to trust in others to do the job you have asked of them.  If you feel like you will need to be watching over their shoulders because the project is too important, then you probably shouldn’t be delegating it in the first place.


Reflect

At the end of the day and at the end of each project take some time to reflect on what was accomplished.  What worked and what didn’t? Were the deadlines that were set realistic or should they be adjusted for the next project?  Did you ultimately reach your goal? This will allow you to re-prioritize, adjust your scheduling, and set yourself up for success in the future.  Most importantly, as you reflect make sure to keep an open mind and understand that life is a learning process and you are allowed to make some mistakes along the way. As long as you keep learning and growing you will always end up being your best self.

Are emails pulling you away from your actual work? Finding your creative flow—especially when writing—is tough enough as it is. It doesn’t help to have the constant distraction of emails dinging into your inbox.
The solution? Instead of responding to each email as it comes in, have set times of day where you’ll work through all your messages. Schedule several hours of uninterrupted work so you can focus and get in the zone, then take thirty to sixty minutes to catch up on emails.

Unplug From Email

While you’re in work-mode, be sure to close your email tab on your browser and turn off notifications to your phone, so it’s out of sight, out of mind.

And don’t worry, unless you’re corresponding with galactic invaders, waiting a few hours to respond to your emails will not cause the world to end.

Don’t Just List Your To-Do’s—Schedule Them

Can’t find the time to get all your to-do’s done? There are plenty of awesome apps to help you organize your to-do lists, but have you tried scheduling tasks directly on your calendar?

Using your calendar of choice, create appointments for all your big to-do’s. You’ll have a visual reminder (and notifications) of exactly what you should be working on and when.

Remember to schedule tasks at your peak performance time. When and where are you at your most creative? Do you write best sitting in bed at midnight? Or at 7 a.m. in your favorite cafe? Avoid scheduling your creative work for times when you’re going to be tired or distracted.

Be realistic and give yourself enough time for each task. This can reduce guilt if you’ve felt like you should be getting more done, but can now see there aren’t enough hours in the day. And this can also reveal a problem if you’ve been wasting a lot of time on distractions or busy work.

Plan Your Week in Advance

Planning your week (or month) in advance will help you save time and maximize your productivity. Know when your deadlines, important meetings, and obligations are happening and work backwards from there.

Giving a presentation on Thursday morning? Block off your Wednesday night for prep time or rest.

Want to spend less time in the morning prepping your lunch? Schedule meal prep for Sunday night so you can batch your lunches.

Feeling burnt out and need to introvert? Schedule alone time for Tuesday. Know you’ll need human contact? Plan game night for Friday.

Scheduling things like gym time and laundry will keep your life running smoothly. And remember to always allow enough time for a good night’s rest—your work will take twice as long if you’re exhausted from too little sleep or working long hours without a break.

Banish Your Time Wasters

Spending way too much time browsing Facebook? Watching cat videos? Keeping up-to-the-second on developing news?

If your willpower is failing, you may need to give yourself some extra help to unplug from your time-wasters.

Remove time-wasting sites from your browser’s bookmark bar so you’re less tempted to visit them. Minimize distractions by turning off your phone notifications during work hours (or if that’s too advanced, just turn your phone on silent and toss it in a drawer).

Break Free of Perfectionism

Sure, who doesn’t want their work to be perfect? But striving for perfection is a sure way to kill your productivity and creativity.

The pressure you feel to produce perfect work can lead to procrastination, anxiety, “playing it safe,” and a lot of wasted time making marginal improvements to work.

When you reset your expectations away from perfection, you’ll find it’s easier to experiment and take risks, to get projects finished and move on to bigger and better things.

Improving your writing takes a lot of practice. You’re not going to write a “perfect” novel or blog post or ad campaign the first time around. Don’t let the expectation of perfection paralyze you from growing your skills!

Prioritize Your Personal Goals

Are you using your time to get closer to your goals, or are you putting everyone and everything else first?

Maybe you want to build your audience, write your memoir, get your MFA, or change careers. Make yourself and your future a priority by scheduling time every week, or every day, to work toward your goals.

Large projects can feel overwhelming, so break things down into manageable pieces. If you want to finish your first draft in six months, how many pages will you need to complete per week? How many hours per day will you need to write?

Life may be busy, but don’t let anything get between you and achieving your dreams!