As a business owner, it’s easy to lose track of time due to the many responsibilities and daily tasks that you have on your plate. And in our ever-distracted, technology-centered culture, getting through your list of to-dos is now harder than ever. To alleviate the stress, practicing effective time management skills is crucial. Here are our tips for managing time at work:
Plan Ahead
Begin each day by mapping out what you need to accomplish and how much time should be spent completing each task. We recommend writing this list down and displaying it somewhere that you see often, as visual reminders are a great way to drive productivity. Having a clear outline of what needs to be done will help you stay on task and check off those to-dos.
Think Before You Speak
Before you make a phone call or attend a meeting, spend a few minutes deciding what you want to achieve from the conversation and draft an agenda for yourself or your team. By setting goals, you’re more likely to stay on track. After the conversation, conduct a brief evaluation – were your goals met? If not, brainstorm ways to be more productive in your next interaction.
Make Time For The Unexpected
Let’s face it, interruptions happen. Even with a well-planned schedule, unexpected events are inevitable. Prevent being caught off guard by scheduling in time for interruptions. It doesn’t need to be lengthy (think 30 minutes to start), but padding in this extra time will make those on the fly meetings and projects a lot less detrimental to your time.
Set Realistic Expectations
It’s important to remember that you can’t accomplish everything. If you have ten projects that need to be completed, there’s a pretty good chance you won’t complete them by the end of the business day. Be realistic about the amount of time you have and set goals accordingly. Even the most effective time managers have had to push deadlines back from time to time.
At Far West Capital, ensuring that our team is adequately managing their time is very important to us. We make it a priority for our management team to support our staff with the tools they need to stay on track with their time, deadlines and to-do’s. At the end of the day, when our employees are successful in managing their time, stress levels are reduced, productivity and job satisfaction increase, and our clients are happy campers. It’s as simple as that.
Do you have additional time management tips? Share them with us below.
