Do you feel like your time at work is not enough? Are you always cramming and rushing to meet your deadline? For a lot of people, this is a typical scenario as a lot of employees tend to waste their time at work without even noticing. From chatting with a colleague, bad work habits, being constantly on social media, or because of poor time management, all of these can contribute to work creep and additional stresses at work. If you’ve felt the need to be more organized and increase your productivity at work lately, it’s time to improve your time management skills.
Why Improve Your Time Management Skills?
Learning or continually improving your time management skill shows your eagerness to strive for greatness and effectiveness and is a valuable and highly desired skill since employers are most likely to promote employees who manage their time well. Being able to manage your time smartly means accomplishing current tasks while still having enough time to do new things and allowing time to relax (good time management has been shown to reduce stress levels). Imagine not having to cram and worry about your upcoming deadline!
Best Time Management Tips At Work
If you’re ready to improve your time management skills and work smarter, here are some tips you should apply to your everyday work routine:
Be Certain About Your Roles
Do you know what is expected of you? This is important because it mainly defines what and how you’re going to spend your time at work. If you’re not sure about what you’re supposed to do, clarify it with your supervisors.
Plan Your Day Ahead
This has to be one of the most effective tricks to manage your time. Plan your day ahead of time by listing out all the things you need to do for the following day. Include appointments, meetings, tasks, and errands. By doing so, you are less likely to forget your responsibilities and get sidetracked.
Learn To Prioritize
Your work will keep coming, so learn to prioritize which tasks are high, medium and low priority. It also helps you be more efficient by concentrating your time to the most urgent task. You also have to learn which tasks are important and which are urgent as not all urgent tasks are important and vice versa.
Work Smart
In every job you do, remember to “work smarter and not harder.” Think of how you can do your tasks efficiently – use apps, delegate to others or find a way to eliminate the task especially if it’s unimportant.
Avoid Procrastination
Your worst enemy is procrastination. To avoid procrastinating, avoid distractions. Checking social media or even chatting with your colleague can easily distract you from your goals so make sure to accomplish your tasks first and then take a short “reward” break which you can spend on your phone or socializing with your colleagues.
It’s easy to get caught up with all the work, however, by applying these tips to your everyday work life or even your personal life, you’ll be able to sharpen your time management skills.