Do you also think that you could have accomplished much more in a day if you had some more hours? If 24 hours in a day are not sufficient for your daily errands, that indicates you are failing with time management.
I always say one thing to people who visit me for time management issues, which I realized many years back. Everybody has 24 hours whether that is the Prime Minister of India or the President of America. It depends on you how wisely you are managing your time.
I agree that time is a limited resource that never stops for anyone but that doesn’t mean you need some more hours in your day. However, you need to learn the importance of time management at the workplace. You need to understand the value of time to become efficacious in all facets of your life because if you do not value time and waste it on unnecessary activities, you may fail to create your individuality.
Many years back when I was a housewife, at that time I also used to feel that 24 hours are not sufficient, I should have a few more hours to perform all tasks because I was not managing my time properly. Later I learned about time management and its value in life from various life experiences. Today, Life coach Ritu Singal is a recognizable name. I am managing multiple businesses successfully, getting awards, and helping other people to learn time management. Today also I have 24 hours in a day.
I will not say that it’s easy to manage your time appropriately, of course, it is challenging but once you learn and implement, it makes an immense difference. Time management skills and time-saving hacks can significantly help enhance the way you accomplish your work, guard you against interruption, secure your concentration and maintain a work-life balance.
In this blog, I am going to talk about all you should know about time management techniques and how they balance your work life and productivity.
Highlights
- Time management means allocating the right time to the right activity to manage your time effectively.
- Proper time management allows you to allocate particular time slots for various activities depending on their importance.
- Always remember time is limited, so make sure you are utilizing it in the best possible way.
- Everybody knows that time is flying at its speed but only a few people know that we can become pilots if we want.
What Does Time Management Mean?
Does it mean retaining yourself busy to ensure that you are executing at the highest productivity levels? Does it mean your boss telling you how you should manage your time?
In simple words, time management is mastering your time intelligently to get everything done as required without putting a huge burden on yourself. Time management is all about scheduling and arranging the time you spend on various activities. The major purpose of managing your time is to boost productivity and efficiency.
For example, You enter the office, open your computer, and come to know that you have 10 tasks for today. Now, what will you do? How will you manage your time effectively so that you can complete all 10 tasks before you leave the office? If you have time-handling skills, you will create a list, prioritize the tasks as per their importance and assign a particular time for each task. Then begin with the most important task and try to complete each task within the assigned time.
I always tell a beautiful story and I could not stop myself from sharing it here as well. Some years back, I was attending a spiritual event and there I heard this story. There are 3 rabbits in the ground and you have to catch them. How will you do it? If you go to catch one, the other one will run so how will you bring all three rabbits together? If you are not smart enough you will keep going behind one and then another. However, if you are wise enough, you will bring carrots and put them in a place, eventually, all three rabbits will come to the carrots and you can catch them all at once.
The day I heard this story, it touched my heart so deeply. You need to be smart to perform more in less time. Don’t run behind multiple things at one time, prioritize what needs to be done first and then strategize how to achieve more in less time. Make sure you are spending time where it matters the most.
Do you know, if you are failing to manage your time accurately, you may have to face several negative consequences which can noticeably upset your professional and personal life?
Outcomes of poor time management skills and attitudes:
- Procrastination and difficult focus
- Missed deadlines and meetings
- Lack of professionalism
- Missed opportunities
- Undesired stress and anxiety
- Deprived performance and incompetent workflow
- Hassled relationships at the workplace
- Financial disadvantages
- Work-life imbalance
Effective Time Management
Organizing several things that enhance efficiency and discover an improved work-life balance. Upskilling time management at the workplace allows you to augment your performance and accomplish your goals with fewer efforts and more efficient approaches.
Efficient time management necessitates:
- Craving to comprehend the worth of time. When you acknowledge it, it allows you to manage your time better and it gives a boost to your confidence.
- Determination to sidestep distractions because distractions waste your valuable time which you should spend on vital tasks.
- Fortitude to practice good time handling practices until they become habits. It will help you become successful.
- Discipline is a crucial element for excellent time management. Discipline helps you stick to your productive habits without indulging in useless activities.
Effective time management comprises:
Managing your time means making sensible and the best possible use of your time for reaching your goals. You should understand the worth of time and allot suitable time to the suitable activity.
For instance, nowadays many people are spending most of their time on their smartphones, watching videos or scrolling their social media, etc. People are so indulged in their mobile phones that they are not realizing the value of time and as a result, they are not able to accomplish their jobs well.
Read: How You Can Accomplish Your Dream With Effective Time Management Coaching
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Efficient planning:
Plan your day, and prepare a to-do list in advance. Just write down the essential activities and allot time for each activity. Top priority work should be accomplished first then jump to the pending tasks one by one. make sure you do not begin with a fresh task unless you complete the previous ones. Tick the finished activities where you have written.
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Establish purposes and goals:
Working without goals is exactly similar to the captain who is heading the ship without knowing the way into the sea. Apparently, he will be lost somewhere in the sea. That is why it’s highly important to set achievable and realistic objectives for yourself, only then you can walk in the right direction.
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Set deadlines for yourself:
Just like having purposes, it’s essential to consider deadlines for yourself. Sticking to the deadline makes you attempt to accomplish it early. Don’t wait for your bosses to give you a finish line, set it for yourself because you know better the time required to complete a particular task.
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Use the right time for the right activities:
If you are using social media during working hours in the office, it is not a suitable use of that time for a suitable activity. If you are doing something after the deadline passed, that is not of much use because you have already created your impression. Keep some separate time for your mobile phone or gossip but use your office hours for the correct activities.
Value Of Time Management at The Workplace
Managing your time properly brings numerous benefits to your professional life. There was a time when I was like, 24 hours are not sufficient and today I am managing various businesses, my personal life, my social life, and many more things in these 24 hours. Once you learn the value of time and how you can make the most of it, success is a few steps away.
Let’s go through the remarkable benefits of time management in the workspace
- You are more disciplined and punctual
- You are more organized in the workspace
- Boost your morale and make you more confident
- You are more likely to meet your goals in less time
- Helps you attain the pinnacle of accomplishment rapidly
- You can plan things better
- You become less prone to stress and anxiety
- Enhanced capability to prioritize tasks and doings at the workplace.
- You implement a deliberate approach in life
- You have a good reputation in the office
- You are less prone to procrastination
- Rationalized decision-making skills
- Better relationships at the workplace
- Accomplish your tasks before the deadlines
- Deliver improved work quality
- More productivity and proficiency at work
- Excellent opportunities and professional growth
- More time for relaxation and rejuvenation
- Outstanding work-life balance
Effective Time Management Techniques Recommendations by Life Coach Ritu Singal
Plan your day:
Some people ask me why I should plan my day, because plans may change. But it doesn’t mean that you should not plan your days. I suggest that you should plan your every day. There are many ways to make your plans successful, you just need to recognize what works great for you.
I recommend people plan their next day every night before they go to sleep and strategize their activities for the next day. Most people told me that it worked best for them. It prepares your mind to take the workload every day and move you towards better accomplishments.
Focus on one task at a time:
I always do that and also suggest the same to people who visit me for life coaching or counseling. It’s extremely essential to accomplish the errand you are holding in your hand. When you are in the office, put 100% effort into your work to make sure there is no chance of error. If you are doing something in a rush, there are more chances of mistakes and then you have to spend more time working on those mistakes.
Concentrating on one task at a time improves efficiency. Also do not go for multitasking that may hinder your work quality. I am not saying that multitasking is a bad practice but if it is affecting the quality of the task in your hand then it’s definitely not good. Multitask smartly.
Off-put email checks:
Do you realize that when you check your emails in the morning, how much time does it consume and is it worth that time?
Checking pertinent emails is important but checking unnecessary spam messages eats more time. Even sometimes it’s struggling to decide on the essential ones. To avoid that wastage of time you can limit yourself from checking emails to only which require an instant response. Rest you can manage during your free time. Try applying filters that junk spam emails and mark important ones.
Break up big projects into small chunks:
So you have got a large project and the deadline is approaching and the complete picture is intimidating you. Now, what to do? Let me help you make it easier.
I always suggest to people that you can not eat the whole elephant at once because it’s so huge. So you need to break it up into small pieces. Well, don’t misunderstand it’s just an example, you don’t have to eat the elephant. I suggest not eating any animal. Similarly, you need to divide your big tasks into smaller ones.
This is a great time-saving hack to manage your time efficiently, chunk out your large, difficult projects into smaller pieces, prioritize, set deadlines for those tasks, and start doing them. This way the bigger picture doesn’t look daunting anymore and the impending deadline appears more attainable.
Avert possible distractions:
If you ask me, today the most common distraction is social media notifications that pull people away from their essential duties. However, you need to prevent such distractions to be more involved in your job. Otherwise, these will eat up your valuable time and you will have loads of work piled up.
I reduced the most prominent distraction these days, the mobile phone. I only check my social media pages when it is necessary. Well, I was never so indulged in social media but I was spending quite more time on whatsapp. But I realized that it eats up a lot of time. Now I only use whatsapp when it’s important to my team or it’s related to work.
Turn off phone notifications and stay focused on your task because you have to finish it before the deadline. Try to indulge in your work during office hours to boost your productivity and the day hangs around you so you will have enough time to spend on social media or other activities.
Line up your tasks daily, weekly, and monthly:
Along with planning each day, you should recognize your priorities for approaching days, weeks, and months. Now again some people may think that weekly or monthly plans may not work because anything can change at any time due to several situations. But let me tell you one thing, you can not control situations, or what will happen tomorrow but you should have a plan ready with your priority errands.
Prioritizing your tasks for upcoming days allows you to scatter your workload and avoid stress and an overly busy schedule. It improves your time management at the workplace and you will be capable enough to establish a structured daily routine for your goals and productivity throughout the month.
Get the help of a timer:
It may sound crazy to some people but trust me, it can be the best technique to manage your time suitably. Using a timer can remind you about the necessary breaks, establish time limits and boost your productivity. Taking small breaks and getting refreshed between your tasks is essential to clear your head because you are a human being, not a robot.
Getting help from a timer and setting a certain time limit to accomplish an objective, pushes you to achieve more before the deadlines. You can also try using other time management tools as there are numerous options available.
Refresh, revive and revitalize your batteries:
It’s highly important to revitalize yourself only then you can significantly stick to these time management techniques. If you are not taking refreshing breaks from work you may get exhausted over time. When you are taking sufficient time to revive your batteries, you can implement these techniques much more efficiently.
Quick Tips By Life Coach Ritu Singal To Enhance Your Time Management Capabilities
- Prioritize and schedule your tasks
- Set boundaries and learn to say no
- Start your day early
- Be realistic don’t put up unnecessary work stress
- Put off time-killing activities
- Learn and implement time-saving hacks
Wrapping up
Time management is not that tough, you just need to be consistent because consistency is the key. Don’t let your poor time management habits ruin your career and work-life balance. Once you learn the skill to become in charge of your time, you will get the tasty fruits it bears. You just have to make sure to be consistent with your time management practices.
All these recommendations are personally tried and tested by me as well as by people whom I helped manage their time appropriately. When you implement these techniques you will see a positive influence in your life. As you learn time management you have complete control of your precious time with a better ability to get things done well, make better decisions and prioritize things. I hope this blog helped you recognize the priceless worth of time management in the workplace.
