Time Management, An Essential Process

It is 5 p.m. and everyone is passing your office on the way out the door. You flash a big smile and signal that you will follow shortly. You glance at your desk and it looks as though a tornado hit. Your electronic mail account has fourteen messages that came in today and ten messages that you never got around to listening to from yesterday. Your first thought is to leave everything as is and arrive early tomorrow to catch-up. Then you remember the 7:30 a.m. meeting you have with your boss tomorrow and that you need to prepare some reference notes. You finally make the decision that not only will you need to work late tonight but you will also have to take work home. While watching the janitors busy at work, you wonder how do you spend eight hours a day at work but never seem to get everything accomplished. Where does the time go. We have listed a few tips that will assist you with time management.

• Start keeping track of the things you do in the course of a day. Log all activities and the time you spend on each. This will show you where you are losing time. Also record times when you feel most energetic or exhausted. Analyze the log after a week.

• Take advantage of your high energy times schedule critical tasks during this time. Schedule your breaks during your low energy time slots.

• The tasks that use your time inefficiently should be reorganized and closing monitored. For instance, if you speed to much time on the telephone limit your calls to 5 minutes each. If you find that a conversation requires more time then it probably should be rescheduled as a meeting.

• Hold meetings either in neutral locations or in other people's office. It is easier to excuse yourself from a meeting room or someone else's office than it is to kick them out of yours.

• Devote two times a day to handle electronic mail. Preferably in the morning and right after lunch.

• Prepare prioritized list each morning of tasks that you would like to accomplish. Follow the lists and check off each items as it is completed.

• Block out two hours a day for busy work. If you are fortunate enough to have an office, shut the door. If you have a cubicle, display a sign that says "Door Closed".

• Organize and color coordinate your files for easy reference. Place active files or frequently used files in a easily accessible area.

• Keep your desk clean at all times. Place labeled stackable trays on your desk for items to be filed, to do, and completed.

• Color coordinate you calendar. Highlight days that reports are due, deadlines and standing meetings. This will allow you to quickly glance at your calendar to identify available time.