Everyone has the same amount of time in their day, so why are some people able to get so much more done than others? The simple answer is that they make better use of the time that they have.
My most recent podcast is about the 80/20 rule and how to apply it to prioritizing what is most important in general, and what are the most important things that ONLY YOU CAN DO. That is where to focus. Time management is not about doing more, it’s about doing the right things.
Once you have priorities in place, how do you stay on track during the day? Here are a few strategies.
Make a plan
-Plan first. Making a plan for your day should be the first thing you do. If you start by listening to voicemail or reading email, you will start responding before determining if that is the most important thing to be doing.
-Prioritize. No one I know gets everything on their todo list done in a day. That’s ok as long as you get the most important things done, so once you have made your list, prioritize it. Pick the 2 or 3 things that, if accomplished, would make it a productive day and focus on those.
-Challenge yourself. Throughout the day ask yourself “is this the most important thing I could be doing right now”. If not, stop doing it. I have a sticky note with this question on my computer screen.
Eliminate distractions
When working on the most important items for the day, it is important to stay focused. Try to eliminate distractions.
-Close your door. Open door policies are great, but not when you need to get something done. Let people know that you will keep your door open as often as possible, but when it is closed, you are only to be interrupted in the case of something truly urgent.
-Don’t have a door? Headphones are a great option. Not the sneaky little ear buds, but actual headphones. They will drown out conversations people are having around you. Plus, people will notice them and be less likely to attempt to engage with you.
-Turn off ringers and email notification. Even if you don’t answer your phone or read the email, just knowing it is there distracts you from the task at hand and kills your momentum.
Batch repetitive tasks
There is a set up time to every task you do. Transitioning from one thing to another sometimes takes longer than the task itself. Think about what you do many times throughout the day and minimize the transition time by batching them.
-Read emails at set times. Pick 2 or 3 times in the day when you will read and respond to emails. You can get through 25 emails in about the same amount of time as you can get through 5.
-Don’t answer your phone! Even a one minute phone call is going to completely distract you from what you were doing. Getting back into the flow of what you were working on takes much longer.
-Worried about being responsive? Think about the longest meeting you have in a week. You wouldn’t answer the phone during that meeting, so you can wait at least that long to respond to a voicemail or email. By then, you will probably have more than one and can respond to all of them at once.
A few small changes in how you manage your time can have a huge impact on your productivity. Instead of trying to get more things done, focus on getting the most important things done and you will see the results.