Thursday, October 19, 2017

Five Tips to Manage Your Time

Do you have too much to do and too little time to do it?  Do you have tons of unread emails in your inbox?  If this sounds like you, you’re not alone. In today’s hectic, connected world it seems like we should be busy 24/7 just to keep up with the basics.  What we do never seems to be enough and there doesn’t seem to be enough time to do things well.

Below are five things you can do to take control of your time:

1. Set priorities
Take a step back and think about your larger life goals. Decide what goals are most important to you. Is it to build and maintain relationships, be a good parent, advance at your work, contribute to your family or neighborhood, make lots of money, or take care of your health and live a balanced life?  Once you’re clear about your priorities and goals, you can use this as a basis for planning your time and commitments.

2. Be realistic about what you can accomplish

If you’re like most people, you’re likely to overestimate what you can get done. You may forget that you’re less productive when you’re tired, that you’re bound to be interrupted, or that you may encounter issues along the way (like a printer jam) that sidetrack your time and attention. Take your initial estimate of how long it will take you to get a task done and then increase it by at least 25 percent to begin with. See how well this works and adjust it up or down as needed.

3. Limit interruptions

Limiting how often you get interrupted is key to getting things done. This is particularly difficult if you’re a parent of young kids. If you’re in an open plan office, you’re likely to get interrupted by co-workers wanting to chat or ask you questions. Texts or emails may keep pinging on your phone. Or the dog may start a cacophony of barking because the UPS truck just pulled up. 

4. Say “no” to extra commitments that don’t serve your goals

Most of us prefer to say “yes” than to say “no” to people we care about or institutions we believe in. But prioritizing your goals means giving up some things you may want. If you think you may be missing out when you say "no,” focus instead on what you plan to accomplish with the extra time, even if it’s getting some much-needed rest. Setting boundaries with others is an important part of managing stress. Organizers often ask the person who always volunteers to do more because it’s easier than trying to convince the person who never contributes to show up. So, before you commit, think about where this task or role lies on your list of priorities and only say “yes” if it’s a high priority area.

5. Stop procrastinating

Even when you do have free time, you may delay getting started because the job is aversive or boring, because you’re overworked, or because you don’t think you can do a good job. Once you figure out the reason you’re procrastinating, you are in a better position to find a solution.
If the task is unpleasant or boring, think about how important it is to you or your family.

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