Ten tips for effective time management at work

Ten tips for effective time management at work

Benjamin Disraeli once quoted “He who gains time, gains everything” has become much more relevant in today’s time. We often see that people have become busier than before. Time is precious and it is important to manage your time properly.

Let’s take a quick look on how we can manage things better with the aid of time management.

Time management will not only help you in improving your working conditions but will also help you manage your time work – life balance. Let us first understand what is time management and why has it become so important in today’s time.

Time Management is abetted by an array of expertise, tools and modus operandi used to manage time while you want to complete an explicit set of chores or goals. At the outset, time management was only correlated and fixated on the work front; but today with a hectic lifestyle, time management is also pertinent on the personal front as well.

For example, most of the families are nuclear families in today’s time and most of the couples are working. Hence time management for such families becomes all the more important not only at the professional front but also at the personal level.

The primary subjects arising out from the collected works on time management comprise of the subsequent points:

- Creating your list of primacies and carrying out activities as per the list of primacies.

- Once you have prioritised your work, you will tend to spend less time on the ‘not so important activities’.

- Forming a milieu favourable to efficacy.

Skills that you can use to manage your time effectively are:

- Awareness – Awareness is fundamentally corralling down all your precedence’s, that you have been aware of and acting upon them in the postulated time period.

- Organization – Time management and organization both go hand in hand. Organization in terms of organizing your priorities.

- Commitment – Your mind should not meander if something attention-grabbing comes up be it economically or in any other form. You should always stick to your commitments and try to complete your responsibilities within the committed time frame.

So, here are some tips to manage your time efficiently and effectively:

1. Prioritising your tasks

Time management and organizing or prioritising (as used commonly) goes hand in hand. The first thing you got to do is to list down to – do list and arrange them according to their importance. Your to-do list should somewhat look like this,

Task 1 – should be completed by today 2 p.m.
Task 2 – should be completed by today 4 p.m.
Task 3 – should be completed by tomorrow 8 a.m.
And so on.

If there are say two tasks to be done at the same time, you can bifurcate it further like, task 1a or task 1.1 and so on.

2. Starting the day in a right way:

You can begin your day by meditating for 5 or 10 minutes, or you could even workout. It will not only help in relaxing your mind but will also help in increasing your productivity and keeping you calm during the day.

3. Learn to Balance:

Once you have prepared your primacy list, try to finish first those errands which you have emphasized as significant and gradually moving towards the less imperative errands.
Concentrate on the tasks that you have listed at the outset and complete those tasks.

For example: if you have listed a specific task as important and as first priority, then finish that particular task first and then move onto the second, even if you feel that the other less important task is easy and will get over quickly.

4. Concentrate on your most prolific period of the day

You have to find out which time during the day you can perform more efficiently and are proactive. Every individual has a different time in which they are the most proactive and their productivity soars high, may be in the morning hours or evening hours and work accordingly.

5. Setting targets for yourself

You could set targets for each task. Provide yourself a time goal to accomplish the entire chore. For example, Task one, you set a time for yourself saying you will accomplish this particular task in half an hour and then trying to accomplishing it within the half an hour time frame.

In this way you will also enjoy and you will keep competing with yourself hence not only boosting your morale but will also motivate you to finish the tasks in the given time frame.

6. Multi – tasking

You could also try to multi – task that is doing two tasks at the same time. It will not only save your time but will also help you in finishing your daily chores early. But while multi-tasking keep in mind that you should not lose the quality of your work.

For example: You can prepare your priority list while travelling. I personally prefer it to do while I am travelling so that when I reach my office I can start acting on my priority list without having to waste time on making a to – do list and then start acting on it.

7. Avoid Procrastination

Procrastination is commonly witnessed when you do not like doing that specific task. The finest way a person can evade procrastination is by apportioning the task into small parts and finishing the task one by one.

In this way by spending little time on each task, you will able to finish the task. If you can learn to evade procrastination, you will become competent in managing your time more effectively and efficiently.


8. Learn to delegate tasks

If you keep doing all the chores by yourself you will always run out of time. Hence it is essential that you learn to envoy and split your responsibilities and errands so that you are able to manage your time effectively and efficiently. In this way you will be also able to accomplish your tasks in time.

9. Carefully select your projects

Before taking up any additional accountability, always evaluate the assignment first. Think on the lines if that project will improve your career in any form? Or will you be able to give enough time to this project?

There is no harm in saying ‘no’ to a project. It is far better by saying ‘no’ rather than burdening yourself with additional responsibility and not being able to fulfil it properly and on time.


10. Give yourself rest and enough sleep

Take time off for breaks during the day to invigorate and convalesce. Along with taking breaks during the day in office, it is also crucial for you to get enough sleep, i.e. of 6 – 8 hours to keep you fresh.

If you don’t get the right amount of sleep, you will keep feeling sluggish and crummy during that day and will not be able to perform passably.

Time management does not mean that you put in more effort in less time, but it is essential for you to work competently and meritoriously in less time.