Sometimes I think that the more tools we have to make our lives easier, the more skills we need to manage everything.
500 years ago when I started work we had actual in-trays, with paper in them. The paper never got lost because there was usually a secretary whose job it was to keep track. Everything got replied to and filed away in filing cabinets for eternity. There was a half hour each day for correspondence, and the rest of the time was for DOING WORK.
Over time we have mostly dispensed with the traditional role of secretary - which is my kind of progress :-) but I'm not entirely sure that along the way we've all learned how to organise ourselves properly. If you are a busy person, and I mean you really have A LOT of things to do/manage/juggle, you'd better learn how to be efficient with your time or you'll lose control of things and end up extremely stressed.
Obviously having a full-time human being whose job is to organise you is probably beyond most of our requirements (and finances), but who couldn't use improved techniques to take control of our increasingly busy workloads :-)
Here's my top 10 tips to take control of your time:
1. Be proactive rather than reactive
Being reactive all day is an extremely stressful way to work. Responding to other people's needs, requests for help, requests from clients, queries... you'll feel every day that you've been busy all day but got nothing done. Sound familiar? This is the way many people work but you can turn this around. If your job is mostly to respond to the needs of others, plan for this. Don't end every day feeling frustrated because you wasted your time IF THAT IS YOU DOING YOUR JOB. Plan for blocks of time every day to be 100% available to deal with the reactive tasks IN A PROACTIVE WAY. Schedule small blocks of time to take stock, organise, plan. This might be just a half hour three or four times a day but it will change the balance from feeling you are running around like a headless chicken to feeling in control.
2. Be less available
In an open plan office, which is the environment most of us work these days, it can be really hard to block out distractions. But the biggest distraction of all is the person who arrives at your desk looking for "a minute of your time". It's your decision to give away your time at this point so really think about it. If you're on a deadline or trying to focus on something, postpone them. Do it nicely! Give them a time to come back. Don't be surprised if they find an alternative or the problem goes away :-)
3. Keep ONE task list
This is such a basic tip but it's so important. Most of us keep lists, but you have to manage those lists to be really productive. You're giving yourself extra work if you have multiple lists - the list of emails marked unread, the list of things written in a notebook on you desk, the post-its stuck to your screen... and worst of all the lists in your head.
Make your life much easier and keep ONLY ONE LIST. Have a look at list making tools and choose which you prefer - some kind of technology will help a lot. Outlook has a great task manager, in Gmail there are endless list apps. Choose one method and stick to it. If you really buy into this one list strategy, over time you will stop relying on the backup lists, but it will take time. It's worth it. You won't realise how much you've been hauling around all the tasks in your head until you successfully commit them to a properly managed list.
4. Use due dates
The most important piece of information to store with each task is when it's due. By "due" I mean when you should start working on it. For a long project you may need a due date and a target end date. Due dates let you focus on what's important today and not get distracted or overwhelmed by what's coming down the tracks next week.
5. Plan Daily
Each day (in your first half hour of planning, see point 1) look at the tasks planned for today only. Will they all get done? If not decide NOW which ones you'll reschedule to tomorrow or some other time. Did yesterday's tasks all get done? Re-date for today. Being constantly reminded in your list that you have 5 things overdue since last week is not helpful. If it didn't get done yesterday, it's now due today. Last thing each day, review your list. It's very satisfying leaving at the end of the day feeling prepared for tomorrow. In the spirit of proactive vs reactive, even just moving all today's tasks to tomorrow after a manic day still feels controlled and productive.
6. Prioritise ruthlessly - 80:20 rule
The 80:20 rule applies to your use of time as well as so many other aspects of business (and life). In this context: 20% of your time contributes to 80% of your results. What tasks are wasting your time? If you are short on time, be selective. Prioritise. Be brutal. Find the 20%.
7. Communicate challenges early
If you're falling behind, don't stick your head in the sand. Communicate. As soon as you've declared you're in trouble, you can ask for help or reschedule. The sooner the better.
8. Delegate
You can't do everything. Sometimes tasks are more suited to other people's skills, sometimes they can be outsourced. Think about this before you take something on. If it's better given to somebody else, don't wait until the due date arrives to realise this. Nobody wants to take on your tasks when they're already overdue.
9. Manage your inbox
Letting everything build up in your inbox is a horrible way to manage your email correspondence. I know email is easy and casual and non-committal and what the heck oops I must have missed it can you re-send... COME ON GUYS. We can do better than this.
Having some control over your email will make you feel more in control generally. Inbox zero is an actual thing. Really. Of course you don't have to aim for an empty inbox (please try though, it's a great feeling), but if you're receiving hundreds of emails a day you need a way to filter out the noisy email crap and prioritise what's important.
Instead of scanning everything the minute it hits your inbox and then forgetting about it, try to be more decisive. There are a lot of strategies for how to do this but if you are managing a task list I advise dealing with the email now (forward, delete, whatever) or adding to a task list if it requires a more substantial action. Give the task a due date. Then file or archive the email. Get it out of your head and out of your inbox. Next.
10. Close down your email
I often find that some of the busiest and most unavailable people either respond to your email IMMEDIATELY or NEVER. This tells me that they need to learn step 9 :-) and that they are basically living in their inbox. I'm not sure when it became commonplace to be inside your email every single minute of the day but this is not a good strategy if you are trying to get things done.
Unless your job involves an SLA for response time to emails, my strong advice is to get out of that inbox for blocks of time so that you can concentrate properly. Yes, I mean actually close it down and shut off your notifications.
I did Time Management training for the first time about 20 years ago and the trainer said never to block off more than 2 hours at a time for focussing on a project. I remember thinking "there's no way that's enough" but now I think "imagine spending one whole hour on a task without interruption". It can be done but it's up to you to make it happen.
Finally: Work, Rest and Play
This isn't one of my ten, it's just a rule for life really.
If you're under a lot of work pressure it can be hard to plan leisure time and rest time. But you should be aiming for 8 hours each for work, rest and play. No really. If this seems unrealistic, even just allocating some time for each is a start. You are not a machine. Your quality of life is important and you need to mind your mental health. You'll be much more productive as a result.
Do you need help taking control of your chaos? Talk to me :-)