Skills Series: Time Management

Why, when we all get the same 24 hours in the day, do some people achieve so much more than others? I think you know the answer…. good time management.

If you assessed many high achievers I think you would find they all manage their time exceptionally well. To manage your time well, try shifting your focus from activities to results, and remember being busy is NOT the same as being effective!

Time management is the process of planning and controlling of time spent on specific activities, with the aim of increasing:

• Effectiveness
• Efficiency
• Productivity. 

Good time management allows you to work smarter (not harder) so you actually get more done in less time – a skill that I think you’d agree, will be useful in all walks of life!

How good is your time management? Try this quiz to find out!

So if you feel like your days are spent in a frenzy bouncing between tasks, then take an hour to read about some good time management techniques and then keep practising these until they become second nature. And even if you feel like you’ve got good time management, why not take a step further and learn to have great time management!! 

Keep reading to find out some tips on how to balance work, social life, family, hobbies, personal interests and commitments with the finiteness of time. And remember the way you allocate your time is your ‘choice’ so choose to spend it well!

Plan → Prioritise → Focus → Structure → Track & Reflect 

Planning 

In terms of your project, a great way to do this is to work backwards. Create a Long-Term Plan – We all find individual tasks emerging on a day to day basis which seem to take over our day before we even have a chance to get started on the important stuff! That is why it’s essential to create a long-term plan, so you can identify tasks you need to complete line with your goals, that you need to block out time to complete between the menial daily tasks. In terms of your project, this might involve breaking down your action project into important sections that will help you to address the different outcomes requested by your partner organisation. 

The next stage involves breaking down this long-term plan into simpler problems. Simpler tasks require less time and therefore shorter bursts of focus, making them easier to fit into your schedule. 

And finally, to simplify things one step further, you can to draw up a daily/weekly to-do list. It might seem almost too simple but to-do lists are still powerful tools which can help you become more productive and the fact that they are so simple makes them easy to implement. You can sit down and make a to-do list with your morning coffee or in bed the night before. An added bonus is that they are useful in preventing you from forgetting tasks you want to complete! The best to-do lists include a variety of tasks which can be ranked by priority as well as by the length of time they might take. 

Prioritise 

As mentioned above, prioritising your tasks is essential to guide you through the day’s activities in order of importance. Using your to-do list you can create your daily/weekly plan prioritising important tasks first. When ranking your tasks, you should always prioritize what’s most important/urgent so you reach your deadlines. In the section below we will provide some templates that you can print and use to help you organize your time. 

Focus

Despite our best intentions, we all get distracted. Group chats, Instagram, emails, talkative colleagues and tea-breaks – all feed peoples procrastination. With so many distractions, especially when working virtually, actually sitting down and getting things done is almost always harder than it should be. It is speculated that it takes about 23 minutes to refocus after being interrupted. So you need to cut out those distractions if you want to improve your work efficiency!

For social media, try pausing social media apps on your phone, or using a blocker on your browser so you can ban yourself from websites you find distracting for certain time periods. Try blocking out periods of time in your schedule to check work chats, emails and slack so you are not constantly responding to messages from your colleagues. 

It’s a good idea to try tracking how long you spend on short breaks, for example, if you are a big fan of hot beverages, four 15 minute tea breaks are going to cost you an hour of your day. Frequent breaks are important to for wellness while working, but just be conscious of the time they take and factor it into your day!   

And lastly, don’t forget to take breaks! We will share some ideas for good break time activities a bit later.

Structure your Time 

A structured schedule helps you assign time for different tasks and sets a healthy pressure to actually complete it. Time blocking is one of the most productive ways of doing this, as it prevents one task from overtaking your entire day and stops you from multi-tasking (multitasking is not very effective!) Create a day plan and block off periods of your day to complete different tasks.  Set aside small periods of time for admin-style tasks like email, scheduling and returning calls, and larger periods for more detailed, in-depth or analytical work.

Track, Reflect and Learn!

Without understanding how you use your time it might prove difficult to improve it. Tracking your time is key and should provide insights on where and how to make effective changes. You could track your time using an app on your phone, google calender or by simply noting down what you do each day and for how long. It is useful to update it throughout the day as if you sit down at the end of the day and collect this information the timings will be less accurate (pay particular attention to any distractions e.g. checking social media!) Use this information you note down to work out areas where you can use your time more efficiently, just remember you don’t need to make dramatic changes, tackle these improvements one step at a time. 

Google calendars is a fantastic tool to keep track of tasks and virtually schedule in time to complete them. Hear from Zoe about how to effectively use it… who knows, it might be one of those lightbulb moments you’ve been waiting for.

Here are a couple of simple templates we created for you to help you start getting organised and to start structuring your days so you get the most out of your time!

You don’t need to use all (or even any) of these templates but it could be useful to pick one that suits your working style best.

Time management strategies for remote workers – Timely Blog 

Time Management – List of Top Tips for Managing Time Effectively

Time management strategies for remote workers – Timely Blog

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