Utilise your most valuable resource and squeeze the most time out of your day.
By Craig Falck for Africa Report
Photograph: © Yuri Arcurs | Dreamstime.com
Procrastination and bad time management are two of the biggest mistakes that any person can make, and it’s even worse when you’re in the office. In order to get ahead of the game at the workplace, the simple rule is to make hay while the sun’s shining and take control of things. And it really is a case of mind over matter.
Getting the best from your day is all about order. If you have structure and order to adhere to and follow, you can accurately plan out what you need to do and get it done. By having guidelines of what you need to do, you can evenly space tasks and objectives, as well as prioritise the more important and time-consuming ones. This will also allow you to schedule in other tasks that you would normally neglect and do at the last minute – while they may seem small and insignificant to you, further down the line they may be vital to the successful completion of your task.
When it comes to time management, you need to be able to sit down, formulate a plan and stick to it. It’s important that you know what you’re doing and talking about, so if you’re not sure, check with someone who does. If you expect part A in 20 minutes and part C in 30, check with people at part B to see how long it will take before it’s ready. That way you know how much time is going to be needed and you can slot the next steps into place.
Drawing up plans and schedules is the easy part… now comes actually sticking to them and following through with your plan. If you find that there’s too much to do on one day and not enough on the other, shuffle things around and get them balanced. Now that that’s in order, if you notice that you’re going to need more time on a particular day, set your alarm a bit earlier, or stay later the night before. Forget about going out socialising with colleagues or friends if you need to – work is more important, whether you like it or not. Chances are you’ll actually get more done when the office is quieter anyway. And it won’t go unnoticed either – the boss will see that you’re in earlier and leave later.
You don’t need to be up at the crack of dawn or burn the midnight oil – just go according to your plan and you’ll be amazed at how much you get done in a day.
