When it comes to time and project management, it is often said that you should create a plan as per priority. Assign the work that needs to be delivered first at the top and then follow the hierarchy.
But what if every project that you pick is tagged as ‘on priority’? Today’s work life is all about hurrying to finish the work on time, meeting deadlines, competing with fellow employees, the overburden of work, the list just goes on and on.
When you have your time managed well, however, things can get streamlined for you. You can start feeling like time is your own and also see an improvement in your productivity.
In this article, you can read about how you can actually plan your time well and get everything done when all of it seems like a priority-based task. If you wish to know more about the tools that can help you with managing projects and time, click here.
Plan your time
A pretty obvious tip but it still needs to be put out there for the world to see. Managing requires planning. You can get the most out of everything when that thing is planned. It is the same with your time.
Make it a habit to plan how you are going to spend your time, how you will work out the priorities that you have for the week, check for all the commitments and meetings that you have. Also, it is best to often split your priorities across different days and blocking a few hours to work on the mandatory tasks every day.
This will ensure that you are productive and also getting your priority work done. You should keep in mind to not over-allocate important tasks in order to ensure the timely completion of work.
Organize projects
Once you have your time managed, it is now time to get your projects organized. You will have the need to manage your time when there are plenty of projects on your hand and which you think are all on priority.
Thus, it is crucial that you get your project management on track. This is where a pm software comes into the picture. This tool allows you to easily place your tasks as per your priority. It also makes sure that you have all the data that you need, all the names and hierarchy right in front of you.
This will be a truly helpful tool during those busy times when you feel nothing is going as per you or when work is spiraling out of control.
Categorize work as urgent and important
You need to learn the difference between what work is important and what work is urgent. It is true that time management is a tricky aspect but it is also one of the easiest things that help you stay composed during chaotic times.
Now, know that urgent and important are not interchangeable. What is urgent is not important and what might seem important may not be urgent.
You will consider your work as important when it has a high significance for you and your organization and when your workforce believes it will help you reach your goal. While on the other hand, urgent tasks are the ones that need to undertaken then and there.
Make sure you are spending most of your days working on tasks with high urgency and high importance.
Learn the art of delegation
Delegation is an art. Why? Because many are not able to get through with it or many just over-do it.
This is a phenomenon that needs the right kind of balance if you are actually seeking to manage your time. There are leaders who find it difficult to delegate work. They try to be the one-man army. This leads to time wastage and also, wastage of the skilled resources that the organization has hired.
On the other hand, there are leaders that delegate the work without thinking about how much burden it can be. They don’t see the amount of work that the employee already has or if they will be able to finish the work on time.
Thus, make sure you get the hang of the art of delegation before it’s too late to handle work and manage time.
Define your priorities
By priorities, we don’t mean the tasks that you were given to complete on a particular day by your managers. When it comes to prioritizing, you should create yourselves a weekly calendar, a list of things that you ought to do every day, and your monthly goals.
When you prioritize your work, you will know which task should you assign to your teammates first.
For your daily list, make a timetable for yourself. List every small thing that will take your time on that particular day. It is important to be as specific as possible if you wish to get the work done on time. Treat this list as your reminder for the day. It will also help you manage your decision-making power.
As for the weekly and monthly calendars, put down everything that you need to do and everything that you wish to achieve. Align your weekly tasks towards achieving your goals. This way, you will always have your work streamlined and completed.
Avoid distractions
We all know that distractions take up most of our time of the day. These distractions could include anything ranging from social media accounts to online shopping, from Netflix to heading out for a coffee with a colleague or a friend.
If you truly wish to get the work done on time, make sure you surround yourself with things that you know won’t shift your focus.
For instance, you can keep your phone on silent and in your bag when you are working. This way, no messages or calls will disturb you.
You can also make sure that you are informing your friends to not disturb you when you are working. Once you learn to avoid distractions, you will be able to manage your time easily. This will also help you stay a lot more productive.
Conclusion
To conclude, we can say that when you have the right strategies and tools, managing time is not as difficult as many think it is. You need to be determined and focused to get the work streamlined.
