If you’re finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with the demands of your job, poor time management may be the culprit. When you don’t use your time wisely, you’re not able to achieve maximum productivity, causing your work to suffer.
Follow these five time management tips to improve your productivity in the workplace and fast-track your career:
1. Tackle Your Most Important Task First
Let’s face it, some tasks require deeper thinking and greater concentration than others. It’s best to take the most important one on first thing in the morning, rather than waiting until later in the day when you’re feeling drained. As an added bonus, the satisfying feeling of accomplishing a tough project early in the day will help you feel great for the duration.
2. Plan Your Day in Advance
When you have a number of competing priorities, proper planning is the only way to fit everything in. Take a few minutes at the end of each day to think about what’s in store for tomorrow. Make sure you don’t waste any time by mapping out a plan of when you’ll fit each task in, to maximize your productivity.
3. Get Organized
How much time do you waste each day shuffling through papers on your desk and looking for misplaced files on your computer? This is all time you could’ve spent working. Create an organized filing system ─ for both electronic and paper documents ─ so you’ll know exactly where to look for every file. You might be surprised at how much time this adds back into your day.
4. Focus on One Thing at a Time
Many people think multitasking is the ultimate way to improve efficiency, but it can actually be the opposite. When you’re only devoting part of your attention to a task, it takes a lot longer to complete it and the quality suffers. For example, if you try to prepare a report for your boss while participating in a conference call, the report is likely to have typos and you’ll only have a vague idea what the meeting was about. Focus on one task at a time and the quality of your work will skyrocket.
5. Prepare for Time Gaps
At some point in the day most people have some extra downtime. When you’re sitting in the waiting room at a doctor’s office, commuting to work on public transportation, or the first one to arrive at a meeting, be prepared with some work to accomplish. It can be as simple as responding to a few emails, but making efficient use of your time allows you to accomplish more in your day.
If you’re having trouble getting excited about your job, it may be time for a change. Contact Sparks Group to get started on finding a new position where you can thrive.
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