Whatever your position, industry, or rank, using time wisely will give you more productive working hours rather than simply less work.
Time seems to shrink while your to-do list keeps growing, and you feel you may eventually have to bring your toothbrush and slippers to the office or never get everything done.
Whatever your position, industry, or rank, using time wisely will give you more productive working hours rather than simply less work.
Using time intelligently will help you work productively. The following are not difficult to do:
1. Focus Only on the Task at Hand
Whatever the reason, doing too many things at once can reduce work quality and delay completion. Think about how your time is actually being used, rather than just the tasks you are doing.
Author Morgenstern recommends keeping a time diary or using time-management software such as Eternity Time Log. This helps users see their areas of responsibility and the time each requires.
2. Keep only 3–5 tasks on your to-do list
One of the biggest mistakes many people make is putting almost everything—large and small, essential and trivial—on their to-do list.
Laura Vanderkam, author of ‘168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think,’ believes the solution is to identify what truly belongs on the list—no more than 3–5 absolute must-do tasks—and discard the rest.
Morgenstern says: “For many people, even the tech-savvy, a paper list—even one typed on a computer and printed—is still very useful. You can glance at it without returning to the computer screen, a gateway to countless Internet distractions.”
3. Make use of your alarm clock
Do not underestimate the power of one of your smartphone’s simplest functions: the alarm. Author Morgenstern believes awareness of time can help you live purposefully and overcome personal weaknesses, from being easily distracted to not knowing when to finish a task.
Morgenstern says: “If you are a perfectionist, you can say, ‘I'll spend 90 minutes on this, no more,’ and set an alarm. It will help you overcome perfectionism. You can say, ‘I'll work for two hours before checking email.’”
4. Handle email and plan your work
“Email brings a great deal of work and many distractions,” Morgenstern said. The author also recommended keeping it out of the period immediately after waking up and the first hour of the workday.
‘It is the world's most convenient procrastination tool. But it is something you can control. You cannot develop a proactive mindset if you begin your day in reactive mode.’
Take time at the end of today to plan tomorrow and the two days after it. This not only helps you stay on track throughout the day, but also gives you a clearer view of your workload so you are ready to face emerging challenges or focus on what you have listed.
Do not merely prepare the day's tasks; commit to when you will finish them.
5. Rank the options
If you have decided to leave the office at a certain time and an end-of-day task arises that requires your attention but is not vital to the company’s survival, assess and handle it within your remaining time. You do not necessarily have to stay at the office into the evening.
Author Vanderkam suggests asking yourself: “If I absolutely had to leave at 5 p.m., what would I need to accomplish before then?”
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Whatever your priorities between life and work, nearly everyone agrees on one point: the most creative and productive people in their professions place great importance on time outside the office.
“If you do not set aside time to rest in a way that truly refreshes and restores your energy, you cannot make sound and effective decisions at work,” Morgenstern said.
‘Work expands to fill the space available,’ Vanderkam said, ‘so treat the end of the day as something very important. The most productive people I know always have a reason to want to leave at 5 p.m.’
Trần Đắc Luân
Saigon Entrepreneur/Forbes
