Jul 14
In this new era in which people work all day in front of computers, it’s easy to be distracted with something on the web, instead of working. In today’s workplace it’s absolutely fundamental that you can differentiate yourself not only by your knowledge but also in your ability to manage your time and keep your deadlines.
But there are many simple and easy ways to implement techniques that can help you improve your efficiency at work. These skills will help you identify and focus on the tasks that are more relevant to you.
The idea is that you work smarter, not harder!
1. Prioritize
- For sure you have many “important” tasks to do, but certainly you can organize them by priority. Every morning you should come up with a list of pending tasks organized by priority 1, 2 or 3 (high, medium, low). Choose the ones that you will be focusing on during the morning and those that will fill your afternoon. Now you have a plan, it’s just a matter of implementing the plan! As soon as you finish each task, mark them, so that you can see your improvement.
- http://mind42.com/ is the best free mindmap tool and helps you to organize tasks and get a better view of what and how things need to be done.
- You can also use an online to-do list and task manager: http://www.rememberthemilk.com/
2. Don’t leave your inbox abandoned
- You should manage your inbox in a way that lets you find the information when it is needed. One of the ways to organize your inbox is through folders (outlook) or labels (Gmail). If the message has a related task, add it to your to-do list or flag it (outlook). If it is a meeting, mark it on the calendar; if it’s a reference, print it. If it’s something that you don’t require anymore, just archive it.
- Like all Google tools, Google Calendar is a very simple but very effective calendar app which has a huge number of features to help you remember important dates, create schedules and synchronize them across multiple devices. You can also use a to-do list feature on Google http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=144246
3. Multitask can be deadly
- If you keep switching tasks, you are losing a huge percentage of your time, just getting into the mindset to solve each task. Some tasks requires some thoughts, others require to discuss with someone, so don’t jump from task to task because you will not finish any. Focus on each task at a time and just do it till the end. Try to limit your multitasking habit, because it will end up jeopardizing your productivity.
4. Check your email at a scheduled time
- You may get from a handful to hundreds of emails each day that need to be answered, but they don’t need to be answered immediately, interrupting whatever else you’re doing. Instead, set a particular time each day to review and answer your email. Schedule the hour or whatever time it takes you to answer the volume of emails you get, and stick to that schedule as regularly as possible.
- I recommend that you establish 4 moments a day to check your emails and just answer to those that require your urgent answer, otherwise they should first be filtered by your daily task filter (see point 1).
5. Keep your bookmarks organized
- In today’s world, finding the right information quickly is very important for any professional. Keep your bookmarks organized using an online bookmarking system like delicious (http://delicious.com/). Instead of keeping post-its or notes, you can have them organized, search for them and share them with your team!
- http://www.evernote.com/ is probably the best note-taking app. So how does it help in time management? Well, first it works online, on Windows & Mac and on your cell phone too. It allows you to quickly capture things like web clips, images, audio and share them. Also your notes are always synchronized across multiple devices.
