Time Management Tips - Part 1

Managing time effectively is an issue for many people. There are various aspects involved in dealing with this - planning, prioritising, delegating, saying no, creating systems and managing interruptions.

It has been estimated that some managers get interrupted every six minutes! So if that’s the case for you, try some of the techniques set out below and then review the impact on your working day.

1. Have a ‘do not disturb’ sign that you can put up, or agree with colleagues another way of showing you are not available at certain times unless it is an emergency (and agree in advance with others what this actually includes). Be aware of the need to balance keeping informed with managing interruptions. And once you have agreed a ‘do not disturb’ signal, do not abuse it by always being unavailable or it will increasingly be ignored.

2. If you are interrupted when dealing with a task, take a few moments to write yourself a note about what stage you were at – this will make it easier to recall your thought processes and carry on with the task later.

3. Estimate the time for a task and then increase it to allow for interruptions. Finishing earlier will feel like a bonus! And when planning your week, leave space in your schedule generally so you have time to deal with the unexpected and react effectively and calmly.

4. Rather than always answering your telephone, use your answering machine or voice mail to take a message, or have your secretary/assistant/colleague take messages during certain periods and only bring them to you at agreed upon intervals. Then deal with phone calls in a limited number of sessions.

5. Turn off the ‘you have mail’ alert on your PC and only look at your email at certain times during the day – and limit this to a few times unless absolutely necessary.

I will be giving more tips for managing your time, in part 2.

Have a great week!