In my work with organizations and leaders, I have noticed that many entrepreneurs and business executives blame their inability to achieve improved efficiency and increased productivity to lack of time. Understanding the ways to manage time effectively is therefore critical to the success of any company or organization, whether at startup stage, or a growing one. For more information on goal timeline, visit our website today.
Time is essential in everything we do, and understanding how we can make the most of it, will practically change the results we produce.
My objective is to help you to understand the 5 simple strategies you can apply to your daily time management techniques in addition to what you already know as the ways to increase productivity. Each and every one of these simple techniques is easy to do, and easy not to do. The reason that they are easy not to do is because they are simple, and if you don't do them, they won't kill you... at least not today when we all know that not doing them is more comfortable than doing them. But that supposedly insignificant error in judgment, when compounded over time is what kills businesses and organizations.
Below are the 5 simple ways to manage time in order to help you create the most important results you desire.
1. Avoid emails
Many executives agree that checking emails is their number 1 time stealer. When you get in habit of checking emails regularly, your focus is gradually diverted from the important schedules of your day. If this habit continues unchecked, it forces the victim accomplishing less important tasks that does not contribute to the efficiency, improvement, and productivity of the business.
Although I am an advocate of effective communication as a strong means of growing a business, keeping your email client constantly open all day is the quickest way of killing your productivity because it distracts your focus, and compels you to "have a go" immediately at every email that comes. Instead of this, you can develop a 3-tier emailing checking plan; one in the morning, another in the afternoon, and the third after work times or before going to bed.
When working with teams sometime, it might be good to delay emailing feedback as late as possible. As bad as this may sound, it helps your team to develop the skill to deal with issues on their own rather than continuously referring to you for quick solutions. And when they know that you are always there and quick to respond to their issues, they become lazy to think on their feet.
2. Start each week with your highest priority goal
Focusing on one important achievement each week is one of the greatest time management techniques for increasing productivity. Decide on the big and most important goal you want to achieve each week and develop simple and realistic actions that you can execute daily to achieve them. Developing the discipline of executing simple actions and setting deadlines for completing each task everyday will enhance the ways to increase productivity in your organization faster.
When you focus on your highest priority assignments with disciplined commitment and determination to accomplish them, you are very likely to produce more in less time than when you focus on too many things at a time.
3. Find your productivity limit and stick to it
If you are like some people, there are certain numbers of hours of work beyond which your rate of productivity declines. If this applies to you, it is advisable that you find your limit and stick to it.
In my days as employee in banking, my Group Head devised what he called "prime time." He could allow members of the team to engage in some minutes of chatting but not within the prime time. He interprets "prime time" (8:00a.m - 12:00noon) as the most time to increase productivity in his department, and he could not afford to allow anyone in the team to use it otherwise.
When you were an employee of another company, your maximum allowed time of work was 37.5 hours a week (UK regulation). Now as an entrepreneur, it has become normal for you to work longer hours into the night sometimes. To be effective and productive, determine the maximum number of hours within which you can maintain your productive quality and don't go beyond it.
Some people have the ability to put in the maximum 37.5 hours and produce quality results while others are capable of stretching it to 80 hours and achieve the same results. However, you could be surprised to discover that the performance of the person that produced at best within 37.5 hours drops the moment he crosses the 37.5 hour limit. Therefore find the time that works best for you and stay within it to avoid wasting time and burn out.
4. Attend meetings only when it is necessary
Attending objective-focused meetings is one of the major ways to manage time effectively without compromising efficiency and increased productivity. If you must attend any meeting at all, be sure to review the agenda well in advance and ask yourself, "of what value is this going to make to my business or organization?" Any meeting with no specific objective/goal is a time waster and must be avoided.
Rather than wasting your time in unproductive meetings, consider if the matter could be discussed over telephone, Skype, or email and allocate a specific timeframe for it. When attending a meeting in person, over the telephone, or via Skype, always be prepared with a list of agenda for discussion. This will help you to focus only on the important part of the meeting.
5. Learn to say "no"
One of the effective time management techniques people often neglect is saying "no.' Entrepreneurs, especially startups are quick to say "yes" to every demand on their time. They want to attend every business network, and offer help to everyone. They want to meet every Dick while Harry is waiting behind to see them; and they thought that these too many activities are the best ways to increase productivity. Want to know more about short-term goals can be set to help achieve specific long-term goals? Visit our website for more information.
To strike a balance, entrepreneurs and business executives should assess the importance of the demand that other people are making on them and politely say "no" when they're not in sync with their business/corporate objectives. Any demand on your time that will not empower you, i.e. lead to increased productivity and efficiency is time wasting.