Last week, I was facilitating a Business Acceleration Conversation with a potential client to better understand their business, current landscape and realities, challenges, opportunities, etc. As I was summarizing the meeting and asking what people liked most about it, I received one interesting question: \u201cI always knew we were on a journey, I didn\u2019t realize how much we still needed to do. My question is, how do we find the time?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have all the time there is.<\/i><\/b>\u201d<\/i> <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Nobody (those best at using their time or those worst at using their time) has more time than anyone else \u2014 we all get 24 hours. So why is it then that some people seemingly get more done and others do not? Here are some tips I\u2019ve compiled over the years to help you stay organized and best use your time.<\/p>\n
Turn off your email pop-up, in fact turn off your email all together<\/h2>\n
I figured I\u2019d start with the most controversial tip. Did you know that, while working on this article, I would lose, on average, 3 minutes for every email if my pop-up were on? Even if you just look at it and decide you don\u2019t need to deal with it right away, it takes at least 3 minutes to get your concentration level back to where it was before you looked at the email. I think it\u2019s fair to say that you get a minimum of 20 emails a day, so I just saved you 1 whole hour.<\/p>\n
Schedule time to manage your email<\/h2>\n
Rather than reviewing email as it comes in, try scheduling time in your day to review and address your email. Now, I\u2019ve worked in Professional Services much of my career where people suggest this isn\u2019t possible, yet those who have tried have thanked me numerous times for changing their lives. Again, be smart when you do this. First, if you work for someone who expects you to turn things around quickly, communicate to them what you\u2019re doing and why. Tell them that you\u2019re still accessible, and that if they need you urgently, they give you a call or better yet, come see you. Second, tell people when you\u2019ll be looking at the email, and finally set a frequency that works for you.<\/p>\n
Do something with your email<\/h2>\n
Best practice says you should do something with your email as it comes in. When you receive an email, do something with it. Either respond to it right away, and then delete it or file it. If you don\u2019t need it at all, or if no action is required, delete it or file it. If you need to action something but can\u2019t do it right away, put the email in your calendar at a time you can deal with it \u2014 in essence, schedule it. Finally, if someone else needs to do the work, forward it (delegate it) to them. My recommendation is to never have more than 20 emails in your actual inbox after you\u2019ve deleted, filed or delegated the rest.<\/p>\n
Plan your day, but don\u2019t plan for more than 60%<\/h2>\n
If you\u2019re like me, you hate it when you go to work and feel like you didn\u2019t accomplish anything. My experience is that this feeling is largely due to us over-planning our days and ending up disappointed when we don\u2019t get our list finished. There are lots of interruptions or unplanned events that occur every day \u2014 people stopping by your desk, phone calls, emails, urgent requests, etc. \u2014 so expect that those will occur and only plan or schedule 60% of your time.<\/p>\n
Let your Leader schedule your day<\/h2>\n
Part of what the gentleman I referred to in my introduction also said was: \u201cMy boss expects me to do all of these things and now you\u2019re adding another thing on my plate; there just isn\u2019t time.\u201d My recommendation to him \u2014 and you \u2014 is to have your Leader help you schedule your time. I encourage you to ask them to help you determine what\u2019s most important. Here\u2019s what that could sound like: \u201cI\u2019m happy to do this, and I hear that it\u2019s ‘urgent’. Should I do this before A), B), and C) that I also have on my plate, or are those more urgent?\u201d Let them determine what you should work on.<\/p>\n
These are just a few time management tips that have changed my life and allowed me to be more productive, efficient and effective in my day. Ultimately this allows me to better manage the most important part of my life \u2014 my family. I encourage you to try some of these tips and see how it might have the same impact for you.<\/p>\n
Let me know how it goes \u2014 I\u2019d love to hear from you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last week, I was facilitating a Business Acceleration Conversation with a potential client to better understand their business, current landscape and realities, challenges, opportunities, etc. As I was summarizing the meeting and asking what people liked most about it, I […]","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[346,1],"tags":[4868],"class_list":["post-7832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-carriere","category-developpement-professionel","tag-guides-carriere"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jobillico.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jobillico.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jobillico.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jobillico.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jobillico.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7832"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.jobillico.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9828,"href":"https:\/\/www.jobillico.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7832\/revisions\/9828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jobillico.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jobillico.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jobillico.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}