One of the easiest ways to prevent burnout on a daily basis is to have a good organization and time management.
Here are 10 tips to efficiently master time management at work.
1.- Find out how you are currently spending your time.
To optimize personal time management, we must first figure out what we spend our time on:
- Determine how much productive time you can achieve in a day.
- Identify lost time.
- Focus on the activities that yield the highest returns.
2.- Create a daily schedule and stick to it
This step is absolutely crucial to learning how to manage time at work.
Start the work day with a to-do list, and before finishing for the day, create a list of the most urgent tasks for the next day.
Putting everything down on paper will keep you from lying awake at night tossing and turning through the tasks running through your brain.
3.- Prioritize wisely
Evaluate your to-do list and be sure to organize it based on the importance of a task rather than its urgency:
- Important and urgent🚨: these tasks have important deadlines with a lot of urgency.....
- Important but not urgent📌: these items are important but do not require immediate action.
- Urgent but not important🚀: these tasks are urgent but not important. Minimize them, delegate them or delete them.
4.- Groups similar tasks
One way to save time and mental energy is to complete all tasks of one type before moving on to the next.
For example, create separate time periods for answering emails, making phone calls, organizing, etc.
Don't respond to emails and messages as they arrive, as doing so is distraction at its best. Turning off notifications is a way to maintain focus for the time stipulated for each pending.
5.- Avoid doing multiple tasks at the same time.
This is one of the simplest time management tips for work, but it can be one of the hardest to follow.
Focus on the task at hand and block out all distractions. Switching from one task to another wastes time and decreases productivity.
Likewise, don't feel overwhelmed by a long to-do list. Stressing about it won't make it any shorter. So breathe in, breathe out and do one task at a time.
6.-Assigntime limits to tasks.
Part of creating your schedule should involve setting time limits for tasks rather than simply working until they're done. To-do lists are great and wonderful, but sometimes it can feel like you never check anything off.
The Pomodoro Technique is ideal for defining this time. It performs the pending tasks in 25-minute chunks, taking short breaks between each period and a longer break after completing four.
This technique balances a narrow focus with frequent breaks, which reduces mental strain and maintains motivation.
7.- Incorporates self-regulators
It may seem counterintuitive, but breaks are essential for better time management.
Research shows that regular breaks increase productivity, mental well-being, decision-making and memory. And skipping breaks can lead to faster burnout and more stress.
8.- Learn to say no
You won't learn how to manage time at work if you don't learn how to say no. Only we really know what we have time for, so if we need to turn down a request to focus on more important tasks, don't hesitate to do so. And if we accept a project that obviously isn't going anywhere, it's best to let it go.
Instead of doing many tasks that generate little or no value, complete fewer tasks that create more value.
9.- Get organized
Little things make a big difference. Create a document filing system. Unsubscribe from emails we no longer need. Automate repetitive tasks or processes where you can. Create systems to organize and perform tasks to increase efficiency.
For effective time management, this tip should be included in the to-do list.
10.- Eliminate distractions
Social networking, web browsing, co-workers, texting, instant messaging: distractions at work can be limitless. A key to personal time management is to be proactive in getting rid of them.
