5 Time Management Hacks for Increased Productivity
Time management – a topic that has been covered at length but remains elusive. In our fast-paced society, it’s a skill I’m constantly trying to improve. Never more so than when I was in a management role leading a team of 40. When you’re leading a team, you’re often doing everything you can just to keep all the balls in the air, let alone cross off all the items on your to-do list.
Like many of you, I start each year with a goal of being more efficient & productive. After much trial & error I have found a few techniques that work for me. I’m sharing them with you in hopes that 1 or 2 will work for you as well. As an added bonus, most are easy to apply and can be implemented immediately. Here we go:
1. Turn off your email notifications
According to a University of California – Irvine study, it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to re-focus after being interrupted. That is a long-time! Get interrupted 3 times per day; and you’ve already lost an hour. If you’re like me, when I see an email notification pop up, I can’t resist the urge to click on it immediately.
What to do instead:
Disable the pop-up notifications
Check your email at specified intervals throughout the day i.e. once an hour, 4 times a day, etc.
See what works for you and then stick with it. I promise the world won’t end if you don’t read an email the minute it pops up. If it’s a true emergency, someone will pick up the phone.
2. Don’t reply to every email immediately
I have spent my entire career in client service; and I discovered I was too good at it. You’re probably thinking, how can you be too good at client service? Well, when you set unsustainable expectations with your clients.
For years I lived in my emails and would instantly respond to clients. While they loved it; I inadvertently set myself up for failure. If I didn’t respond as quickly as they were accustomed to, the follow ups and calls would begin. “Hi Erin, just want to make sure you received my email.” Sound familiar?
Now, what to do instead? Don’t stop what you’re doing to respond to a request unless it is truly an emergency. Instead finish up what you’re working on and then respond. It’s okay if it takes an hour or even two.
3. Make your calendar work for you
Identify what time of day you’re most productive and do everything you can to protect it i.e. do not schedule meetings during this window! For instance, I’m a morning person. I start work at 8am and do not schedule any meetings before 10am (ideally 11am). This allows me to organize my day and knock out the important tasks first thing.
Secondly, set a recurring meeting on your calendar for priority work. This is your dedicated time each week to focus on projects, strategic planning, team initiatives, etc. Personally, I set this time for Fridays from 1-4pm. I even make the appointment private so people won’t be tempted to book a meeting during this time.
4. Plan for the next day
You’ve been plugging away all day and suddenly it’s time to head home. You instantly switch gears to getting to the gym, what you’re going to have for dinner or what errands you need to run. So you wrap up what you’re doing and head out. Forgetting something?
Well, if you want to maximize your productivity, you need to plan for the next day. It won’t take you more than 5-10 minutes max.
Review your list of pending items
Identify your top 3 must-dos for the next day
Create a plan to tackle them
Block out time on your calendar for these tasks
Why is this so important? As you’re wrapping up your day, you know exactly what you did and did not accomplish. By completing the steps above, you’ll be able to hit the ground running immediately the next morning without needing to figure out where you left off.
5. Work in small bursts
It is well-known that our attention spans are short; and we easily succumb to distraction. Therefore, I found it helpful to work in concentrated bursts. Specifically, 25-minute ones.
In early 2018, I discovered the Productivity Planner which I fell in love with. Following the Pomodoro method, you set weekly priorities and identify the most important task you need to complete each day (in addition to secondary tasks). Furthermore, you estimate how many 25-minute intervals each task will take to complete and compare it to how many it actually takes. In doing so, you gain the following:
1. Learn how long various tasks take you
2. Become better able to plan your schedule accordingly
3. Identify potential repeatable tasks that you can delegate
To recap, turn off your email notifications, stagger your email responsiveness, block out time on your calendar for priority items, plan for the next day and lastly work in short bursts. These techniques have really made a difference for me; and I hope they will for you as well.
I’d love to hear what time management techniques work for you. Hopefully together we can re-take control of our calendars and shrink our never-ending to-do lists.
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