How can you improve your time and priority management?
Why improve your time management? To be productive and avoid burn-out, among other things...
Whether you're in the office, in the field, or confined to telecommuting 😉 the problem is the same: how do you organize your working time? Yes, but it's not just about working well.
We're talking about timetabling, literally about how to use it properly, to separate your professional and private life, to have a clear vision of what you have to do, so you can have time for yourself, take a breather and get back to your tasks at 100%.
Because managing your working time means managing your emergencies, but also your breaks, your rhythm and your energy.
Here we give you 7 time management methods, divided into 4 stages, to help you find your balance and accomplish your projects with peace of mind.
These days, there are enough stress factors, aren't there?
Your schedule for the next 10 minutes:
What is time management?
Time management is the method used to plan and organize activities in order to use available time as efficiently as possible.
The aim is to optimize your day or week by learning how to make the most of the time at your disposal.
Without minimal time management, tasks pile up, panic sets in and time wastage increases exponentially - a veritable vicious circle!
The benefits of time management
If you're reading this article, you already understand the importance of time management. But what are the benefits of good time management, and therefore of well-organized work?
💪 By structuring your tasks and defining your schedule in advance, you reduce your mental workload and gain in productivity. Tasks flow more smoothly, saving you time and freeing up free time.
⚠️ Priority management is an incredible lever for reducing stress: identifying those primordial tasks and carrying them out first engenders well-being and serenity for accomplishing everything else.
🤜 If you work collaboratively, your team knows where you stand and may be able to help you with certain tasks. And if you're working on your own, you can easily visualize your workload.
What not to do:
❌ O verload your schedule
Your schedule should be realistic, even slightly pessimistic, keeping empty time slots for "just in case", emergencies, oversights.
❌ S ay yes to every request
Are you a good colleague, a good employee, full of goodwill? Maybe, but you're not a machine; you have to know how to say no. Otherwise your tasks pile up, your stress increases, and you can't cope any more.
❌ Procrastinating
Don't put off the tasks you're least excited about until later, especially if they're likely to be a priority: on the contrary, get rid of them first, you'll be proud and at peace with yourself. In any case, the longer you put them off, the more insurmountable the chores seem...
❌ Multitasking
Are you good at multitasking? Maybe, but do you do them as well as if you were concentrating on each one in turn? By thinking you're saving time, you're actually wasting it.
❌ Not taking breaks
Breaks are essential for your brain to recover and be efficient. Your body will thank you too: getting some fresh air, changing your point of view can be a source of inspiration for the mind, and it avoids cramps and backaches that don't help with concentration.
❌ Leave the door open to distractions
Isolate yourself from potential interruptions, noisy colleagues, mailboxes and chats with flashing notifications.
We're not even talking about the social networks eyeing your smartphone. Unplug everything, put on a headset, set your status to "busy", everything on silent.
The breaks are there to check your messages. You'll see, you haven't missed anything important, and you're all the more receptive to relaxing moments when you're relaxed yourself!
❌ A change of pace when telecommuting
It's true that waking up can be a little delayed, and why not allow yourself a nap during break time, but keep a routine, a framework for being efficient. Read and answer emails in the morning, important tasks first, and the smartphone in a drawer, among other things!
❌ Make your days long
Sort out your tasks and make up your mind, you won't be able to do everything. If you try, you'll implode - what's the point?
The world isn't going to stop spinning, some things can wait perfectly well.
Whether you like to get up early, or on the contrary, if you're more productive in the evening, don't accumulate overtime, and keep time for yourself, your family, your hobbies: that's how you'll recharge your batteries, and work better!
❌ Do everything yourself
Knowing how to delegate is very important, but to do so, you need to know how to trust! Let go...
Alone, we go faster. Together, we go further.
Proverbe africain
How to manage time and priorities effectively?
Why manage your time? Check ✅ What are the mistakes not to be made? Check ✅
So what should you do?
The good news is that, according to Pareto's Law, you can achieve 80% of your mission by completing 20% of your tasks.
Yes, very often only that 20% is really important, and yields 80% of the results.
But numbers and theory aren't going to help you control your time.
The second piece of good news is that there's no shortage of time management methods.
We've selected 7 of them, divided into 4 essential steps, to be combined as required!
Step 1: Make your to-do list
The best way to stay organized is to use the to-do list method: you list all the things you need to do, whether they're small or large, so you don't forget anything.
You can even go so far as to break down important tasks into several sub-tasks (this has the advantage of making them less daunting!) and then prioritize them.
Step 2: Define your priorities
What's important is rarely urgent, and what's urgent is rarely important.
Eisenhower
Now that you've got your to-do list, how do you prioritize? EVERYTHING seems urgent! Take a breath and look again, using the Eisenhower matrix above, or the one below, based on a gain/effort ratio:
You divide your tasks into 4 categories so you know in what order to do them, or whether to postpone them.
💡 Based on this principle, to motivate yourself at the start of the day, don't hesitate to start with quick tasks, where the effort is low and the payoff rather high. It's very satisfying!
Step 3: Plan your tasks!
Now you know what to do and in what order, plan your tasks using dedicated software or a calendar.
Give your work a deadline and visualize it easily, using color codes.
☝️ The shared calendar is ideal for remote or team work.
💡 Schedule your meetings early in the day if possible, and limit them in time.
A mid-morning or mid-afternoon meeting breaks your rhythm and concentration, and at the end of the day it drags on.
Better still, plan it before the lunch break, so that everyone can get straight to the point and satisfy their stomachs as quickly as possible.
Step 4: Stick to your schedule and avoid procrastination
You've set yourself objectives, i.e. tasks to be completed in a certain order and by a certain deadline.
Now the hard part is sticking to them!
To stay focused on your tasks, and avoid the notorious multitasking, adopt the Pomodoro method.
Dedicate clearly-defined time slots to your various tasks (around 25 minutes each, followed by a 5-minute break) so that you can devote yourself fully to them and get into a rhythm.
If, despite your best efforts, you find yourself putting off difficult tasks until later, in favor of easier ones, try the GTD method, for Getting things done.
It combines several of the time management methods described above: identifying tasks, prioritizing them, delegating them if necessary, and making adjustments as you go along.
You have to be organized to be organized! And like everything else, you have to learn how.
Finally, based on the same principle, there's the NERAC method:
- Write down: your to-do list,
- Estimate: the degree of importance of each one,
- Reserve: time slots for the unexpected,
- Arbitrate: priority and therefore deadlines,
- Control: what has been done, what remains to be done, and what adjustments need to be made.
You get the idea! 😉
Tic tac tic tac: when it's time to master your time
Running late? Don't panic! Take time to get organized... and save time!
It may seem paradoxical, but it's the key to your professional efficiency and personal fulfillment.
Managing your schedule requires a bit of rigor at first, but in the long run brings flexibility (another paradox!): identify, prioritize, delegate, execute, control, adjust - that's the secret.
The hardest part is starting a new routine and sticking to it.
Of course, a little help is always welcome. We think our task management toolbox can help you achieve your goals:
These collaborative organization and planning tools considerably improve the coordination of your teamwork, as well as your personal organization.
They have the advantage of facilitating access to key information and setting clear objectives, allocated according to human and time resources.
What tips do you have for managing your time and being more efficient on a daily basis?
Article translated from French