12 Tips To Increase Productivity With Better Time Management
12 Tips To Increase Productivity With Better Time Management
1. Allocate 20% of your day – between 1 and a half to 2 hours – to working on your most important objectives. If you don’t do this, you will find that all your time is spent reacting to things, and the really important tasks somehow never get finished when they should.
2. Tackle the hardest things first. All of us like to do what’s easy. But you must get into the hard stuff – and the best time to get stuck into it is first up, when you can give it all you’ve got. At least make inroads, even if you can’t finish everything you want to in a day.
3. Have a maximum of 3 major things on the go at a time. Any more than this is asking to get bogged down. Set your priorities according to what will best help you to grow your business – and tackle them in that order of priority.
4. At the beginning of each week, make a list of your goals and targets and prioritise them. Revise the list daily, as necessary. Refer to it regularly and make sure you’re on track. A whiteboard is a very visible and convenient tool for keeping this ‘main goals’ list going.
5. Use a task planning sheet to sort your daily priorities out and help you reach those weekly goals.
6. Group similar activities together – make all your outgoing phone calls at one part of the day; send all your emails at the one time; deal with all incoming mail, email and messages in bunches, and so on. You might want to break the day up so that - for example - you spend a maximum of 15 or 20 minutes on incoming email or voicemail in the morning, and another block just before lunch. Turn off the “new mail” alert on your email, and check it only twice a day.
7. Add at least 20% to any initial estimate of work to be undertaken. Things rarely go according to plan – and if they do, you’ll be in front, not behind. Be realistic about the amount of work you and your colleagues or associates can do by a given deadline.
8. As much as possible, deal with any item of mail (and email) once only. Action it, bin it, or – but only if absolutely necessary - file it for future reference in a clearly labelled file. If you’re working under pressure, prioritise the incoming mail that needs to be actioned, and deal with less important matters later in the day.
9. To minimise errors, work on one thing at a time. Use a filing drawer or folder rack to reduce the amount of workspace occupied by other papers on your desk, so that you don’t get sidetracked by things you haven’t planned for or prioritised.
10. Don’t waste time perfecting things that don’t have to be perfect. ‘Excellence’ means doing the best that you can in the time available. We can all excel without being perfect. After you finish something, check it through once then move on to the next task.
11. Plan some time each and every week to be invested in marketing your business. You must reach out to customers old and new; and you must invite them to do business with you. This is working on the business, and it is at least as important as anything you do while working in the business.
12. If you do all the above things but still can’t work out where your time is going, you may need to chart your time use to see how you really spend it.
This is quite easy and takes just a few minutes a day for one or two weeks. List your principal activities down the left column of a table, and your work days across the top row. Jot in the approximate amount of time you’ve spent on each activity, each time you stop doing it.
Tally the times up at the end of the week, and see whether the proportions of time you actually spent meets your desired targets.
12 Tips To Increase Productivity With Better Time Management - To learn more about this author, visit Susan Regier's Website.
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With a little effort we can all find ways to use the time we have more productively. Here are a dozen tried and tested tips for working quicker, smarter, and more effectively:
1. Allocate 20% of your day – between 1 and a half to 2 hours – to working on your most important objectives. If you don’t do this, you will find that all your time is spent reacting to things, and the really important tasks somehow never get finished when they should.
2. Tackle the hardest things first. All of us like to do what’s easy. But you must get into the hard stuff – and the best time to get stuck into it is first up, when you can give it all you’ve got. At least make inroads, even if you can’t finish everything you want to in a day.
3. Have a maximum of 3 major things on the go at a time. Any more than this is asking to get bogged down. Set your priorities according to what will best help you to grow your business – and tackle them in that order of priority.
4. At the beginning of each week, make a list of your goals and targets and prioritise them. Revise the list daily, as necessary. Refer to it regularly and make sure you’re on track. A whiteboard is a very visible and convenient tool for keeping this ‘main goals’ list going.
5. Use a task planning sheet to sort your daily priorities out and help you reach those weekly goals.
6. Group similar activities together – make all your outgoing phone calls at one part of the day; send all your emails at the one time; deal with all incoming mail, email and messages in bunches, and so on. You might want to break the day up so that - for example - you spend a maximum of 15 or 20 minutes on incoming email or voicemail in the morning, and another block just before lunch. Turn off the “new mail” alert on your email, and check it only twice a day.
7. Add at least 20% to any initial estimate of work to be undertaken. Things rarely go according to plan – and if they do, you’ll be in front, not behind. Be realistic about the amount of work you and your colleagues or associates can do by a given deadline.
8. As much as possible, deal with any item of mail (and email) once only. Action it, bin it, or – but only if absolutely necessary - file it for future reference in a clearly labelled file. If you’re working under pressure, prioritise the incoming mail that needs to be actioned, and deal with less important matters later in the day.
9. To minimise errors, work on one thing at a time. Use a filing drawer or folder rack to reduce the amount of workspace occupied by other papers on your desk, so that you don’t get sidetracked by things you haven’t planned for or prioritised.
10. Don’t waste time perfecting things that don’t have to be perfect. ‘Excellence’ means doing the best that you can in the time available. We can all excel without being perfect. After you finish something, check it through once then move on to the next task.
11. Plan some time each and every week to be invested in marketing your business. You must reach out to customers old and new; and you must invite them to do business with you. This is working on the business, and it is at least as important as anything you do while working in the business.
12. If you do all the above things but still can’t work out where your time is going, you may need to chart your time use to see how you really spend it.
This is quite easy and takes just a few minutes a day for one or two weeks. List your principal activities down the left column of a table, and your work days across the top row. Jot in the approximate amount of time you’ve spent on each activity, each time you stop doing it.
Tally the times up at the end of the week, and see whether the proportions of time you actually spent meets your desired targets.
12 Tips To Increase Productivity With Better Time Management - To learn more about this author, visit Susan Regier's Website.
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good informative site
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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