Working efficiently is important because in this busy world there are always more things to complete than we have time available. A well-structured workload is the key to good time management. Here are some ideas on how to prioritise tasks:

• Plan to plan. Start to consider planning as an investment in time rather than a waste of time.
• Delegate anything that you do not need to address personally. Delegation is a great way to develop others. Things take a little longer at first (or will not be completed to your own standards) but if you focus on getting others to the same level of capability as yourself the time will come when you never have to address certain tasks again.
• Start early to avoid busy times and unexpected delays.
• Don’t keep your to do list’s on paper. Keep an electronic version on your laptop or phone and have that list open at all times so you can reshuffle, add or remove things whenever required. As a bonus you can keep important or regular tasks on a digital list indefinitely, you will never need to rewrite your “to do” list again and you can still print a copy when you need one to take to a meeting or out of the office.
• To get focused on the key tasks and avoid doing things that are a waste of time, create just 2 levels of hierarchy on your to do lists – the “Must be done” and “Nice to do”. (Then forget about the “Nice to do” until all of the “Must be done’s” are completed).
• If things get overwhelming, shorten up the scope of your planning timeframe. Start to focus only on the things that “Must be done” this month/this week/today/before that meeting...
• Determine the times of day that work best for your physiology. Are you a morning person or an evening person? Do the things you find hardest when you are most alert and save the things that you enjoy for parts of the day you find least motivating.
• Discipline yourself to work on several different things every day rather than just one thing. This gets momentum going on several fronts at the same time. To remain focussed on the project in hand think of multitasking as dealing with more than one task during a day - not several at the same time.
• Review your workload regularly. If there is a task that you are avoiding that always ends up at the bottom of the pile, can somebody else do it? Consider delegating whole projects that you don’t need to be involved in or that others can complete to a better standard than you can.
• Remember the 80:20 rule and concentrate on the most crucial 20 per cent of your workload.
• Estimate the time each task needs to be completed and set realistic deadlines for your tasks. Be honest of what you can achieve in a working day or week so that you don’t feel overwhelmed from the start.
• Allow time for interruptions or if you need to finish a certain task at a certain time, only deal with urgent queries during that time. Set aside blocks of time in your diary for uninterrupted work, work away from the office, wear your headphones or use a “traffic light” system on your door so that team members know when you are concentrating and should not be disturbed.
• Don’t check your inbox every time a message arrives. Switch off instant alerts if necessary and allocate a time when you will check your inbox.
• Look for low hanging fruit that you can tick off your list quickly but be aware that bringing a major task to completion can be a weight off your shoulders. Tackling “Big Rocks” or more challenging projects first can sometimes mean a more efficient use of your time overall

Author: John Richmond
Team Management Services