Time Management In The Workplace

Do you miss deadlines? Are you stressed out and feel that you have handful to do but not enough time? The old adage, ‘time is money’ is true to the core and directly applicable when it comes to corporate world. Time plays an important factor for a working professional. Especially if you are a newbie in a workplace, then time management is one essential skill that you must acquire. Being new to the workplace can sometimes be stressful and especially when you are learning new roles and responsibilities. You are caught in a spot, where you need to juggle a few things and also try to balance a life out of workplace. Completing task assigned in the workplace on time, is a key determinant of success. This is where time management comes to play an important role. Time management is not only a necessity for career success; it also plays an important role in maintaining work-life balance. Here are few pointers, which will help you learn how to manage time in the workplace.

How To Manage Time In Workplace

Make sure that you understand your role and responsibilities in the organization. This helps, when your boss assigns work to you. If you are new at workplace that you might not be aware what is expected out of you. This might create delay and hamper your efficiency. So, before taking up any task understand your role. This will play an important role in time management.
Organizing your daily schedule can give you more time in doing different tasks. Start with organizing your desk, files, and notes in an order so that you don’t waste your precious time in searching for things. Organizing your daily schedule will also help in reducing the stress brought by deadlines and piling up of day-to-day task. Good organizational skills will help you in prioritizing the tasks, and will help you to know how much time you need to devote for a particular task. With good organization, the focus shifts from keeping track of the work to directing energies in accomplishing different tasks on time.
Prioritize the tasks that you need to complete. Human memory is not strong enough to remember everything so forgetting any task assigned is quite easy. What you need is a to-do list to get started. Organize your daily to-do list according to your priorities. Sometimes, people start with three to four tasks at a time and that might be the reason they lose time. So, it’s a good practice to maintain a to-do list. To your list, add tasks with their corresponding deadlines, this will help you focus on the task, which needs your immediate attention. The other advantage of to-do list is that when you check-off from the list the things you have completed, it gives you a sense of accomplishment. A habit of making a to-do list is a valuable step in time management.
Assign a certain amount of time for each task and stick to it. Do not overburden to-do list with unrealistic targets.
Proper planning is the key element for time management. With proper planning, you stimulate your brain to do things in more efficient and better ways. Planning also helps in identifying conflicts and crisis and helps you deal better even in emergency.
It is important to delegate more routine jobs so that you can plan and do what is important for your long-term success. The time saved thus also helps in handling emergencies.
Get rid of procrastination. Leave procrastination at the door, once you enter the workplace. Generally, it’s the tendency to finish small tasks first before going for big tasks. This should be avoided. Do just the opposite by forcing yourself to take up major tasks first. This way you will get rid of procrastination. Sometimes, making huge plans on completing a task slows down the progress of task. So, rather than spending time planning, set on to work.
To manage time efficiently, it’s important to get rid of time wasters. Don’t conduct unnecessary meetings or visits. Avoid phone calls at workplace as much as possible. Similarly, don’t spend much time on handling paper work. The moment you pick up a document, decide what you want to do and set on to work. Don’t spend too much on deciding what to do.

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