From the point of view of time management, sleepless nights in the office, a tearing phone and a refusal of a lunch break are the first signs of unprofessionalism. Employees who stay late in the office today are perceived not by workaholics, but by amateurs who are not able to correctly allocate their time. How to solve the problem of work and work and learn how to manage everything? How can one master the art of self-organization? Use the advice of specialists.
Set priorities.
The first commandment of time management: correctly prioritize. Determine what is more important for you: to be an ideal mother and wife or to devote yourself entirely to storming the service ladder? Do you want to learn how to combine? Nothing is impossible. But from the problem of choice you still can not escape. It is necessary to distinguish secondary tasks from those with which one can wait. Just do not pull in vain time, refer to a headache or disgusting weather. Also, you do not need to waste time on useless chatter with colleagues, of course, if this is not a lunch break. You just need to sit down and do what was planned for you. After all, as you know, time is money.
Decide on the goals.
"When we talk about time management, it's ridiculous to worry about speed, not solving the issue of adding money, saving minutes, wasting months and years," says time management guru Steven Covey. It's time to think seriously about your goals both in your personal life and in your work. Then only you can clearly determine what requires more time, and what you can not spend it at all. So you can build for yourself the systematic nature of certain stages leading to the achievement of the goal. One by one.
Live according to plan.
It's not as boring as it might seem at first glance. In addition, planning helps in the fight against "sclerosis". It is another matter that not all and not always succeed in adhering to the plan. Many of us use the diary simply as a notebook. Usually in it the current tasks are attached to a particular day, but they fit in a completely random order. Experts recommend dividing the page of the diary in half. In the left part, as clearly as possible, write out the "hot" cases. In the right - a list of "optional" tasks that need to be done today, but without being tied to some exact time. In this list, you need to identify 2-3 main tasks. And as soon as you have a free minute between "hot" cases, immediately start solving "non-binding" tasks, in order of importance.
Eat an elephant!
The larger the task and the longer it is, the more difficult it is to force oneself to fulfill it. This is primarily about very large tasks, in the terminology of time management - "elephants".
"Elephant" can be: preparation of a report, development of an annual business plan, repair in an apartment, learning a foreign language, getting rid of excess kilograms.
The main problem in the collision with the "elephants" is our common desire for globalization, enlargement of tasks (remember the expression "to make of an elephant fly"). There is only one way to deal with this passion for globalization and be able to "eat an elephant" - divide it into smaller, easily measurable "steaks" and eat them one by one daily. At the same time, it is important to divide the "elephant" so that each "steak" actually helps you get closer to the cherished goal. Well, for example, do not read in the magazine article on the benefits of fitness, and take and perform 10 push-ups.
The "Swiss cheese" method can also help to spend less time and effort on swinging. Try to perform the task not in the order dictated by logic, but arbitrarily, as if "gnawing" out of various places small pieces - the easiest, most pleasant, etc. Thus, when preparing a report, for example, you can first select illustrations, describe some of the simplest and most understandable you paragraphs. You yourself will be surprised how soon in the "cheese" there are so many holes that "finish eating" it will be a couple of trifles.
Learn to say no.
Ruthless statistics say: if you work in the office, you are torn from the case on average once in 8 minutes. Because of this, only in a hole of shallow distractions flows to two hours a day, and this is 12% of your capital. This statistics applies only to executives - busy, active, able to organize themselves. What can we say about ordinary employees? Their labor productivity is usually several times lower than possible. Learn to say no. Firmly, but delicately! You can, without offending, make it clear that now you are very busy, but with pleasure you will drink coffee (discuss the film, give advice) a little later.
Consider biorhythms.
Listen to your body. If you are an "owl" - do not plan serious meetings and important matters for the first half of the day. Consider your own biorhythms can and should be. After all, they are able to strongly affect our ability to work. Determine for yourself the time of day when you are most easily given this or that job. Only in this way can you effectively allocate working time.
The well-known theorist of time management Bodo Schaefer once wrote: "Life is like a company selling by mail: we get what we ordered." So make the right choice. This is a vertical with a view to life success.