Time Management at work and play!
by Denise Russos, Progressive Organizing Solutions and Paper Tiger Expert
This article gives us a great plan to better manage our time so that we can get things done! Please note in #5 where Denise coaches us to keep your work place, desk and filing needs simple and streamlined. The Paper Tiger Document Management Software and Filing System (Paper Tiger Online or Paper Tiger desktop version) will help you accomplish this very efficiently and be able to later find what you’ve filed!
Too many times we work in places that we never feel like we get our work accomplished. There are days that we constantly seem to be interrupted over and over again, so much so that by the time we leave work, we realize that nothing that was supposed to get done, actually got done!
Here are some statistics about how typical office workers feel about their days at work.
“Research shows that this is how office workers spend their typical work day:
- 28%: Unnecessary interruptions (with recovery time)
- 25%: Creating content (productive work)
- 20%: Meetings (may or may not be conclusive with action plan)
- 15%: Searching for information (half the time, search does not yield results)
- 12%: Thinking and reflecting (productive, creative work)
So what do you do?
1. Have a clear objective of what you want to achieve for the day or the next 2 hours and let nothing distract you. If you need to focus and concentrate, then turn off the chats (digital or not) and the email alerts.
2. Get a draft copy of your work out in the designated time – even if it is not perfect. Start with a framework and fill in the content as you go along. Keep the momentum going, it is progress against perfection.
3. Do not allow yourself to be interrupted unnecessarily – turn off the emails alerts, online chats and let the answering machine do its work if you are doing creative or productive work. Manage your emails with filters and rules.
4. Take breaks in between chunks of concentrated work time – enjoy your brief coffee break. Do a little stretching, take a deep breath, relax your neck and your shoulders and then come back to more focus work.
5. Keep it simple and clean – your work place, desk and filing needs to be simple and streamlined. Make good use of the trash bin. This un-cluttering will clear your mind for more creative and productive work.
6. Set yourself up for efficient work before hand – get your documents, files, and references organized each time before you wrap up work so you do not waste time looking for files and tools the next time you start work.
7. Enjoy your work – that will fuel you to be productive at work. (Retrieved from The Desk Demon Network)
Wow! Can you imagine feeling that if you work every day for four hours a day that you really only get one hour of work done every day? That’s such a tremendous waste of time!
So let’s say you use the formula above to be more efficient at work. Do you think this is feasible?
There are two of the items above that I want you to focus on.
The first is #1. Have a clear objective. Write it down and pretend it’s written in Gold and decide you will achieve that goal!
The second is #3. Stop letting interruptions rule your day.
Recently I’ve had a co-worker interrupt me 11 times in one day. Her interruptions hit the high time today when knowing that I was on the phone, she walked into my office, talking to me very loudly, so loudly I couldn’t hear the person on the phone.
You may be that person who is interrupting your co-workers and not getting your work done because of it.
If you are, then work on understanding why. Are you a person who needs to be around other people more than working alone? Whatever the reason, work on focusing on your work in shorter stretches of time and then taking a break.
There are many ways to increase your productivity at work, and time management is just one of them.
Hope this helps,
http://twitter.com/DeniseRussos
Tags: get organized, Productivity, The Paper Tiger 'Finding' Filing System
This is a great post. I will definitely be reading this blog more.