“Work Smarter not harder to increase productivity”
“It is not enough to be busy…The question is: What are we busy about?” – Henry David Thoreau
Do you ever feel like you have a million things to do and so little time? Do you ever feel like you don’t know where to begin or end? For most of us, when we find ourselves in this situation planning and prioritization also becomes more of a challenge. We miss on important deadlines and focus on the “here, now” urgent tasks. With a little nudge from that tinny little voice at the back of our heads, we get the illusion that time is static, time is infinite. We find ourselves put away anything that needs more than two minutes of our time. That little voice is always whispering “you still have tomorrow; you don’t have to do it now.”
Furthermore, in the stresses of the modern world it is easy for us to operate on automatic pilot. By doing this we often fail to make the best use of our time. It sometimes helps to stop and take stock of the situation and think about how we are working.
“Procrastination is the foundation of all disasters” –Pandora Poikilos
Well yes, procrastination is the foundation of all our disasters, and this is because if we do not overcome our distractions overtime, then it will be difficult to accomplish anything in our lives both the little and the big things. No one is immune of distractions. Sometimes we have our day well planned out, minute by minute, hour by hour, then comes along that chatty friend that wouldn’t just pick up on your non-verbal cues and stop talking. Then, office noise, social media, endless “urgent” emails, meetings, you name it. Through all these moments of continuous distractions, we find ourselves running behind schedules, missing deadlines an ultimately becoming frustrated due to so much pressure of try to accomplish our tasks within the remaining time.
“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four-hour days.” – Zig Zaglar
Now, to manage our tasks wisely, efficiently, and effective, we need to plan how we use our time. Time management is self-management. Time can’t be managed, time is uncontrollable; we can only manage ourselves and our use of time. There are papers written on how to manage our time effectively and efficiently.
There are basic approaches which helps us to manage our selves in a realistic way:
- Get well organized,
- Delegate some work and focus on important long term plans,
- Try to relax and recharge,
- Set up realistic goals,
- Stop feeling guilty
Source: Jackson, V., 2009. Time Management: A Realistic Approach.
Nevertheless, if you still feel like you can’t manage your priorities and tasks, then you can get trained on how to manage your time efficiently and effectively. We’ll all need to learn and unlearn new habits at some point. Always strive to to sharpen your skills and improve your productiveness throughout your professional careers and your personal lives. Don’t hesitate to get in tough with us for time management training. (info@outstandingsolutionstz.com)
Is work life balance a possible reality? Follow our next blog as we unravel this topic.
Truly yours,
Maria Marandu
Driving Service Excellence