Effective Time Management

In this video, we are going to look at a process for improving your time management.

Firstly, set effective goals that are SMART. What SMART stands for is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely. This means setting your goals in an exact manner and not generalised.  Measurable means that you can track your progress during the task. Attainable means that you set a goal that you can actually meet within the time requirements. Relevant means to set the tasks to actually meet the required goal and finally set goals in a timely way to meet what time you have available to complete it.

When you know your goals and tasks you need to prioritise your tasks in the right order, so you get them completed in the right order and the more urgent ones completed first.

Set a time plan for your tasks so you write down what are the target times for completion. This is useful so you know you are on target but also for your managers to know when you will be finished for their reporting and meeting their targets. If you fall behind your time goals, you can then decide how you will catch up and whether you need help from others.

We have spoken about tasks and meeting time goals but taking a break yourself is very important to keep you focused.  Skipping lunch breaks may seem a good idea but you may find it slows you down later in the day.

Make sure you are organised in your work and any other project you are working on. Use calendars to keep track and go not get distracted by other things that are not as important.

Plan your week and future days so you do not just concentrate on the next hour, but the complete picture of the tasks that lay ahead of you.

Keep reviewing where you are and if you need to adjust the plan to make sure that your goal is still SMART.