Time management in any industry is important. Time management in your life can mean horrendous stress, but practical ways to manage our time can help alleviate stress, improve productivity and job satisfaction.
Articles abound concerning time management. But the authors don’t know you. You need to be the one to monitor how you are using your time to improve factors that affect you personally.
Planning
Assess what you are doing with your time. Keep a tally every ½ hour for a week and you will be amazed at what you discover.
Start your day the night before. A “to do” list should be prioritized. If you are a visual learner, you may color code it: red or green for most important. If you are an auditory, leaving a message on voice mail for yourself, which you’ll check first in the morning, will you of your most critical action for the new day. The kinesthetic individual may leave a note in the middle of the pile on the desk.
In an excellent article in Forbes recently, the author urges all of us to not do email first thing in the morning. David Karp, Tumblr founder, thinks responding to email may be a waste of time, as if someone has an urgent need, he’s called. People around him understand the way he ticks, his patterns and the way he likes to work. Telling your co-workers, friends and family how you want to communicate could help, especially if certain people inundate you with jokes and other time wasters during the work day.
Gentle, practical reminders
- Hydrate. Drink lots of water.
- Sleep. Get enough sleep. Some people function on six hours. More companies are talking about 15-20 minute naps. I can’t see most manufacturing plants providing that!
- Exercise. If you are in a sedentary job, walk around the building every two hours. Stand up every ½ hour to stretch.
- Organize your work space. But…you know every one of these suggestions!
The Phone
Many, many are adverse to making phone calls. A “classic” for me is a book titled The Psychology of Call Reluctance by Dudley and Goodson. Once I understood why I was reluctant to make calls, I determined ways to push myself to make the dreaded calls.
Your Calendar
Make appointments with yourself! If you have a hard time making cold calls, complete them first thing in the morning, especially if you are a morning person. Work in two hour blocks. Put it on your calendar. If you calendar blinks at you that it’s time to make calls or work on a report, do it. Treat it as if you have a meeting with your boss, which can’t be missed. (Actually, you are your own boss, if you think about it.)
Rewards
When I’ve finished a project or made the calls or coordinated an event, I reward myself. Not monetarily, but with a call to a friend or maybe just reading a good article, or a visit to Dilbert. I don’t read them during work, except as a reward for my good behavior. Completing a task lower on your “to do” list may actually be a reward.
The internet is crammed with suggestions, but from my perspective, you must develop your own method with seriously better control. Time management in your job search is critical! Time management is definitely a huge key to your personal success!