Are you working insane amounts of hours overtime, slaving away on your downtime over those stacks of paper or strategizing on that campaign that never seems to end?
Chances are there’s always a point in all our schedules where there just are not enough hours in the day, days in the week and weeks in the month. No matter how much time you clock in, there always seems to be something else waiting around the corner to jump on your plate. Working more hours doesn't always amount to getting everything done. As in the case of almost everything else, quality over quantity trumps again! Work smart to maximize your time and make the most of your work hours.
Here are some tips to help you along the way.
- Work schedule.
- Set a strict work schedule: Know what time you are coming in in the morning and know what time you are leaving in the evening every day. If you plan on getting off at 5pm – leave at 5pm sharp. You are more likely to work efficiently throughout the day if you give yourself a day’s deadline to get work done – deadlines make most of us thrive and push ourselves. With no predetermined quitting time, procrastination tends to happen.
- Another tip is to understand how you personally work. Are you a morning person or an evening person? Everyone is different. I, for example, know that I am the most productive first thing in the morning so I base my work schedule on this. If you know that you are better to excel in the evening, talk to your bosses about an alternative time schedule for yourself, if possible. If this isn't possible, try to adjust your sleep schedule to accommodate this - Wake up extremely early, and go to bed early.
- Tasks
- Prioritize: This might seem like common sense and it is. Know what's important, know what to do first and do it. The problem is many people think they are prioritizing but actually are not. Sometimes it is a lot easier to do all the small little jobs first because it feels like more is getting down, when, in reality, those big jobs are often the priority and are getting negative attention when you are stressed out and overworked by the small jobs. Use the small jobs as a break from the big ones, but make sure you have a list in front of you reminding you of what needs to be done and when.
- That being said - if something comes up such as a client inquiry, deal with this immediately. There’s no point in postponing it because lack of response to clients could hurt your professional image and business profile. Customer service always has to come first.
- A trick is to always take into consideration ROI (return on investment) when categorizing your priorities. Make a schedule with every new job on a calendar – and track your progress with weekly and monthly deadlines.
- Work space
- Your desk: de-clutter-ize! If it has nothing to do with your projects on hand, than it is wasted space. It’s slowing you down. Keep your email organized and documents filed correctly. It might seem like a hassle, especially when you are incredibly busy and focused on another task but if you don’t organize right from the get-go, you will find how quickly things pile up and get out of hand. If you use something more than once a day, it can stay – otherwise pack it away in a cabinet or shelf. In the morning, go through a checklist of your tasks for the day. Know what you’ll need around you for the tasks - everything else can be removed.
- Centralize your information: It can be a pain going back and forth between computer, external hard drive, email, smart phone, file cabinet, etc. Keep every job organized as much as possible with all the components in the same location. And I probably don’t need to tell you to make sure to BACK EVERYTHING UP!
- Communication
- Phone calls: Instead of taking calls whenever they come in, or playing phone tag, set scheduled time throughout your day to respond to phone calls. If you are constantly having your work flow interrupted by phone calls, this causes you to continually shift focus which makes it harder to be effective at anything. It’s like being constantly woken up in the middle of the night while sleeping - you will not get that same quality of sleep. Keep in mind, when making your schedule, the time zones and habits of those in your contact list. If you know a client always has a ten o’clock meeting on Tuesdays, mark this down. Not only is it considerate but it will impress your contact that you are listening and giving them personalized attention.
- Email: Email is a blessing because it allows us to control the information as it comes in. Setting 10-15 minute time slots every one or two hours to deal with your emails is ideal. As with phone calls, email tends to bombard us with information that most of the time is not an emergency and it becomes distracting very quickly. Responding every hour or two, will give you the undisturbed focus you need on your tasks without ignoring your contacts’ needs.
Finding free software for your computer and other productivity techniques are also all great ways to keep track of all your tasks. CLICK HERE to read LifeHacker.com's Top 10 Free and Cheap Productivity Tools. A word for the wise - always be care about downloading from unknown sites! It is easy to contract computer viruses by downloading freeware software. Always look at product reviews and user blogs before agreeing to any download.
This advice might seem straight forward but many of us ignore basic ways to make our lives easier. Why be more productive at work? Less stress, obviously – but more importantly, more time to spend time doing the things you love and spending time with friends and family. Work productivity translates into professional success which carries over to allow you to do more things in your personal life. So if you take to heart just one or two of these helpful tips, procrastinating by reading this article could actually be something productive.
Speaking of procrastination… once you have become a superstar at your work and have accomplished all your tasks here are some funny ways to entertain yourself at work:
- Declare "Tawk Like a Gangstah Day", and re-type all 'yo e-maylz in urban-onics.
- Throw some curve balls at your favorite search engine; nothing skews an optimization heuristic like a search for "+midget +ASCII +pr0n +cookbook"
- Attempt to move objects around your desk using only your mind and a cleverly-concealed length of string.
- Arrange a bunch of little army men on your desk. Aim them all at one of your coworkers. Insist that it's "purely a defensive measure".
- Create a blog for your cat. Fill it with ranting, political invective against "our simian masters".
- Browse Monster.com for jobs that could potentially suck more than yours. Apply to them.
- Clean your keyboard. With q-tips. And water. And go key by key until it's spotless.
- Go to a random forum you've never visited, preferably one that caters to a topic you have no interest in and know nothing about. Jump on and ask lots of stupid questions.
- Knit a hedgehog.
- It's all about Twizzler Pull-&-Peels...what could they do for your cubicle? What tasks could they automate?
('Top 10 things to do at when bored at work' originally posted by Skyehiker on BootsInAll.com)
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