Ever felt like you are doing a million things throughout your work day but still can’t get a thing done? You start your day feeling confident, you answer emails, make a few phone calls, run some errands and before you know it, the clock strikes 5PM and it’s time to pack up and leave. Yes, you could put in the extra work and stay late but this shouldn’t become an everyday habit.
Procrastination isn’t always the culprit. Even at our speediest, we can sometimes find ourselves falling behind with our assignments due to a lack of a structured workflow. To manage your daily, weekly and even yearly workload, it’s important to develop a clear agenda and skills to assist in this process. Developing stellar time management skills will get you one step ahead at work and relieve the stress and anxiety brought on by deadline pressure. Here are some tips for managing your office workload.
Track Your Daily Activities
To start, carry a notebook and record all of your daily and weekly activities. Note when you started a project and when it ended. List how long it took you to get coffee, daydream, or speak with a coworker. Tracking all of your daily activities will allow you to see exactly where you are spending most of your precious time during the day and in turn, you can identify your pain points and start cutting out any distractions that be stifling you from achieving your goals.
Create a Schedule
Once you’ve identified your pain points, craft your list into a schedule. Some people prefer physical calendars, while others prefer the calendars on their phones or computers. Whatever the case may be, use a calendar to keep track of your events and tasks as well as set a time limit for each goal!
Identify what time of the day you are most productive and do the important tasks during your most productive time. This differs for everyone. If you are most productive in the morning, then take on the heavy tasks as soon as you arrive for the daily grind. Doing this will allow you to truly focus on the tasks at hand and you’ll feel successful throughout the rest of your day.
Filter Out Distractions
This can be a tough one to overcome. We are tied to our computers and those computers have internet access! Our phones are always within arm’s reach. Our colleagues are just desks away. It can be difficult to stay focused with your mind constantly telling you to engage these distractions.
Learn to tune out anything and everything that does not pertain to the project at hand. If you have an issue with checking your social accounts, close your web browser, turn off or mute your phone. Wear headphones to filter out surrounding noises and if all else fails, lock yourself away in a separate room if possible until the task is complete or a break is necessary.
Use Automation
With so many automation apps available there’s absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t be taking advantage of scheduling your most robotic tasks. The programs you use for automation must pertain to your business. If your business requires a daily social presence, then use a system where you can schedule posts.
Nimble offers the ability to schedule posts to your connected social profiles such as Twitter, Facebook and Facebook Pages. Simply choose a time and date and when that time arrives, Nimble will make sure your post reaches your audience. Sign up and learn more about Nimble here.
Take a Breather
While mapping out your agenda for the day, make sure to include some time for distractions. This can include opening a dialogue with your co-workers, meditating for 5-10 minutes, taking a walk around the block, checking your social accounts or simply having a healthy snack.
Be realistic. You’re not a robot so sticking to a solid work-work-work mentality will eventually cause you to burn out. Properly planning for distractions will give you the ability to recharge your batteries and refresh your mind so you are ready when your next scheduled appointment makes an appearance.
Anytime we take on a new resolution, it will take us some time to adhere to. But if you are disciplined and keep to your schedule, you’ll find that you’ll get a lot more done during the day than expected.
