(ThyBlackMan.com) Time is more valuable than money. You can make more money, but you can’t make more time. There is only 24 hours in a day. You have the freedom to choose what to do with each hour. Here are top 10 time-management skills that can greatly improve your personal worth.
- Write a List of Priorities
Write down your objectives for the month, the week and the day. Using a clear and concise roadmap, indicate exactly how you will arrive at these goals. Let the most important things come first followed by the next most important. Revisit the list regularly and tick accomplished tasks.
- Avoid Multi-Tasking
Women are better at multi-tasking than men. Well, who knows? All we know is that multi-tasking can cause you to waste more time than you originally thought. Separate tasks within a day so that, they do not collide and then take one after the other.
- Gather Resources Fast
Teamwork requires teammates to work in tandem. Not everybody on your team may be as fast as yourself, so ask them to provide resources in advance. Do not wait until the last day of the month to prepare an important report. Ask questions and seek clarifications early to complete tasks fast.
- Set Deadlines for Tasks
Your table of priorities should be accompanied by a column of timelines. Communicate with your colleagues, bosses and juniors when each task needs completion. Psyche Central states that beating deadlines is perhaps the biggest indication of effective self-improvement.
- Reward Yourself
Having completed a task within the set deadlines, congratulate yourself. We do not suggest the indulgence in alcohol through the night. Instead, treat your body to a relaxing massage to take away pressures involved in delivering the work.
- Avoid Typical Time-Wasters
It goes without saying that office distractions cause employees to waste time. Be bold enough to say “No” to gossip and useless chatter. At the same time, have healthy breaks such as a tea break and lunch break. Otherwise, working on your computer for 8 straight hours will burn you out.
- Do Not Procrastinate
We all love to watch YouTube and push a task for the next day. After all, you have several more days to accomplish a task. Instead of procrastinating, Life Hack advices you to finish urgent and important tasks first, and then revel in the free time left afterwards.
- Set Out Early
Everyone blames the traffic when late for work. Choose to be different today by waking up an hour earlier. Even if you arrive at the office early, you can make up for it by leaving early. Better still, you have time to prepare for the next assignment without the pressure of deadlines.
- Eat and Sleep Better
Your ability to concentrate at work depends on your fitness and health. Drinking too much will obviously cause a hangover and the accompanying inability to work to your best ability. At the same time, hunger pangs will effectively distract you.
- Take a Rest
Who said that you must sit at your desk from 8-5? Take time off the desk to rejuvenate and rediscover your thoughts. When answering a phone call, take a leisurely stroll around your building, complex or staircase.
Conclusion
With better time management comes less stress, better relationships and higher productivity. All of these are hallmarks of self-improvement. You might actually get a promotion or pay rise because of your ability to deliver results within reasonable time limits.
Staff Writer; Terry Shaw