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A day’s work never ends.
Tasks pile up, time flies, and before you know it, you may find yourself feeling overwhelmed.
Fortunately, there are ways you can make your Laboral life easier in terms of productivity and time management.
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Here are six tips from industry professionals who have mastered their workflows, calendars, and clocks.
block time
Blocking out time can help you organize your work tasks. (iStock/iStock)
You can’t manage time if you’re monitoring it. That’s why Meena Kumari R, Senior Director of Human Resources at Airmeet, an event planning software platform based in the US and India, recommends setting aside time for work tasks.
“Time blocking is a fantastic way to stay on schedule and get projects done in a timely manner,” he told FOX Business. “Having a designated amount of time on a calendar to accomplish a task helps with overall focus rather than trying a few tasks at once.”
challenge yourself
Working fast without compromising the quality of work is challenging. (iStock/iStock)
While it’s important not to jump from one task to another so quickly that the quality of the work drops, spending a lot of time on one task isn’t always a good thing either.
Baruch Labunski, CEO of Rank Secure, a Toronto-based digital analytics company, recommends that workers make a game out of “dull tasks.”
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“Make it a race with yourself to see how fast you can go on a task,” Labunski told FOX Business. “This works well for things like going through a stack of mail, cleaning up old files, and other routine but boring tasks.”
He added, “You’ll also find that doing this prompts you to throw away more useless items than question yourself and keep them.”
Start with the most difficult tasks first
Doing the hard work first helps you free up time for easier tasks later in the day, according to some experts. (iStock/iStock)
It can be tempting to eliminate the easy tasks right away and save the hard work for later in the day, but Matthew Roberts, COO of My Choice, a Canadian insurance comparison company, doesn’t recommend this strategy.
“When making your to-do list for the day, prioritize the most complex and time-consuming tasks,” Roberts told FOX Business. “This is so you can dedicate the beginning of your workday, when your mind is fresh and you have the most energy, to getting the most challenging task done.”
He went on to add that “complex tasks” that cause problems for workers need to be broken down into “smaller, more manageable goals.”
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“Get used to working on parts instead of all at once,” Roberts said. “This makes it easier to think about tasks and prevents procrastination.”
Multitasking doesn’t always work
Multitasking can sometimes be distracting in the workplace. (iStock/iStock)
In a busy world, multitasking is a skill that is often praised. But this strategy doesn’t always help when it comes to workplace productivity, according to Meera Watts, founder of Siddhi Yoga International, a yoga training school in Singapore.
“Multitasking can make you feel like you’re completing your task faster, but constantly switching between tasks can destroy your productivity at some point,” Watts told FOX Business. “Instead of multitasking three to four things at once, break up [your time] depending on when you want to do what task.
Breaking up tasks into specific time slots allows a worker to focus “their full attention on that task itself,” according to Watts.
He added that setting “adequate time” for work tasks limits the constant need to go back and forth between projects, minimizing the disruption of concentration.
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“When you’re constantly doing a task, you tend to do it much faster and the result is what you wanted,” Watts said. “Whereas when you focus on different tasks at the same time, you feel overwhelmed.”
Manage your calendar in advance
Keeping an up-to-date calendar can help you determine what work tasks are coming up. (iStock/iStock)
Knowing what you need to do before your workday actually begins is always a plus.
Yes your work allows itScheduling your work schedule a week in advance is a must, according to Tiffani Martinez, director of human resources for Otter Public Relations, a Florida-based public relations firm.
“Make sure you take care of items that may have tight deadlines and leave small slots open for last-minute needs,” Martinez told FOX Business.
He noted that workers should also make sure they carve out time to attend to their needs, including lunches.
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“Leave at least an hour a day where you don’t get calls, usually at the beginning or end of the day, so you can finish articles and not have to take work home,” Martinez said. “Take short breaks between tasks and reset your mind for the next job.”
Learn to delegate or say no
Working together as a team can help productivity and workflow. (iStock/iStock)
Sometimes you may need someone to help you get a job done. You may also need to be honest and say that you cannot perform a task that has been asked of you.
“This one is hard to do,” Martinez said. “[But,] you have to take the time to make sure you’re focusing on the tasks that are your responsibility.”
Martinez recommends delegating smaller “time-consuming but manageable” tasks to team members they are there to help.
In cases where you have to say no, Martinez said it’s important to “set your limits.”
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She continued, “Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should or that it’s the best use of your time and assets for the company.”