Time Management Strategies to Improve Your Career Prospects

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Using an activity based formula to measure how much time you spend on certain tasks each week can help you manage this time more effectively.

If you're spending too much time in one area, but not enough in others, you may have to take work home with you in the evenings or you may have to work on the weekend just to catch up. If this occurs often, taking a look at how you spend your time at work and tracking it for a month or longer can help you determine the best ways to make changes.

Your formula can be as simple as adding up all the time you spend during the day on individual tasks.

Monitor Your Time

Creating a list of daily tasks and measuring how long it takes to complete these tasks is one way to determine ways to save time. Once you've determined how long it takes to complete your list, you can begin looking for ways to shorten these amounts or ways to combine tasks so they take less time overall.

Combining tasks is an easy way to manage your time. Different from multi-tasking, which involves completing two or more tasks at the same time that may or may not be similar, combining similar tasks such as returning phone calls and making reservations for meeting rooms can be completed within the same chunk of time. Reviewing a presentation and choosing graphics for the presentation are similar tasks you can accomplish at the same time as well.

Determine Tasks that Take Longer to Complete than Others

After you determine which tasks take the longest to complete, schedule enough time during the day to complete them so you don't have to add them to your list for the next day. Depending on your schedule, you may have less to do on some days than on other days. On light days, schedule tasks that take longer to complete.

Schedule Regular Break Times

Scheduling regular break times throughout the day can help you develop a routine and prevent you from taking additional breaks that take away from your productivity. If you plan on sitting in front of your computer for most of the day, taking a short five minute break every two hours allows your body to relax and your mind to reenergize.

Delegate Your Responsibilities

If you find that too much of your time is spent making copies, updating your calendar or organizing files, try to delegate this work to another person. If you have an assistant, use them as much as possible. If your department shares an assistant, ask them when they have the time to make copies of reports and other documents. This will help you manage your time and give other people work that will keep them busy during the day as well.

Review Your Formula

If you receive a promotion or are given extra tasks, you may need to revisit your formula to include these new items. You may need to find other ways to manage your time in order to complete all tasks during they day. Monitoring your time at least two times during the year is a great way to see how you use your time and where improvements can be made.