Professional women who attend my time management workshops repeatedly express the same concern. They comment that there is not enough time to complete all the necessary tasks and cross out items in their to-do lists. No matter how much they try to move things around, they get overwhelmed and feel they are not being fully productive.
Today I will share three tips to help you manage your time more effectively. I wan to help you get things done while still feeling accomplished and less guilty about what didn’t happen.
First, I will let you know that for most people it is not possible to do all the things in their to do lists. Whether it is because you run out of time or life gets in the way or a new task shows up moving the others to the bottom of your checklist, be aware that you are not alone. This happens to most, if not all of us, myself included.
I am not immune to having things not completed but I have learned to manage my time and tackle things more effectively. With that said, here are three steps you can take to efficiently improve your productivity while you still manage life situations:
Know your productive hours
Are you a morning person? A night owl? Do you feel drained by mid afternoon or are these the hours you prefer to get work done? If you are not a morning person, then it may be extremely hard for you to get enough mental clarity so that you can do work that requires full focus during early in the day.
You will be able to get better quality and more efficient work when you are more alert. With this said, make sure you are well rested. When you are sleep deprived, you may not find a time during the day when you can produce better work. Should you be experiencing trouble sleeping without a clear cause, it is best to visit your physician for an evaluation since this may be the sign of a medical problem.
2. Know how much time you have each day to get the work done
If you work in an office with a set schedule, this may be easier to know. There may be meetings and other activities that take away minutes and hours of your time. If you add to that that it may take you 20-30 minutes to be fully focused again, then this needs to be taken in consideration.
For those who work from home or have an irregular schedule, how much time you have may vary. Your productive hours may be shorter since you can only accommodate so much during your available hours.
Knowing how much time you really have is crucial! It is common that we write down all the things we want done during the workweek; however, we frequently neglect the fact that there are only so many hours when you can get the work done. It wasn’t until I understood this that I got to be really effective and my productivity skyrocketed because I became more selective about the tasks that I would schedule each week.
3. You can only do a set number of tasks per day
In the past I would try to squeeze as much work as I wanted to do and was convinced I could do it, only to be disappointed when the majority of the tasks did not get done.
If you accept that you can only get 1-3 things done per day and no more than 10 tasks per week, you will learn that prioritizing those tasks is extremely important. This way, you do not get discouraged when the other 99 things in your list do not get done, and you can confidently schedule them to a later date when you know you will have the bandwidth to work on them.
It’s your turn now. Tell me your tips to improve productivity.
If you’re interested in hiring Dr. Landrau to speak about women’s empowerment to your group or do a time management workshop for your team, send a direct message to drlandrau.com/contact
