We all have 24 hours, we often try to cram as many activities into them as possible.
Sometimes we get away with it, other times it seems time has no patience with us, it goes by far too fast. But, if we look at what we waste this resource on, we might realise that we could be more sparing with it, that many of our daily actions are not worth more than 10% of the time we give them.
We all have a few situations where it seems we are not paying attention to what we are doing every day, how efficient we are.”Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today, put it off until the day after tomorrow, maybe you don’t have to” is an admonition we have heard or used many times, but it leads us to a less productive mindset.
“How long do we have to do this report? By yesterday!” or “As soon as possible!” – these are the kind of lines that make us feel that everything is urgent, that working under constant pressure is normal.
But how can we manage our time better and do what we have to do on time and with the right effort? Here are some ideas:
Planning our productive time
When are we most productive? Some studies say between 10 and 12 in the morning. For others, other times of the day are more prolific. During those times, it’s best to do those activities that are more complex, that require us to concentrate more. We won’t finish everything in two hours, especially when it comes to more difficult projects. But at least we’re putting a brick on the foundation, starting somewhere. When we get used to doing the most important and impactful things in those two hours, we’ll get into a routine and we’ll have those two hours dedicated to those important activities.
Let’s make a list of priorities
What’s urgent – the better we plan, the fewer emergencies we’ll have.
What brings us value and has an impact on our work.
What doesn’t bring us value, doesn’t have an impact – these are good to drop.
What I need to do today / this week: next week / this month.
In 10 minutes, at the start of the day, we can focus on such a list.
Multitasking is not a solution
Research tells us that we don’t have the ability to multitask, not the kind that requires attention, concentration, listening, and creating. We can’t read and listen to someone at the same time, we’re not paying attention to anything, even though it feels like we are. Moreover, it seems that such attempts to multitask would harm our brains. Therefore, if we read a report, it’s good to be there 100%. If we’re talking to someone on the team, let’s pay attention to the conversation. So not multitasking, but one task at a time.
Let’s focus
It’s getting harder and harder to stay focused on a task. Phone alerts, social media, interruptions on platforms like Teams, Skype, have created a habit of fragmenting our work very often. Studies show that these interruptions make us less efficient because our brains need time to get back to what they were doing before.
Take breaks too
When we plan, it’s good to make sure we put a few minutes of downtime in the diary. In those minutes we can go outside, look out of the window, have a cup of tea, think about something that disconnects us, listen to something that relaxes us.
Take notes
Ideas sometimes come when we don’t expect them. It’s good to make a habit of jotting them down on our phones, Notes, or having a notebook with us to write them in. We explore them later, when we have time.
Some work better for some, some for others. It’s desirable that we each find what works for us. Sometimes we want to indulge ourselves, we need that too; other times, it’s useful to think about how much it’s worth wasting our time worrying, listening endlessly to grumpy people, gossip, news aimed at increasing ratings, shows that do nothing to raise our IQ.