Time management tips
Discussion
'Lo all.
I seem to be meeting myself coming backwards at the moment. Plenty to do but spend too much time spinning my wheels & not enough time on doing anything that's profitable.
So lets hear it, how do you organise yourselves?
Do you use PDAs? Outlook? Diaries? Filofax? Tattoo to the inside of the eyelid?
Do you block off days that are then sacrosanct to get xyz project done? But how do you then deal with an urgent support call (for example - I'm in IT support but a one-man band).
I'm aware that I need to take a long look at how I'm working and start working smarter so all the odd little things that work for you - post 'em up
Cheers - PBF
I seem to be meeting myself coming backwards at the moment. Plenty to do but spend too much time spinning my wheels & not enough time on doing anything that's profitable.
So lets hear it, how do you organise yourselves?
Do you use PDAs? Outlook? Diaries? Filofax? Tattoo to the inside of the eyelid?
Do you block off days that are then sacrosanct to get xyz project done? But how do you then deal with an urgent support call (for example - I'm in IT support but a one-man band).
I'm aware that I need to take a long look at how I'm working and start working smarter so all the odd little things that work for you - post 'em up
Cheers - PBF
google time management to get some ideas.
then make lists of outstanding stuff.
then prioritise said stuff into Today, Tomorrow, and "When I have time"
Locking away on big tasks is great if you arent easily distracted,
You need to allow time for phone calls so make regular breaks to deal with calls- it will break up the monotony of the big task.
Note any to do's arising from the phone calls on to your today, tomorrow, When I have Time list.
This works for me as it allocates tasks easily into priority and you never forget to do soemthing as its on your list.
then make lists of outstanding stuff.
then prioritise said stuff into Today, Tomorrow, and "When I have time"
Locking away on big tasks is great if you arent easily distracted,
You need to allow time for phone calls so make regular breaks to deal with calls- it will break up the monotony of the big task.
Note any to do's arising from the phone calls on to your today, tomorrow, When I have Time list.
This works for me as it allocates tasks easily into priority and you never forget to do soemthing as its on your list.
To prioritize tasks rank them in urgency and importance.
Do the important urgent ones first.
Don't bother with those that are not urgent and not important.
Do the urgent not important ones. If you can then delegate these.
Allocate some time to do important but not urgent ones.
Accept that if you've got 100 hours of work to do and only 40 hours to do it, then not everything is going to get done without some assistance.
Do the important urgent ones first.
Don't bother with those that are not urgent and not important.
Do the urgent not important ones. If you can then delegate these.
Allocate some time to do important but not urgent ones.
Accept that if you've got 100 hours of work to do and only 40 hours to do it, then not everything is going to get done without some assistance.
I've got a memory like a goldfish so I use Outlook to set reminders for calendar appointments, tasks and emails. If something needs to be completed in say two months time, I set a reminder to go off two weeks before it's due and anything that doesn't have a time limit for completion still gets put on my task list and I do them when I've got nothing else to do. I check the list about once a week.
I tend to answer most of my emails in the morning, or just after lunch so I don't get distracted by them throughout the day. Then I make any phone calls that need to be made, and then type letters or deal with stuff that needs sorting. If I've got something that I know will take a few hours/days to sort out, I start it the next morning (after emails and phone calls), but I always concentrate on one thing at a time until it's finished before I start the next big job. Of course there will always be little things that need sorting out in between, so if I am working on a big project, I'll stop at an appropriate point and write myself a post it note of the next step I need to do, so it's easy to pick up again. I'm lucky that I don't get many distractions, but at least I know what I was doing if I do because there's normally a document on my screen to give me a clue if I do forget.
Also Post-It notes. If I do get distracted, I write it on a post it note and stick it on the corner of my computer screen to either deal with later or add it to my task list when I've finished what I'm doing.
Any paperwork that needs dealing with sits in a pile on the corner of my desk and gets filed as soon as it's done.
I tend to answer most of my emails in the morning, or just after lunch so I don't get distracted by them throughout the day. Then I make any phone calls that need to be made, and then type letters or deal with stuff that needs sorting. If I've got something that I know will take a few hours/days to sort out, I start it the next morning (after emails and phone calls), but I always concentrate on one thing at a time until it's finished before I start the next big job. Of course there will always be little things that need sorting out in between, so if I am working on a big project, I'll stop at an appropriate point and write myself a post it note of the next step I need to do, so it's easy to pick up again. I'm lucky that I don't get many distractions, but at least I know what I was doing if I do because there's normally a document on my screen to give me a clue if I do forget.
Also Post-It notes. If I do get distracted, I write it on a post it note and stick it on the corner of my computer screen to either deal with later or add it to my task list when I've finished what I'm doing.
Any paperwork that needs dealing with sits in a pile on the corner of my desk and gets filed as soon as it's done.
I was always behind with work until about 2 years ago I pulled my finger out.
I decided that for one month I wanted to get ahead for once.
I worked late into the night and every weekend until I had got done all of the little things that I always put off or wanted to do.
I then started afresh and made sure things didnt build up again.
Wansn't as stressed out and manage my time better now (although still work late every night
oh well I enjoy it at least)
Post it notes are also great. I write them down and then you can forget about it / take it off your mind which helps. Until like me you have fecking hundreds of post it notes everywhere!
I decided that for one month I wanted to get ahead for once.
I worked late into the night and every weekend until I had got done all of the little things that I always put off or wanted to do.
I then started afresh and made sure things didnt build up again.
Wansn't as stressed out and manage my time better now (although still work late every night
oh well I enjoy it at least)Post it notes are also great. I write them down and then you can forget about it / take it off your mind which helps. Until like me you have fecking hundreds of post it notes everywhere!
sam.r said:
Post it notes are also great.
I use Google Apps as an organisational 'dashboard'. I have a post-it application on there to use just like normal post-its, but you can't lose them! It also has previews of my inbox, calendar, to-do list etc.Seriously, this tool got me more organised. I now work late less often and find it easier to keep tabs on multiple tasks - meaning I can delegate more effectively.
I use my outlook inbox as my "to-do" list. Once the task in the e-mail is done, it gets filed. If I've sent something out and am awaiting a response it stays in the inbox, so I can hassle the person after an appropriate amount of time if they're ignoring it.
Works for me, till someone comes in flapping about something that isn't done that they've only just told you about once it's overdue.
Works for me, till someone comes in flapping about something that isn't done that they've only just told you about once it's overdue.
[quote=PhilLL]Google Getting Things Done (GTD); it might help you.
I actually have the book by David Allen, but I've not got round to reading it yet
[/quote
I like David Allen's book and use a lot of what he suggests. It gives a great framework for managing tasks and other information.
I use http://www.rememberthemilk.com/ as my task manager. Has all sorts of mobile device versions (including an offline one on the iPhone) with lots of options for adding tasks, including emailing them. Fits in very nicely with the GTD philosophy of getting tasks out of your head and into a system for dealing with them - it's no use if you can't just add tasks as you think of them.
I actually have the book by David Allen, but I've not got round to reading it yet
[/quoteI like David Allen's book and use a lot of what he suggests. It gives a great framework for managing tasks and other information.
I use http://www.rememberthemilk.com/ as my task manager. Has all sorts of mobile device versions (including an offline one on the iPhone) with lots of options for adding tasks, including emailing them. Fits in very nicely with the GTD philosophy of getting tasks out of your head and into a system for dealing with them - it's no use if you can't just add tasks as you think of them.
I take it you have a call logging system like www.otrs.org? Make sure every job gets logged. Try and arrange someone to take your calls for a day or two a week if poss. Do you spend a lot of time looking at the list of jobs and trying to prioritise? Print yourself a list of jobs off that you want to sort the night before work, and work through WITHOUT stopping to drink coffee, discuss the next best thing in IT with your customer (make a future appointment), browse the web (unless related to the task in hand), send/read email beyond a glance, do accounts etc.. With a couple of dedicated work days you could clear a lot of stuff. Also helps to have someone else who can do your invoices/accounting bits and bobs.
Watch Randy Pausch's video on Time Management here:
http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/
I strongly recommend that you watch The Last Lecture too, if you haven't seen it already.
http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/
I strongly recommend that you watch The Last Lecture too, if you haven't seen it already.
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