Time Management

It is estimated that many people, after working for a period of time, will fall into a work state where planned things are repeatedly delayed, tasks assigned by leaders are not prepared until the last moment, and they are exhausted from dealing with various emergencies every day... At this point, their time management has actually become very poor, which directly affects the development of a professional.

Rule

Deal with important but not urgent tasks 65% -80% of the time.

After a busy day, many professionals find themselves passively dealing with various urgent tasks like a "fire brigade" every day. Some insignificant tasks take up too much time for professionals in the workplace, while some important but not urgent matters are put on the shelf.

According to the four quadrant rule, a person's work can be divided into four types: important and urgent work, important but not urgent work, urgent but not important work, and unimportant and not urgent work. Many of us often spend 50% -60% of our time dealing with urgent but unimportant work, while important but not urgent work takes very little time.

Below is a comparison chart of time schedules between an ordinary person and a highly efficient individual.

The schedule of highly efficient individuals is to allocate 65% -80% of their time to important but not urgent tasks. As they have already planned and organized most of their work in advance, the workload in the remaining quadrants naturally decreases.

Four tips to improve time management

Practical tip 1: 6-point priority work system

To change the working state of being like a "fire brigade" every day, the first step is to adjust your work schedule. Spend as much time as possible on important but not urgent tasks.

Efficiency guru Avili proposed the method of "6-point priority work system". The specific operation method is to write down all the things to be done today before going to work every morning; Mark the six most important things from "1" to "6" in order of their importance; At the beginning of each day, give your all to doing the task labeled "1" until it is completed or fully prepared, then give your all to doing the task labeled "2", and so on.

Avili believes that in general, if a person can devote themselves wholeheartedly to completing the six most important tasks every day, then they must be an efficient person.

Practical Tip 2: Set an undisturbed time

Many professionals often complain that they seem to be busy every day, and when they summarize their work throughout the year, they find themselves doing nothing and making no progress. These people spin like a spinning top every day, rarely settling down to consider the work they are doing. Some people often complain that they find it difficult to complete important tasks with high quality because they are constantly interrupted by other things.

The recommended method is to set a fixed time every day, which can be in the morning or evening, and set a time for oneself that is not disturbed. On the one hand, it can calm down and concentrate on doing some work; On the other hand, you can also calm down and reflect on yourself, and adjust your schedule for the next day.

Practical Tip 3: 20 Second Emotional Control

In terms of time management, to overcome procrastination, another important method is to learn to control one's emotions. For things that should be done, one should take action immediately, quickly 20 seconds. For example, whether to sleep in or attend forums or lectures on weekends, it is important to make a positive decision 20 seconds in advance, rather than lying there and thinking for half a day without taking action.

For things that require careful consideration or decisions made when emotions are high, one should think twice before making a decision and take 20 seconds to make it.

Practical Tip 4: Set a Small TIMER

To change the habit of procrastination, you can also try using the simplest method, which is to set a TIMER for yourself when doing a certain task, such as writing a manuscript or a report, setting yourself half an hour or an hour, and then using a countdown to start working. This kind of training will save you a lot of time compared to doing the same work normally, simplify all the emotional preparation work before writing the report, and greatly improve work efficiency.

Of course, there are many techniques to change time management, such as using the calendar in Outlook, goal decomposition method, making a decision to do things well at once, utilizing fragmented time, and challenging the "fast culture". Readers may start with the above easy to start methods.