Office Time Management Tips You Can Use Now

Would you like an extra hour or two during your work day? Of course you would! Unfortunately, this Professional Organizer in NYC can’t add extra time to your day. But what I can do is share basic time management tips that will not only improve your efficiency but will also get you out of the office at a reasonable time.

Say no. The quickest and easiest way to free up time in your work day is learning how to say no to opportunities, tasks, and meetings for which you don’t have time. Instead of feeling that you must handle everything, learn to communicate that your plate is overflowing and that you are focusing only on the tasks and meetings that are most important. If a task needs to be done but you don’t have time in your schedule, either negotiate a revised completion date or delegate it to your team.

Set reminders. Set an alarm for 15 minutes before meetings or conference calls so that you give yourself time to prepare to take a break. This allows you to finish up what you are working on so that when you return to the task you know exactly where you left off. You’ll stay efficient and not lose time trying to figure out which page of the agreement you were reviewing.

Eliminate time wasters. It’s so easy to just pick up your phone and aimlessly scroll through social media. Put your phone away in a desk drawer so it’s not tempting as the more drastic step of removing those apps from your phone is probably not an option. When you remove those time wasters, you can put all of your focus into the tasks in front of you.

Stop procrastinating. Some people have a tendency to wait until last minute to begin a project and end up rushing and struggling to complete it by the deadline. Doing this allows projects to take up much more time than they would if they were broken down into smaller chunks that were worked on over the course of the project. Plus, this adds a ton of stress! Instead, when a project crosses your desk, immediately get to work on it by setting deadlines for different pieces. Then schedule time for those steps.

Know yourself. Think about your average work day – when do you work best? Are you the most productive first thing in the morning? Or do you find yourself not really working until after lunch? Observe yourself over a period of time and monitor your productivity. Then manage your schedule so that you leave that timeframe free for your most important tasks. Though this tip requires a little prep work, once implemented, you’ll find an immediate change in your productivity.

Here’s the reality – you won’t complete everything on your to-do list every single day. The goal, however, is to implement time management tips so that you can be as productive as possible each day. When you need more hands on strategies, reach out to your Professional Organizer in NYC.