Good time management is an important factor in building career success. Because, this will help someone to be more productive and achieve many things in the future.
Even so, many people admit that it is difficult to achieve work-life balance, to the point that they have to sacrifice their personal time. For example, in a survey by salary.com, 89% of workers admitted to wasting time every day at work. Some of them spend a lot of time opening social media, googling and making personal calls, which interferes with productivity at work.
So, are you one of those who find it difficult to manage work time? The following are tips for managing work time that you can follow so that you can achieve work life balance.
Prioritize Job Types Wisely
In this case, you need to prioritize types of work based on their urgency. For example, look at your daily tasks and rank them according to the following scale:
- Important and urgent: Perform this task immediately.
- Important but not urgent: Decide when you should do these tasks.
- Urgent but not important: Delegate these tasks when possible.
- Not urgent and not important: Make this work to be done later or eliminate it if possible.
Create a Timeline for Completing Tasks
Setting a timeline for completing tasks helps you to be more focused and efficient at work. Apart from that, creating a timeline also helps you recognize potential problems that will arise so you can prepare solutions.
For example, you are asked to write several articles at once in one day. However, considering that the article material is quite complex, you think you won't be able to finish it on that day because you have to look for materials first. The solution is, you can map out what time you have to collect each article. Start by working on the material needed first, and continue with the next article. Don't hesitate to ask your colleagues who are free at that time for help.
Eliminate Unimportant Activities
In this case, you need to identify several activities that are not related to your job. For example, do you often open YouTube, play games, open Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc., or chat too much about topics outside of work with colleagues.
So, if this activity is quite dominant in consuming your work time, it's time to avoid it for a while. For example, by logging out of game and social media accounts until your work is finished. You can also find a quiet room in your office so you are not tempted to chat a lot with colleagues.
You Also Need to Rest
When you do a lot of tasks without taking a break, it actually makes it more difficult to stay focused and motivated. Therefore, take a break in the middle of work to clear your mind and refresh yourself. You can rest by taking a short nap, taking a walk or meditating.
Create a Structured System for Your Work
The document filing system, physical or softfile, also influences how quickly you work. Therefore, you need to take time to organize work documents. Place and organize documents at a point where you can quickly get what you need.
Learn to Dare to Say No
You may find it difficult to manage your time at work if you don't learn how to say no. Focus on the important tasks that are your responsibility. Don't hesitate to reject work that is beyond your capacity.
In principle, instead of doing many tasks that produce little or no value, it's best to complete fewer tasks that create more value for you. If you can't say no, you can delegate the task to the right colleague
Make a work plan for the next day
Consider making it a habit at the end of each work day to write down a to-do list for the next day. That way you can immediately work efficiently.
Those are tips for managing a good and balanced working time. It is important to remember, time is actually something we cannot change. What we can control is ourselves and what we can do with the time we have.