One of the best parts about working at a smaller company is how you get to carve out your time and projects. The hard part? Managing your time - but it's the only way to be efficient. One of the biggest time drainers plaguing professionals is poor scheduling.
Whether or not you’re using a smart time or task management platform like Accelo, here are a few tips to help you stay on track:
Be aware of how you spend your time
The first step towards improving your habits? Recognizing them. Thinking about what websites you frequent, what purpose they serve (in terms of your goals) and so on can help you prioritize. Learning to be mindful of your habits is a challenge in and of itself, but it'll develop with practice over time.
Set goals and priorities
Before you get started on anything, take the time to write your goals down for the day. Having a list of tasks will allow you to keep busy without having to reset and think of what to do next. Be realistic about your tasks and estimate the time it takes to complete them. That way, you’ll never feel overwhelmed.
Use your down-time to catch up on emails.
If your projects are dependent on other people and deliverables, take that in-between time as a chance to catch up on some "busy work". Reply to emails, get back to those missed phone calls, and touch base with your colleagues about related projects.
Feeling unproductive? Don’t beat yourself up. Enjoy it.
It’s important to realize you can’t be productive all of the time. You're human. Instead of stressing, just give into it - but only for an allotted amount of time. If you block out your ‘chill’ time, you’ll find that the transition to productivity will be much easier.
