Introduction
- Always too much to do and too little time? Do you lack a structure for planning and prioritising your tasks?
- Do you casually accept all meeting invitations?
- Is too much time spent constantly answering the phone and via email and chat?
If you recognise yourself, it may be time to become a master of planning and prioritisation. Otherwise, there is a risk that your working hours will include working in the evening and weekends as a result. Read about four techniques that will help you become more productive and reduce your stress.
How is your productivity level today?
Previously, I would be the first to answer yes to all the above questions. When I worked as a regional manager in the computer industry, I became incredibly good at increasing my working hours. When the working hours had reached 65 hours a week on average, I had had enough. I realised there must be another way of working. My solution was to hire an external coach. I evolved from being event-driven to becoming more goal-driven. Among other things, my working hours were reduced to 45 hours a week, one more office was opened, and turnover increased by 40%.
This was many years ago and I have worked as a coach and trainer for more than 20 years. Over the years, I have helped around 2 000 people develop skills in Time Management. Through my experience and education, I have identified four principal areas:
- VISUALISATION
- STRUCTURE
- PLAN
- EFFICIENCY
You will now get a brief overview of them. When you learn to use them, both your productivity and well-being will increase – every day.
The less you plan and prioritise the most important tasks, the more hours you have to work.
Ulla Lilliehöök
Four areas to be more productive – every day!
1 VISUALISE your tasks to get a clearer overall perspective.
With “knowledge work”, our brain must constantly be alert and able to perform all tasks. If you retain the work in your head, there is a risk of forgetting some parts or putting them off for too long. Therefore, it is important to make all main work tasks visible; the ones you do today and the others you should do, but don’t have time for. You get a clear overview instead of seeing each task separately.
2 STRUCTURE and prioritisation will allow you to see exactly which tasks absolutely must be completed.
By structuring what needs to be done, you will prioritise the right tasks. This means that the right things get done. Of all the main tasks you have that must be done at a certain time. Which ones are a must right now, which ones are less important and which ones can wait?
By using VISUALISATION (mentioned in point 1) you can gain an overview and prioritise the absolute highest priority tasks over a longer period time, for example a month. This can be done by selecting tasks within each main area, goals, deadlines and estimating how long each task will take to complete.
3 PLAN prioritised tasks during own meetings to assess how much working time there is in reality.
Planning is especially important to be able to perform the right tasks within the allotted time. It helps you find out how much time you have before a task must be completed and which other tasks must be done simultaneously. If tasks are booked in the calendar as separate work meetings, it becomes easier to prioritise the right tasks each day. You become less event-driven and more goal-driven.
4 EFFICIENCY to reduce certain tasks and to increase others that are more important
The more knowledge and experience you have about your work, the more efficiently they can be carried out. By examining how long a task takes today, ideas on what can make the task more efficient, testing the ideas in reality, the measures can make a big difference to efficiency, without sacrificing quality. The more tasks that can be streamlined, the more time will be saved.
