“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.”
– Zig Ziglar
As you may have heard a zillion times before time management is a fundamental skill required to build a successful person in any field. There are numerous applications, tools etc. available at your fingertips to help you with your work and yet at the end of the day you find yourself struggling to keep up with the deadlines, the root of this problem lies in poor time management skills. Poor time management skills can botch up your career even if you possess the best of abilities while effective time management skills can make you reach sky high parameters of success.
Here at skillful pro we strive to carve the best salespersons and thus here’s presenting to you the ultimate tips and tricks you need in order to become a seasoned professional of time management :
- LIST DOWN
Pen down all the things you need to do today, create a schedule for the day and stick to it. Mention the amount of time you will be dedicating to each activity
This may sound simple, but it is important to schedule time for each prospect you want to meet, the time needed to travel etc. Relentlessly make effort to plan your week ahead. List down the tasks you want to accomplish in the week ahead. Write down the time and resources needed to do so.
This will help you understand clearly all the resources you have and the way forward in your projects.
2. DRAW A LINE
Only allow yourself to do a task for a specific amount of time, mentioning the time will help you in setting a boundary rather than dragging the task for hours until it gets too late.
3. TO DO LIST
Create a to do list in the order of importance of the task. Start with the tasks at the top and descend as you check off tasks from the list. In addition to this remember to keep your to do list realistic, add only those tasks which you will be able to complete in a day.
Always have a to-do list for the whole week ahead. Consciously make effort to scale back on low-value activities that do not yield high returns. Remove or postpone unimportant tasks.
4. BLOCK DISTRACTIONS
While at work make sure to keep all distracting elements at bay, these hinder your progress and contribute to unfinished tasks. Keeping your phone at silent and ostracizing all social media applications while focusing on your work will actually boost your performance by a surprising rate.
Always schedule time for prospecting, administrative work and also block time to answer your emails. This way you can achieve more in the scheduled time. It will also help you make “prospecting to become a part of your natural behaviour – your habit”.
5. TAKE BREAKS
Continuous work can exhaust your mind refuel it by indulging in a pleasurable activity like reading or taking a walk, performing enjoyable activities in the midst of a task also boosts brain performance. Use this time to read industry news or catch up with an industry leader/expert for a coffee. This will help you expand your horizons.
6. WATCH THE WATCH
Place a clock in front of your desk, this will help in keeping a track of your time, which will further motivate you to complete the task in the given bracket of time rather than slagging away while still on the task.
Write the common time waster activities in your case and address it at the earliest. It could vary for each individual. Some of the time wasters are:
a. Not going through the task. Leaving the task in between and jumping from one task to another.
b. Unnecessary interruptions like unscheduled phone calls/ visitors, unimportant team meetings.
c. Lack of objectives, clearly defined goals
d. Too much paperwork, reports etc.
Also always keep track to ensure that you do not fall into the same trap again.
7. SET DEADLINES
There is no other motivator like a deadline always commence a task by setting a deadline, the deadline will act as a motivator. In case there is no specified deadline create your own deadline for the best results.
There will always be a couple of task, that you simply dislike and will do everything to avoid it. But the better option, even though a bit difficult in the begining is to set a deadline and finish off those tasks. It will remove a huge burden off your chest and you can focus on the tasks that are more important for your success.
Try out these steps and tell us, how things went for you. If you have different time management strategies that has worked for you, write to us at info(at)skillfullpro.com . We would love to hear from you.