Friends And Enemies Of Time

2023 Author : Hannah Pearcy | [email protected] . Last modified: 2023-11-26 11:39

Work until you drop and still never cope with the workload: Many bosses in craft businesses are familiar with this condition. But help is coming!

Those who feel the pressure of deadlines on a permanent basis and still cannot get to the end do themselves harm in many ways. However, freedom for planning and management tasks on the professional side and air for private interests are to be actively conquered.

Getting started gives you a central question: How do I actually spend my working time - and what do I ideally want to achieve with it? Good time management does not aim to accomplish more tasks in less time - but to do the essentials in the available time. But only those who organize themselves effectively can make optimal use of their own time.

Zeitfreund 1: Set goals

Your professional and private goals, no matter what they look like, are, so to speak, the roughest filter through which the tasks of your daily workload have to be sent. Because you can only achieve them if you work on overarching goals every day. Specifically, this means that you continuously measure your tasks against these goals and sort them accordingly.

Time friend 2: see priorities

In practical terms, it helps to first list all the pending tasks and then evaluate them: Where is the most at stake for the company at the moment in terms of profit and loss? Some models have proven their worth in the differentiated sorting of priorities.

One of them is the Eisenhower principle. There is the following useful grid, with which one differentiates tasks according to their importance and urgency:

Priority A: These tasks are urgent and important. You have to do it yourself and immediately.

· Priority B: This is used to mark tasks that are not necessarily “burning”, but on which a lot will depend in the future. You should also take care of them yourself. Put them on appointment.

Priority C: This category includes typical day-to-day business. There are tasks that should be done urgently, but are not decisive in the long term. Check here which requirements you can delegate.

· Priority D: This category includes tasks that are neither urgent nor important. Delegate them.

Zeitfreund 3: Be organized

Written form is at the heart of every successful time management system, because everything you only carry around in your head causes unnecessary stress when there is sufficient time and information. The second step is also essential: it is much easier to understand your tasks when they are gathered in one place than on distributed notes and scrapbooks. Some prefer a book, other electronic aids like the PC. The advantage of computer support is the dunning function, which actively draws attention to appointments. No matter how you bundle it, it is essential that you structure the information you have written down so that you can find it later. And always leave room for something very important: the "done hook" that strengthens your motivation.

Zeitfreund 4: Plan realistically

Now it is a matter of assigning these tasks in order of priority with realistic completion periods. Experience has shown that it is practical to use weekly planning here. Transfer the tasks to your schedule and follow the steps below:

· Estimate the time required: Then enter the respective task with the start and end dates in your calendar.

· Provide buffer times: It makes sense to schedule only 60 percent of the daily working time and to keep the remaining 40 percent free for unforeseen events.

· Include personal performance highs and lows: consider your personal daily rhythm in the schedule.

· Salami technique: If you go in slices here, the mammoth project quickly loses its horror. Disassemble the task.

Time enemy 1: chaos

Disorder and chaos take the desire to tackle tasks because you have the impression that you never see land anyway. Organize and maintain your desk and do something good for yourself and your working posture. The following suggestions will help:

· Create space!

· Filing instead of piles of paper!

· Create a soothing working atmosphere with pictures and plants.

Enemy of time 2: deferment

The notorious defermentitis, as the main cause of overtime, is not only uneconomical, it also puts a strain on us.

· Here too - salami technique: disassemble a postponed task.

Carrot technique: Notify yourself of an appealing reward.

· 5-minute technique: Prescribe yourself to concentrate on the task you have just postponed for only five minutes - with the option of letting it rest after this time.

Enemy of time 3: sole makeritis

This attitude is one of the most successful time thieves ever. If you have the opportunity, you should definitely delegate to save your own time account and heed the following:

· Select delegation tasks: It is best to directly label the things that others can do just as well for you.

· Delegate correctly: Give your employees clear guidelines on what has to be done and when and how. Then leave the details to your staff and only ask for the result, for large tasks also intermediate results.

Enemy 4: perfectionism

What makes the difference between working well and working unnecessarily perfectly shows nothing more clearly than the Pareto or 80/20 principle. Applied to this situation, it says that 20 percent of the time spent on a task already reveals 80 percent of the desired work result. On the other hand, 80 percent of the time must be spent on the remaining 20 percentage points that are still missing for the 100 percent result. And that rarely pays off. So remember: draw time limits!

Enemy of time 5: flood of information

Frequent phone interruptions, endless meetings and the flood of information from your email inbox often tear you out of your workflow. These bars are ideal for containing such annoying time wasters easily and permanently:

· Control calls: Do not always process all inquiries yourself that a caller makes to you. Arrange callbacks or connect to employees.

· Control meetings: Endless conversations are always random conversations. Make sure that goals for the meeting, start and end dates are set before a meeting.

· Building e-mail dams: The bad habit of sending any e-mail to large “for information distributors” just rubs everyone up. Please politely but firmly ask such senders to only send you emails in the future that directly affect you. Another tip: Check your inboxes only at fixed times, for example on the hour.

Practice, practice, practice

Don't be afraid if you don't get the individual methods exactly right the first time. Practice makes perfect here too. However, if you do reach internal capacity limits despite consistent self-management, you should think about solving some tasks with the help of external staff. The Brillux Customer Club is a good address for all marketing questions.