A friend of mine asked me how I manage my time and what method I use to organise my work. To be honest, I am probably one of the most disorganised people you will ever meet. I rely a lot on my memory and brain's storage and filing system. Over a period of time, with a constant pressure on my brain, I began feeling overwhelmed. I never thought that I needed lessons on time-management etc. However, during all those times that I felt overwhelmed, I reflected back on the time-management techniques taught at various trainings and to be honest- many of them never really worked for me, at least not in the way they put it. After a lot of trial and error, I devised my own simple method for managing time and staying organised at work. I must admit, that I am no expert and even now, many a time, I just find it easier to go with the flow. I resort to these techniques when I think I am overwhelmed or moving towards being thus.
None of my techniques are new, just an amalgamation of several techniques which helps me stay calm and get things done. As a warning, this post is going to be quite long, so hopefully it will be useful for those reading it right to the end.
I will start with the tips that do not work for me and what I do instead:
- Your daily to-do list must roll-up to your annual goals/objectives: This tip never works for me. It creates a lot of ambiguity and confusion for me. However, when I reflect on it in retrospect, I am able to explain/relate how my daily activities contributed to the bigger picture. I am not able to do it prospectively though and have to make up some really fantastic stories to drive home the point.
- Batch similar tasks together: I guess the theory behind this tip is that you pick up pace on some tasks. It does not work for me though, if each task takes more than 5 mins to do. I feel this tremendous kind of fatigue if I batch similar tasks together that I do not feel like doing anything beyond and end up procrastinating. So, it has the opposite effect of the desired outcome of a time management tip.
- Complete the most important/difficult task first: Well, if I am jolly and upbeat, I can do this. However, I am not the most upbeat person at the very beginning of the day so the very fact that I have to do something difficult first, just overwhelms me that I end up procrastinating. I like to be eased into the difficult tasks by doing something light or simple first. It feels good to have 1 item ticked off on the to-do list before launching myself to swallow the frog.
- Schedule time for reading emails: In my kind of profession and work, this is not something easy to implement. There could be some items that need my urgent attention and maybe the sender is not in a position to call or message me. So, I have distorted this tip to suit me. I look at the sender, the subject line and the importance marked on the email. Based on checking the 3, if I feel, the email warrants my immediate attention, I read it. Else, I leave it unread to read as soon as I finish the task at hand.
- Put a time limit on tasks: I do not do this in my professional life as I do not want things to be left half done. Suppose, I am writing an article and have set a limit of 30 mins and I am unable to finish it in that time frame, it is kind of demotivating and in addition, the tasks also remain half done. I must admit though that this helped me during my student life when I could put a time limit on studying a certain subject.
I will now move on to what actually works for me, but, before that, I would like to share my 4 tools which helps me on a day to day basis:
- Dated Diary: I make my to-do lists in a diary
- Email: Helps me prioritise
- Calendar: to block time for different tasks and make time for appointments
- Evernote/OneNote: To make notes and lists
What actually works for me:
- Reviewing calendar monthly, weekly and daily
At the beginning of every month, I like to take a look at my calendar to identify important deadlines or meetings for the month and if I need to prepare for the meeting, I check for the days when I am less busy and block time to prepare for the meeting or allocate the required amount of time to complete the task for the deadline.
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| Not a calendar that I use for my day-to-day work but this one does provide an overview of holidays. This one is from a device that I do not use often |
At the end of every week, I like to see what is in store for the following week and the week after. I do this as by calendar changes everyday with some new meetings or tasks for me to do. I definitely cannot solely rely on what I planned at the very beginning of the month. After my weekly review, I go again block time as necessary for preparation.
I usually hate going to meetings unprepared if a contribution is expected of me. I feel stupid or feel I do not care enough about the time invested by others by going unprepared. If there is no information on the invite regarding the expectations from the participants for a meeting, I usually write back to the person who is inviting as ask for the expectations. There are some meetings where a preparation is not required but I need to listen to thoughts and ideas of others and these are okay.
I review my calendar daily to check what is needed on the given day and the day after- this helps me plan my other activities like lunch time, breaks, quick catch-up with colleagues etc.
The basic message is, if I have to be on top of everything I do, I have to review my calendar as frequently as possible.
- Making a daily to-do list
I jot down all that I need to do on a given day. I write this list keeping in mind that I might not complete all of it on that particular day- if I do- fantastic! I found how I write my to-do list very different from most others. I do not simply list down all the tasks I need to do on a particular day as shown below.
I write them down by project. Let us assume that I am a wedding planner who is managing 3 weddings. My to-do list appears somewhat like the image below. I feel this really helps me work find focus on the right projects and tasks.
- Working on my to-do list
I rank the tasks based on priority and work based on priorities. As I mentioned above, I do not like to do the toughest or the most unpleasant task first. I like to ease into these. So, usually, the number one priority on my list is usually something easy. However, it does not mean I do the least important or urgent task first. I just choose the easiest of the urgent/important tasks first. Following this, I launch myself into the toughest/unpleasant task from the urgent/important tasks.
Sometimes things do not work as planned especially if you are dependant on someone else and some tasks may get pushed to another day or may require follow-up on another day. So, I go immediately to the dated page in my diary to the date when I need to do the task and I make a note of it there so that I do not forget. All tasks that I complete are ticked off. In the picture I have used different colours to indicate a task that is pushed or tasks which are completed but in real life I do not colour code this.
- Managing e-mail
I use Outlook like most people for my email. I usually mark out important emails which need action or follow-up with the expected date of action or follow-up so that I am reminded of the same on the particular date. I review these marked emails everyday to see if something can be marked complete before the due date. I guess everyone does the same so nothing new here.
I go through my email as soon as they arrive. I have mentioned above on how I choose to review my emails based on sender, subject line and importance. I read all others in between tasks. If some tasks are taking too long to finish, I take an email break to go through my email.
- Blocking out distractions
I am as such not a big social media fanatic (anymore) so it came easy to me to keep of it. Apart from this, I try as much as possible to avoid getting dragged into conversations that do not help me professionally unless I am on a break. It also happens sometimes, that I am the initiator of futile conversations but as soon as I realise this, I put an end to it.
- Understanding priorities
One of my mentors gave me the ABCD on how to decide which task is a priority. The priority should always be ABCD, where
A= Apna Kaam or My work
B= Boss ka Kaam or Tasks the Boss wants you to do
C= Colleagues ka Kaam or Tasks for a colleague or helping out a colleague
D= Duniya ka Kaam or World's work- implies everything else
Though occasionally it is difficult to use this, 99% of the time I use it and it has proven to be very effective.
- Taking breaks at regular intervals
This is more of a productivity tip than a time management tip. Taking regular breaks from work helps me recharge my batteries and work with greater energy which in turn helps me do more in a given time-frame.
- Making Lists
I use Evernote to make several lists. Be it a shopping list or what I need to pack for trips, I have a list for everything. As soon as I realise I need to buy something, I record it immediately on my shopping list. This helps me save time and put more thought into what I need to buy just before shopping.
For travelling, I have a standard list which I use for any and every trip with a list of items that need packing. It helps me pack more efficiently and not forget important things. Similarly I have a list of upcoming blogs that I intend to write, list of points I have to cover in some of my blogs, list of recipes to try out etc. I am planning to switch from Evernote to some other tool, will update you when I do so.
You might get the impression that I am a super-organised person by reading all my ways of working and believe me I am not. These are the only things that help me manage my time and stay productive. As I mentioned, I am no expert on time management and productivity. These are a few things which work for me but may or may not work for you. I believe, every individual has his/her working style and job requirements so it is not necessary that what works for one would work for all others. The very intention of this blog post is to help others and also if possible, learn from others.
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