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Time management is a combination of MACRO and MICRO strategies:

MACRO : involved, looks more complicated, involving others, needing thought and time investment, far-reaching, bringing long term success, effective (planning, delegating, prioritising and so on)

MICRO : tips and tools, immediate results, looks easier, bringing short term success, effective

Learn in greater detail how to develop you own micro-strategies on our comprehensive 1-day Time Management Course.

These are the quick fix ideas that make day-to-day time management more organised and effective. You will already be using some systems. Which techniques work well for you?

Remember the three’s:

• PEOPLE
• PAPER
• PLANNING

Get these three under control and you are well on your way to being organised (and saving time).

People

Others:

• Don’t have an open door policy but let people know when you will be available
• Keep interruptions short.
• Always let colleagues know where you are – ensure you have an efficient tracking system
• Only involve those in meetings who really need to be there and only for those items which involve them
• At start of meetings state objectives and time constraints clearly
• Make sure minutes of meetings record decisions, actions agreed and completed and actions outstanding.
• Use effective listening skills to summarise points made at meetings, face-to-face discussions or on phone calls.

Self:

• Don’t procrastinate – given the choice of doing it now or later do it now – time is cheaper now (when you have a choice) than later (when you don’t).
• Be clear what you want, do you really want to say “no” – say it.
• Reward yourself for doing things you don’t like doing

Papers

• Handle each piece just once reply to it, file it or destroy it
• Deal with emails at a given time each day
• Skim read to see if something is worth reading.
• Pieces of paper that you don’t need to do anything with, file in the waste paper basket.
• Destroy paper once it has reached the end of its useful life.
• Take fewer and better notes.
• Log your time on the phone, – see how long you spend.
• Limit the time you spend answering emails.
• Organise your papers; for example, different coloured folders for different projects

Planning

• Take quiet time to review your day at the start and at the end of the day.
• Work from a clear and tidy desk
• Set yourself achievable goals and monitor them.
• Do one single job at a time: don’t break off or give in to interruptions.
• Plan your telephone calls and your email reading – do all in one period of the day
• Make regular and frequent backups of your own computer data.
• Eliminate multiple copies of files from you discs – keep your computer files well-organised
• Use directory structures or folders on your PC.
• Record all actions – what is to be done, when by whom
• Start meetings strictly on time
• Limit time strictly – stick to your time commitment
• Circulate minutes of meetings as soon as possible after the end of the meeting. Write first draft within 24 hours – at least.
• Write to do lists
• Have a time plan on your wall so you can see immediately your commitments for the next month

Similar resources you may like

1. Time wasters
2. Key result areas
3. Personal priorities
4. Developing positive time management skills
5. At a glance time management reminder

Tags

Active Listening Skills, Effective Listening Skills, Effective Meetings, Free Resource, guide, MACRO and MICRO strategies, Micro-strategies, Time Management, Time Management Training

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This entry was posted by Faye Binfield on Friday, October 26th, 2007 at 1:57 pm and is filed under Time Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.