Cram24 hours into CAREER Imagine if you could get a whopping 24 hours
worth of stuff done in one tiny little eight-hour work day, yet still get home in time for dinner and maybe even a bit of relaxation... By Bronwyn McNulty
The good news is that this is possible. How? First of all, stop wishing (you’re wasting time!) and instead start making it hap- penbyemployingafewof thetop secrets ofexpert timemanagers. “There is no such thing as timemanagement. Timemanages
us,” cautions Dr Granville D’Souza, Director of Six Seconds in Singapore (
www.6seconds-sea.com).“We need to learn tomanage our lives.”And it’s awarning thatPAswould bewise to heed as learn- ing howto effectively use your time is a skill that directly impacts on yourworkplace performance – if you don’t manage your time appropriately you’ll find it difficult to work in today’s increas- ingly pressured working environment.
RELIMINATE TIMEWASTERS
Colleagues dropping by for a chat, phone calls,emails and never- endingmeetings are all interruptions that canwaste your time. “The simplestway to reduce interruptions and getmore done
is to make it challenging for people to interrupt you. If you have an office door –close it. Don’t take phone calls, texts,emails or IM messages while you’re working on something. If you work in an open-plan office, isolation earphones are your new best friend,” says Aaron Lynn, of
www.asianefficiency.com. You could ask colleagues to make an appointment to meet with you if they intend to have a lengthy discussion.
Reduce interruptions.One strategy is to set asidesome time everydaywhenyouwon’tbeinterrupted. Ifyou’refortunateenough towork flexible hours then plan to come in early to the office or leave late andhave an hourwhere youcanfocus on gettinga few things ticked off your to do list before anyone else comes in. If you share the responsibility of answering the phones, try
making an arrangementwith your co-worker so that each of you gets a break to concentrate on tasks that require concentration.
Manage your emails. Turn off your auto-alert for newmes- sages and instead check youremails at specific times through- out the day. This way you are not constantly interrupted when a new message lands in your inbox. Check youremails first thingin themorning, againmidmorn-
ing, before lunch, mid afternoon and then an hour before you go home. It’s worth setting up an out of office notice to let people knowyou’re not checkingemails constantly and advising them to call if they have anurgent request. Of course insome roles this isn’t practical as youmay have a jobwhich requires you to con- stantly check your email but try not to be a slave to the inbox.
38 2012 ISSUETWO |
WWW.EXECUTIVEPA.ASIA
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