Leave a Comment / timeghost / By Tim Lauenroth
“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot”
Michael Altshuler, Keynote Speaker
This quote by Michael Altshuler describes the relevance of time management. It depends on how you use your time and how you plan your day. We live in a time where we have more and more freedom to work.
We can now choose from where and when we work. In order to stay effective and not get lost in the chaos of the many possibilities you are given at your job, good time management is the key to success.
You’ll get tips and tools to help you manage your time and get the most out of your workday. Be curious!
What is time management?
The Camebridge dictionary defines time management as “the practice of using the time that you have available in a useful and effective way, especially in your work”.
Time management is the practice of using the time that you have available in a useful and effective way, especially in your work.
Why does it matter in times like this?
One of the reasons why time management is important today has already been mentioned in the introduction. Despite the many freedoms we are offered, we need structures and plans that allow us to do our work effectively and well. In addition, the time factor plays an increasingly important role in today’s world.
The speed at which the world of work is developing with the available technology can no longer be compared. Employees in particular have to adapt to this speed. They do this, among other things, by optimizing their time through good, effective time management.
The relevance of planning ahead
“All time management begins with planning”
Tom Greening, author
If you plan your time ahead of time, you are already way ahead of everyone else. Not only does planning ahead give you a good overview, it also allows you to prioritize your tasks.
Setting Priorities
When planning your week or day, you can go a long way by prioritizing your tasks. Either write down your tasks on a list and then assign them to the 4D’s.
DO: Important, urgent: A priorities:
All tasks that are very important and absolutely need to be addressed.
DECIDE: Important, not urgent: B priorities:
Tasks that should be done, but won’t have much consequence if you don’t tackle them right away.
DELEGATE: Not important, urgent — C priorities:
These are the tasks you should delegate to others.
DELETE: Not important, not urgent — D priorities:
You don’t need to do these tasks and it is not important, delete them.
For more tips on successful planning at work, check out the top 5 planning tips for a successful week.
Use planning tools
By now there are a lot of good tools you can use for planning your tasks. Since we are in the Microsoft365 environment with timeghost, we use the MicrosoftPlanner and Micorosft ToDo. The Planner is the more powerful tool with a variety of options that allow you to plan in more detail. Microsoft ToDo is a task management program where you can create task lists.
How do you use time management best?
Managing stress
When you’re done planning your tasks, it’s time to implement them. We will show you what you should pay attention to when implementing your tasks in terms of time management!
Goal setting
Make your goal as measurable as possible to check if you really achieved it.
“What gets measured gets managed”
Peter Drucker, Management consultant
This means above all that you present your task in a measurable way. To make your work easier, tools like Microsoft Planner already give you some suggestions on how to create your tasks.
A well known way of measurability is to present your goals and tasks SMART:
S pecific
M easurable
A ttainable
R elevant
T ime based
Avoid procrastination
There is no need to mention the relevance of procrastination. We know it all too well. Often we don’t get it at all and only realize afterwards that we have frittered away the time. That’s why prevention and best possible prevention of procrastination is an important element when it comes to successful time management.
How can you prevent procrastination?
Avoid distractions
You’re already helping yourself a lot by leaving the simple distractions aside. These mainly include your smartphone and social media. Try to keep your desk as clean as possible as well. Another simple trick is to put only the most important things on your desk that you need to work.
It’s best to ask yourself:
What is stealing my attention and taking me away from the important things at work?
Schedule intentional focus times into your workday:
Focus times are times when you are not available and can only devote yourself to your prioritized tasks. This way you avoid multitasking and can fully concentrate on your to-dos.
Take breaks
Scheduling breaks is one of the essential components of time management. Without a break, your body and mind can’t regenerate and you won’t be as productive as you would like to be. Consciously taking breaks is also a good way to avoid procrastination.
Try to take a hard cut during breaks and put everything you’re working on to the side, so you don’t even think about work anymore. Rest, go for a walk or take a short power nap. Depending on what works best for you in the situation. However, the most important thing is that you don’t think about your work at all during this time.
Our personal responsibility for time management is increasing
In order to make the best use of our freedom in the future, we need to be aware of the fact that we need to show more responsibility in managing our time.
Use time tracking
Especially for people who work on different projects, tracking their working time and assigning the corresponding task from each project is a great way to keep track of their working time. timeghost offers a pretty cool project time tracking software that is fully integrated into the Microsoft365 environment.
We specialize in the clear assignment of working hours to specific projects. timeghost allows you to evaluate your working hours, which you need to take the time management of you and your team to the next level.
Try timeghost with the 14 day free trial. All you need is a Microsoft365 account. Just sign in with your Microsoft365 mail and start timeghost 14 days for free.
Get the timeghost Teams App
You only need to install the timeghost Teams App directly from the AppSource Store in the application. You can find a manual on how to do this right here. The app includes all features that you know from the web client and since you use your Microsoft 365 account in order to access timeghost you’re set and done in only a few seconds.
