Effective time management

Managing your time is important because it helps you prioritize your tasks and complete them efficiently. When you manage your time effectively, you can focus on your most important tasks, and you are less likely to get distracted by other people's tasks or unimportant activities. This can help you achieve your goals more quickly and with less stress. Additionally, effective time management can help you better balance your work and personal life, leading to improved overall well-being.

When you manage your time effectively, you can also avoid burnout which can impact your productivity and increase the likelihood of errors. It's important to take breaks throughout the day and ensure you're not overworking yourself. Effective time management can help you achieve a better work-life balance, which can be crucial for your mental and emotional health.

When I started my career as a manager, I used to work long hours almost every day. As a result of long working hours, I did not have a work-life balance which resulted in burnout and resentment at work. My work was impacted and my overall health began to decline.

On introspecting about it a few years later, I learned that I wasn't prioritizing my work and therefore I was not managing my time effectively. I used to attend to other people's tasks and work on my tasks later at night when all the calls and meetings had ended. On most days my eight to nine hours at work used to be all about standup calls for multiple project calls with internal and external stakeholders & responding to team members' queries etc. After all this, I used to work on my tasks like status reports and other documents.

There are different strategies and tools that you can use to manage your time effectively. For example, creating a to-do list, task prioritization, using time-tracking tools, and minimizing distractions can all help you manage your time more efficiently. By taking the time to plan and prioritize your tasks, you can focus on what's most important and avoid wasting time on activities that aren't contributing to your goals.

I decided to change that when I started my next job. I started my day by creating a list of tasks to do that day followed by checking the scheduled calls for the day. Prioritize the tasks as per the business needs and your deadlines. Instead of DM’s discuss group chats to ensure that other people are looped in the same discussion. You do not need to attend every meeting. Trust your team and ask them for a summary after the end of the call. Do not keep asking your team about the status of a task. Get updates on the stand-up calls every day. We all understand that sometimes there is urgency and you have the itch to keep following up with your team members about the status of the task. Remember, you cannot complete all your tasks and the tasks on the list of to-do’s will keep increasing. So it is important to prioritise the tasks and manage your time effectively.

Very early on, I learned from someone I used to work with about managing a call as a moderator of the meeting. Set the agenda of the call before the meeting and send it to all the participants. Prepare the talking/discussion points for the call and allocate time for each of them. Start by setting the context behind the call and play through the meeting points with all the participants along with the time for each point so that the participants know the format of the meeting. If the discussion is going beyond the fixed time then intervene and let the participants know about it. Try to be a mediator between the parties if the discussion is not going anywhere. Give a heads-up 5 minutes before the scheduled call end time. Use the last 5 minutes to replay the points discussed and the action items from the call. In the next meeting, start by going through the action items from the previous meeting and then follow the same format.

A time-tracking tool can help you in managing your time effectively. Create a list of tasks and the time allocated to them at the start of your day. Track your time against each of the tasks which will allow you to plan your day and meet your goals efficiently. This will help you identify areas where you can improve your productivity and work on improving them.

Miru is an open-source and free time tracking tool, using which you can track the time of your tasks and plan your day accordingly. Log your time against each task manually or by starting a timer. At the end of the day, you can analyse the time spent on different kinds of tasks and identify the areas where you can reduce the time to be more productive and efficient at work. Try Miru on www.miru.so and help us improve it by sending your feedback on hello@saeloun.com

In summary, effective time management is crucial for success in the workplace and can have a positive impact on your overall well-being. By implementing strategies and tools to manage your time more efficiently, you can achieve a better work-life balance, avoid burnout, and increase your productivity and effectiveness.