In today’s day and age every minute counts, and life can change in a split second, that is why it is important to manage your time effectively.

Here we have a few short tips on how to improve your time management, and perhaps you will have enough time on your hands to take on some new tasks.

1. MANAGE TECHNOLOGY

Do not let your cell phone and e-mail consume your whole day, only check your cell phone in the morning, tea times and lunch time. It is not so much that it takes up a lot of your time but it does take your brain a few minutes to regain focus. The same principle goes for checking your work e-mails. Schedule to check your e-mails every 2 hours, if possible.

2. PRIORITIZE YOUR TASKS

How often are you busy with an important task and a colleague walks up to you with something they need assistance with? The best advice will be for you to buy yourself a day planner. Start each day by noting down the tasks you need to complete for that specific day (to-do-list). If you get additional tasks throughout the day, arrange them in your day planner in order of importance. Psychologically this gives you a feeling of accomplishment when you complete the task.

Every person has a specific task that they dislike. Mark Twain therefore had the following rule: “Eat the frog first”. This means that you do your least favourite task first thing in the morning, then the worst part of the day is behind you and things can only get better from there.

3. BE ORGANISED

Visit your nearest stationery store and buy all the stationery you need in order to complete your administration tasks successfully. One of the biggest time wasters will be to look for a pen or borrowing a highlighter from a co-worker. This will result in you wasting their and your own time. Always make sure that your documents are filed and organized, for you to easily find it. Another useful tip is to colour-code your files, e.g. red means “urgent”, green means “read later” and yellow means filing”.

4. THE POSITIVE NO

Each person will think that their task is the most urgent task. When someone asks you to assist them, tell them politely that you are more than willing to help them, however not at that exact moment. Always ask them when is their deadline.

5. DELEGATION
Dealing with too many tasks can lead to stress or even burnout. Delegating a task can save you a lot of time. Do not be ashamed to give your task to someone who can do the task just as good as, or even better than you. An easy or boring task for you might be the highlight of someone else’s day.

6. GET THE APP

As we live in the age of millennials, there is an Application for everything, why not use the technology to your advantage? You can use the reminder function on your cell phone to schedule reminders to check your e-mails, you can also use the Time Tree App to keep track of your meetings and events.

I will end off by quoting H. Jackson Brown Jr. “Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.”