Time Management Tips - being busy is not the same as being productive

Being busy is not the same as being productive. If we are not careful, we can easily slip into bad habits that can make us ‘busy fools’. This blog article provides time management tips to enable you to be as productive as possible at work.

These tips are not in any order or hierarchy. Pick out the ones that are most useful to you. And then use them. 

Doing tasks that are not ours to do. Resist the temptation to steam in and take over. Learn to delegate and let things go. Others may do it just as well as you – or even better.

Avoid taking in too much caffeine. Too much coffee or other caffeinated drinks can make you hyper-active in the short term and cause longer term health risks. Instead, consider drinking water to help you (including your brain) stay hydrated. 

Take steps to ensure that your email management is effective. Make best use of the software tools available to sort your emails in a productive way. And yes, ask yourself would a phone call be more productive anyway? You can always send an email later to confirm what's been agreed. 

Ask for help when needed. Suffering in silence is not good for anyone. Asking for help is a strength not a weakness and there is always someone somewhere that can help.

Don’t become distracted by gossip. Of course, being sociable is very much part of a healthy work environment. However, small talk can be a distraction from what you need to be focusing on. People can only invite you to gossip. You don't have to accept their invitation. 

The same goes for checking social media during work hours. This can be a distraction too. It’s all too easy to become absorbed iin what’s happening 'out there'. This is likely to be at odds with what your employer and your customers will be expecting you to focus on i.e. what you are being paid to do.

Beware of having too many meetings. Re-think your approach to meetings. An effective meeting should have a clear purpose and have only the necessary people in the room. Effective meetings are about collaboration and working together to solve problems. However, they can all too easily become a bad habit. This applies equally to online meetings on Zoom or Teams, or whatever other platform you use.

Maintain a sensible work-life balance. We all know how easy it is to always be on call as the lines between work and home become blurred. However, we do have a right to disconnect and, although it’s helpful to deal with an emergency out of hours, being constantly available can easily become a destructive habit.

Learn how to say ‘no’. Saying ‘yes’ may seem a good thing to do at the time, but being able to politely refuse requests is a skill worth acquiring. Start by offering alternative solutions i.e. saying ‘no’ without saying ‘no’.

Avoid feeling, thinking and acting negatively. We all have bad days. However, we need to avoid slipping into the cycle of negative self-talk that can grind us down. Make sure you give yourself time to reflect and tell yourself what you have achieved. Look to make this a daily habit, for example, at the end of your day on your commute home.

Whilst on the subject of negativity, avoid taking any criticism you receive personally. Remember that the criticism that you receive is the other person’s perception and is not, therefore, always true. Adopt the phrase, ‘I never lose. I either win or I learn’ as your mantra.

To fail to plan is to plan to fail. We all need to have a strategy of some kind, so make sure you have a plan for your day, your week and your career (and your life). Of course, things may change so any plan you devise will need to be adaptable for when circumstances alter.

Don’t ignore mistakes – however small. Things don’t go away and it’s best to deal with things that go wrong. It’s better to own up, put things right and learn from the experience. If the mistakes are made by others, then provide feedback in a helpful way so that improvements can be made.

Make sure that you set deadlines - not only for yourself but for others too. In a previous blog we talk about setting SMART goals. Without goals being clearly set and understood, there is room for ambiguity and doubt which normally ends in disappointment for everyone involved.

When in meetings close your laptop and switch off your notifications on your phone. If you need your laptop open to contribute to the meeting then turn off your email. Our technology is fantastic but it can become a distraction (or even an addiction). Sure, let people know how to contact you in an emergency. Do these things and your meetings will be far more productive.

Summary

Much of life is about making choices. Making the most of our time is critical. You can never get the time back that you have spent. Once it's gone, it's gone,

This is truth about time in life as well as at work. The older you get, the quicker time seems to pass. For example, for a five year old child Christmas seems to take an eternity to arrive. No wonder - a year is a fifth of a 5 year old's life. This ratio diminishes quite dramatically as you get older. 

And if you really want a sobering thought, why not check-out the Office of National Statistics Life Expectancy Calculator. This will show you on average, how much time you have to spend. So make sure you spend it well and be less busy and more productive. 

Paul Beesley

Director and Senior Consultant, Beyond Theory