Do you have the feeling that you don't have enough time to do all your tasks? Efficiently organizing the working day, so that we make the most of the hours we are dedicated to our work, is key to avoid having to continue working at home.
Knowing how to adapt to the time we have available during the working day is essential to improve work efficiency, both individually and as a team, and to make a better distribution of tasks and resources. In addition, with better organization, it will be possible to avoid last-minute pressures due to deadlines and will eliminate the need to find some essay writing websites free if you are a college student.
Keys to organizing the working day correctly
- Plan tasks by hours, including meetings, document preparation or answering pending emails.
- List them, prioritizing those that are really urgent. Take your time, because if you classify too many tasks as priorities in a short period of time, stress is likely to collapse your work capacity.
- Learn to say "no". This is one of the most difficult points to comply with, however, as far as possible try to be realistic and do not commit yourself to those objectives or tasks that you are not able to meet in the time frame requested. If your colleague asks you to help them with their off-work tasks, be sure to recommend them some great essay examples if you feel like this request is unsuitable.
- Organize your workplace so that you do not waste unnecessary time searching for documentation in a multitude of papers.
- Avoid getting distracted, do not lose concentration trying to do three tasks at the same time. Attending to your colleagues' conversations while reading a report and answering messages will only waste time and increase stress.
- Use the morning energy to get as much work done as possible. Even if there are days when you feel like you are sleepier, the early morning hours are when the body and mind are more rested and energized to tackle tasks.
- Establish planning as a daily routine. Start every day dedicating a few minutes to list and prioritize the tasks you have to finish and the time you are going to dedicate to them. This way you will be able to organize your workday efficiently and productively.
Methods to increase productivity at work
Once we have managed to apply the keys to organize the working day, and we have improved our weak points, we can try to improve our productivity at work by implementing some of the most widely used task organization methods worldwide.
GTD Method (Getting Things Done)
The GTD method is committed to freeing the mind of pending tasks by saving them in different folders, so that we can concentrate on the really important task. This innovative method does not seek a direct time management, but is based on deciding what actions we are going to pay our attention to and dedicate our time to right now.
First of all, tasks are stored and organized in folders. One place to create them can be the e-mail. These folders should be classified following a scheme similar to the following scheme: urgent, projects (are tasks that require more than one action and should be reviewed periodically), delegated/on hold (are those tasks that you have delegated to someone else or are waiting for an answer), someday (you would like to do them but you can't at the moment). According to this order, you should focus your attention on what you are going to do. Once it is finished, file it or discard it.
The basic rules are:
- If a task takes less than 2 minutes, do it.
- No task can be returned to its folder.
- Periodically review the contents of the folders.
- This method provides perspective and control of time and tasks.
Pomodoro Method
The pomodoro method is based on organizing our working day in 25-minute intervals (called "pomodoros") with short rest breaks in between. During working time, all distractions are avoided, and we can only change activities or tasks during the break time. A major break should be taken every four "pomodoros".
The keys to organizing your workday with the pomodoro method are:
- Plan your workday according to the pomodoros, reducing wasted time as much as possible.
- Do not allow any distractions during the 25-minute concentration period.
- Get up from your chair at every break.
- Frequent breaks improve concentration and productivity, resulting in increased free time. Concentrating on tasks during work periods means fewer interruptions, which translates into the completion of tasks within the workday.