How to Improve Time Management Skills for a Professional Role
Effective time management requires an ongoing evaluation of daily routines and schedules. Improvement of time management involves rescheduling, and compromise. Make the evaluation process simple. Choose one day a month to review what areas need improvement. Include in your weekly schedule a block of hours that is primarily for time management evaluations. Professional roles require concentration and reliability. Time management prevents over-scheduling and poor job performance. Balance your schedule to maintain your physical and mental health while also fulfilling your professional job requirements. Schedule physical fitness, proper sleep, and nutrition into your daily routine.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
Ask for Help
-
1
Include others in your scheduling process. Seek input from supervisors, colleagues and family. Recognize the role you play in your professional job and ask questions about support. Learn important dates to include in your schedule when you are expected to play a key role. Coordinate these dates with family responsibilities. Learn to delegate responsibility at home and on the job.
-
2
Evaluate how you are spending your time during the day. In a week, there are a total of 168 hours. Break down your daily activities into categories of sleep, food, transportation, fitness, family responsibilities and working hours. Place the highest priority for improvement at the top of the list. For example, you may work thirty hours a week and spend twenty hours commuting to this job. Transportation time is a priority before work hours. Evaluate ways to improve time management through transportation. Improve your daily schedule by taking public transport that allows you to eat or plan instead of driving.
-
-
3
Recognize areas of your day that create stress. Signs of physical stress are headaches, poor sleep, high blood pressure or decreased immunity. Stress can also be emotional and can produce negative coping behaviors. Examples of negative coping behaviors are increased smoking or alcohol consumption, overeating and social withdrawal. Improve your time management skills by incorporating stress-reduction techniques into your daily routine. Stress-reduction techniques include physical exercise, meditation or yoga.
-
4
Find a way to practice analyzing your time. Log your work time for a week in 15-60 minute intervals. Practice logging for a week and review your results with your supervisor. Poor planning can result in feeling that there's too much to do, or that you are not enjoying your job. A time log serves as a tool for improving your professional time management.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
If your work schedule does not offer any flexibility, compromise by reducing the number of hours spent watching television or surfing the Internet.
Be forgiving with yourself. If you plan to evaluate your schedule, but forget or get too busy, start where just where you are. Begin to clear space in your calendar for time management as necessary. Keep these hours a priority for you while planning your time.
References
- Photo Credit agenda image by Ploum1 from Fotolia.com
