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Time Management Tips
 How much does wasted time cost you or your organisation?
An employee earning $50,000 per annum, who wastes 60 minutes each work day, will have lost $6,250 in profit per year. However, what is more important is the loss of choice, purpose and meaning that disappears with those 60 minutes.
Peter Drucker has suggested you cannot think of managing time unless you first know where it goes. The Ezidoesit performance gauge will provide the answer to that question. Now you can do something about that lost time.
The good news is that time management is a learned skill that anyone can develop. Ezidoesit provides the tools to help you hone that skill.
Each day should be spent working towards your goals: an IT development project, a marketing pitch, product promotion, team development, surgery list, sales targets… Define the tasks that are associated with your goals and then prioritize them. Which tasks need to be done first, which second, which third, and which are in the future and can “hold” for a while?
Make these decisions and slot the tasks into the Ezidoesit elevator in the appropriate colour bar. Email yourself the task or manually create the task if these tasks are self generated and not originating from someone else in the organisation (or your partner at home). Put as much information into the task as you can. This will save you re-thinking the requirements when you come back to the task later.
Assign time to each task and determine when its deadline is. If you can, bring the deadline forward a little. This will let you complete the task even when interrupted or (better yet) provide a feeling of satisfaction when you complete it before the deadline. Then decide who needs to do this task –it may not be you.
The time management experts all agree:
- Make lists and stick to them. Don’t try to carry all your “must dos” in your head, put them into Ezidoesit .
- Keep your to do list close to hand. Ezidoesit provides a single ‘silo’ for all your tasks –you won’t have to go searching for your task list.
- Set alerts so that you are reminded when a task is due to be started or is nearing its deadline. Ezidoesit allows a number of reminder options and you can customise the sound.
- Don’t be sidetracked from the task in hand. With all your email safely hidden in Ezidoesit , you will not be distracted!
- Share your list with others who are associated with you on projects, etc. The Ezidoesit team version allows sharing of task and scheduling information.
- Don’t procrastinate. Work through your tasks in order of priority. Ezidoesit allows you to prioritize your tasks and clear out the Elevator bar a section at a time.
- Use previous tasks as a reference for the time required for new tasks. Ezidoesit keeps information on all your tasks, so you can get a more accurate idea of how long an assignment will take.
- Don’t become disheartened by long lists. Ezidoesit breaks the longest task list up into four manageable sectors which you can work through with ease.
- Remove tasks as they are completed. Ezidoesit allows you to complete tasks as you go, removing them from sight but keeping them in history for future reference. You no longer need to re-write your list at the end of the day, EziDoesIt reshuffles your time and tasks automatically.
- Schedule time for yourself; for professional and for personal development. Ezidoesit allows you to set aside time each day for these renewing activities, with the option to cut into this time or not when scheduling tasks.
Planning allows you to feel in control. Creativity and innovation are the result of organised thinking which provides time and space instead of stressful deadlines and knee-jerk chaos. Tasks are the small stepping stones to the top of Goal Mountain. Start your journey today with EziDoesIt.
There are number of excellent time management books available. Peter Drucker, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Michael Gerber, Julie Morgenstern, Tom Peters, Stephanie Winston, and John Hoover are a few whose written advice can help you to get the best out of your life.
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