We are all guilty of spending too much time at work and getting minimal results. Usually the reason is inefficient workflow that makes your job harder than it really is. If you don’t want that pile of tasks to eventually burn you out, it might be the right time to get organised and understand where your time really goes.
You don’t know where your time goes
If you’ve ever gotten to the end of the working day wondering where the time went, you might be underestimating how long different tasks really take. Thought you would finish a report in two hours and a day later it’s still incomplete? We’ve seen that a million times!
Business coaches recommend keeping a simple log for a few week and writing down everything you’re spending time on. This way you’ll soon understand how much time your daily routine and unexpected tasks require. Don’t forget to jot down those time when someone interrupted your workflow or you went to the kitchen to make coffee and ended up chatting to your colleague for 20 minutes. After all, it’s not always about underestimating the time needed but often about the distractions that we embrace!
Your work space is a mess
When was the last time you cleared those endless screenshots from your computer to the bin? Once you understand where your time goes it’s time to organise your work space. Everything, from your computer to your desk and even your stationery drawer – with stuff you barely use – should be kept orderly unless you want to waste hours looking for papers and things you need.
A clean and organised work space also reduces the amount of stress and anxiety you feel at work and, evidently, even makes your colleagues trust you more and have more confidence in what you say.
You’re prioritising the wrong things
Maybe you could have done that report in two hours if your work colleague, Kelly, hadn’t asked for help fixing her spreadsheet or Jo who lost that important email from you and you had to find it and re-send?
But thanks to the log you’re keeping, you now know where your time has been spent and, with your work space organised, the next challenge is to start using your time in a better and more efficient way. In other words, reclaim your priorities! Of course, for different businesses and different positions in a company the priorities might differ but the general rule is to prioritise your time on the items that earn the money. Business owners should ask themselves whether the particular job they’re working on will bring in extra money. Employees should prioritise ideas that will potentially score them a salary raise.
You’re reinventing the wheel
Systematise, systematise, systematise! If you’ve ever wished for an amazing service app that organises tasks for your employees so that you can monitor their progress or that tool that will send updates to your database automatically, believe me, they do exist. So spend some time on Google and pick the one that is best for you. So many businesses suffer from the lack of systemisation and well-oiled processes, don’t let your business be one of them.
You don’t grow as a professional
Whether it’s mastering the lesser known features of Excel or learning about new trends and hot topics in your industry, it’s crucial to constantly learn new things and get extra training and education. There are loads of ways to increase your skills these days: YouTube videos, instructional books, online manuals and even free training that many companies offer their employees. It takes time to master anything, so even if you’ve been working in a field for 10 years, it doesn’t mean you can’t learn more and get even better at it!
