By Felix C. Veroya
I have seen a success story post of one of my students from Batangas State University’s Industrial Engineering program and I can not help but congratulate her on this feat. We had a few exchanges and went down to the topic of how I manage all the things on my plate right now. Being a father, running our small business, being involved in two (2) more businesses, being a columnist, acting on multiple professional organizational roles and the list goes on. Funny because I became over-familiar with the things that get me going until this question came in.
Sharing with you the top five (5) things I am doing to manage my time across these various tasks I have.
- Setting reminders for tasks. I have learned to use calendar applications synced in my phone’s calendar not to miss any important meetings or deliverables that I have set for the day. I even used post-it attached to my office cabinet as a visual reminder on top of the digital ones.
- Make use of planner/scheduler. Having a list of tasks that you must do for the month or week, or day helps you track your goal completion. The tasks in your planner should be aligned to what you have set as goals for a specific period. Making use of a planner is also a good practice that you might want to consider if you are fond of writing and striking tasks that you have completed already.
- Give each task a specific time duration. Just like large projects, tasks should be given a time to when they should be delivered. In this way, you can effectively allocate your time of the day and see if there are tasks that you need to deprioritize based on what needs to be done. This can also help you weigh in if you need to stick on that task if you are having difficulty doing it or move on to the next and think of ways how to complete it later.
- Move away from distractions. There are a lot of distractions that will consume your valued time. Make sure to move away from these distractions like the bed, TV, game consoles as a few examples. There is a technique called Pomodoro technique that encourages you to take on a task for straight 25 minutes and go for a five to 10 minutes break after each task completion. Tried this and had the habit of applying it unconsciously.
- Make it a habit. There are a lot of other ways that you can apply to manage your time effectively. One important is, it becomes a habit and becomes normal as breathing. It’s hard to be trapped in a loop of procrastination as it will not lead to you adding value to yourself and to whatever you are doing. Just let the practice be continuous and you will see it becoming a way of life for you.
I hope that these five simple tips can help you out in managing your time especially in this age where distractions are everywhere. Time is a non-renewable resource and should be spent wisely.
Let’s continue to be #significantlybetter in managing our time, together!
Wanna talk? Get in touch with me thru fcveroya@asklexph.com
