Downtime.

Overtime.

Wasted time.

You know how important effective time management is to your personal and organizational success. Obviously, it determines your overall productivity. But, it also has a psychological impact as well. If you’re great at managing time, you experience less stress, are more resilient and can be a motivating force for your entire team.

Given how critical effective time management is, it’s high time to start managing it better. Here are four fresh ideas from Exact Staff to help you get more done in less time:

Get off to a great start.

By making a few small changes to your routine, you can greatly improve the way you manage your time. End each work day by creating a clear plan for what you need to accomplish the next morning. When you lay out your top priorities in advance, you begin your day focused and proactive.

Block your time.

The way you schedule your time each morning dramatically impacts your productivity throughout the day:

• Tackle your highest priority and/or least favorite (but important) activities first. Setting aside time for the tough things you absolutely need to do creates a “no excuses” operating environment that yields greater efficiency.
• Make appointments with yourself. Meetings and calls aren’t the only things you should block off time for. Schedule time for any activity that requires your full focus.
• Set time limits for predictable tasks. Reasonable time limits naturally motivate you to work harder. Furthermore, when you allot a certain amount of time for discrete aspects of your work, you’ll  minimize time wasted on deciding what to do next.

Be a “serial focuser.”

Multitasking has been much-hyped, but research has proven that it doesn’t work. Instead of paying attention to multiple things at once, your brain actually focuses on concepts sequentially – continually switching from one activity to another.

So give your brain a break (and your time management a boost) by becoming a “serial focuser.” By giving one task your undivided attention,  you allow your brain to reach a depth of focus that simply isn’t possible with multitasking – ultimately helping you to stay organized and accomplish more.

Remove yourself from distractions.

It’s pretty logical: the higher your focus, the more you’ll accomplish in any given period of time. While it may be impossible to completely eliminate interruptions at work, finding ways to control them will greatly boost your efficiency. In this earlier post, we cover these four ways to minimize distractions – and get more done:

• Planning for interruptions
• Controlling your physical environment
• Scheduling distractions
• Improving meeting productivity

Want more free time? Get help from Exact Staff.

With a national presence and a full complement of staffing and placement solutions, we can free up more of your time by:

• Providing temporary support to “offload” low-priority or repetitive tasks.
• Taking a proactive approach to staffing and recruiting. The better you plan your needs, the more effectively we can help you meet them (saving you time and frustration!).
• Assuming the time-consuming aspects of hiring including managing job postings, screening resumes and conducting initial interviews.

The result? An optimally staffed organization. Exceptional hires. And more productive hours to focus on your business. If you’re ready to learn more, give Exact Staff a call.