I have always believed that orderliness helps you get through a lot of things faster. For instance, it would be easier and faster to find a pair of socks in an orderly room than it would be in a disarrayed one.

With this mind set, when I started working, I would orderly list out every task I had for the day, immediately I got to the office.

In as much as this act helped me keep track of the things I was supposed to do, there was still a problem - Time just wasn’t enough. I remember how I would close from work each day (with a long list of unaccomplished to-dos) wishing that my 24 hours were longer.

If you are currently like this, don’t worry. It is very possible for you to be busy and still be productive at the same time. Everyone has the same 24 hours, so, what you need to learn is proper time management.

In this post, I’ll share 6 tips about time management you need to be ultra-productive at work.

Here goes:

1. Set Daily Priorities:

At the start of your day, identify your most important task(s) and work on them for at least 2 hours before moving to the less important ones.

There however might be cases where some tasks are not as important but are very urgent. In those case, you can prioritize the urgent ones and get them done before moving to the others.

2. Focus on Minutes:

There are 1,440 minutes in every day and to be ultra-productive, it is very important that we keep track of it. You’d be surprised how much time you have to do the things you are supposed to do when you intentionally invest in each minute.

3. Schedule Time to Check Social Media:

When I first started working, one of my responsibilities was to help the company edit and verify 150 job vacancies before they were published on the website, each day. Initially, I thought it was impossible. No matter how hard I tried, I just could not edit that much throughout the whole day. Then one day, I intentionally switched off my phone and focused only on my job. In less than 4 hours, I had edited even more than I was supposed to do.

Social media is a very big source of distraction, even in our normal out-of-work lives. To be ultra-productive therefore, schedule the times you have to read and respond to emails, as well as the time you have to browse through your social media and stay true to it.

4. Delegate Your Tasks if Possible :

The truth is, you don’t have to do everything by yourself. Instead, identify your unique abilities/responsibilities, focus on them and outsource everything else.

For instance, if you are supposed to deliver on a task and you are still working on it at the exact same time you are supposed to get lunch, you could ask a colleague who is also going to get lunch to help you out.

5. Use Calendars instead of To-Do Lists:

Remember how I told you earlier that to-do lists don’t really work in time management? They only help you keep track of those things you should be doing. Calendars on the other hand, perform the same function, except that they are a more time-specific tool.

So, if you schedule a task on your calendar, at the time when such time is supposed to start/stop, the calendar sets off an alarm to remind you, which is more efficient than a written to-do list.

Asides from the calendar, I found a couple of other tools/apps you can use to optimize and manage your time better. These time management tools have been complied in this material. I use some of them and I think you’ll find them useful too.

6. Focus on Energy, not Just Time:

Finally, to be ultra-productive at work, you need to focus on your energy and not just on time.

What this means is that you can only get things done faster and more efficiently when you are in the right state of mind. For instance, I realized that it’s harder for me to get my work done when I’m really tired or hungry. So, if I can, I make sure to eat first or rest before starting the work. This usually helps.

Try to invest therefore in whatever energizes you, like getting a good sleep every night. You’d be surprised how much work you get done just by being in the right state of mind & body, even in little time.

If you apply these points, I’m sure they’ll help. However, if you still need a more comprehensive insight into time management, you can read the ’15 Secrets Successful People Know about Time Management’ by Kevin Kruse. The book is a guide, based on a lot of research and that’s why I recommend it.

If you still have any question regarding time management, job search or anything career-related, feel free to ask.

https://discovery.insidify.com/how-to-hack-your-24-hours-to-get-a-longer-day

follow on twitter @insidifyhq

Kindly share this post if you found it useful

For more of these jobs and career tips, go to https://discovery.insidify.com/ you will thank me later