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How to save time and be far more productive at work.
Dr. Feargal O Neill • 11 August 2020
ATPO tips on how to stop wasting time, prioritise and manage tasks, manage emails and phone calls.
Have you regularly had that sinking feeling that even though you were very busy at work at the end of the day you have got nothing done? Are you trying to juggle too many tasks? Frustrated by phone calls that seem pointless and endless? Drowned in emails that you can't find the time to respond to? And when you google up ways to save time at work there are just too many options to choose from.
If so, this article will help you to get back a sense of control and achievement at work. We will share a number of easy to apply tried and tested time management and time-saving techniques and some ATPO methods that help save time and increase productivity.
We will answer some key questions:
- What is the best way to prioritise and complete urgent and important tasks?
- How can you make all the important phone calls and still get work done?
- How can you stop wasting time on emails?
Before we start it's important to know that you are not alone. A 2017 US investigation
of the work habits of business owners and top executives found that they wasted more than 30% of their time each working week on low impact, low-value tasks, and non-work-related activities (e.g. social media).
A more recent UK study found that, on average, workers spend just 2.8 hours a day on productive tasks. That’s 14 hours a week. The rest of the time is wasted. Not a great statistic !
So let’s see what you can do to save time and be more productive at work.
What is the best way to prioritise and complete urgent and important tasks? (Take control).
The first thing you need to do to save time and be more productive is to take control of the tasks you need and want to get done every day that feed into your short, medium, and longer-term plans and visions for your business.
Here are 8 tips on how to do just that!
1. Write a mega to-do list
Put everything on it. Macro to micro. Important and urgent. Separate the important from the urgent tasks. Rearrange the important tasks in order of importance. Rearrange the urgent tasks in order of importance. Once the to-do list is as full as you can make it you need to manage it daily. Make sure to work on, and hopefully complete, some of the most important tasks every day along with the urgent tasks. I create a refresher mega to-do list once every two months to ensure I am doing the most important tasks daily.
2. Do a plan for each day.
On the night before or at the start of the day. List the most important tasks for the day. You need to work on them at a time when you are most productive. List the most urgent tasks for the day. Aim to complete these tasks when you are not working on important tasks.
3. Use a task timetable for each day.
Set a time limit for each task. Each task should be given enough time for it to be completed correctly if there are no distractions (see focus tip below). Make sure to time the important tasks for the most productive times of the day. The five minutes it might take to create the task time table each morning will be well worth it. Leave a gap between tasks.
4. Take breaks.
If you can stick to your task timetable it means you can take proper breaks throughout the day. 20 mins for each break will give you enough time to unwind and reset yourself. And you'll have time to be prepared for the next task, the next meeting, etc.
5. Eat that frog in the morning
In the words of Mark Twain “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.” For many of us, the morning is the most productive time so that's when the most important and/or least palatable task should be completed. But for some of us, we might need to leave the frog(s) to later in the day.
6. Focus
Do not answer the phone, check emails, or search the internet while doing tasks....unless the task involves making phone calls, emailing, or using the internet.
7. Get in the zone
It's easier to do some similar tasks, like answering phone calls and emails, at specific times in the day. ATPO recommends this zonal method with many clients who find it hard to get projects completed on time. Once in the zone its easier for people to 'get on a roll' and complete similar tasks efficiently.
8. Reward
A little bit of positive reinforcement after completing the less palatable tasks can brighten the dreariest of days. This might be as simple as a ‘high five’ with your colleagues or a healthy but tasty treat that you keep for such occasions.
How can you make all the important phone calls and still get work done? (Divide and conquer).
Inbound
1. Have all incoming business calls filtered via a secretary or software system. If you are lucky enough to have a secretary let her/him check if it can be dealt with without your immediate input. If not at least you will know who is calling, what it’s about, and can still decide to take it straight away or call back.
2. As a general rule don't answer calls if you are doing something important. Needless to say the same goes for when you are at meetings (with colleagues or with customers). Not only might it annoy colleagues but it will surely annoy and even lose you customers if you take calls during meetings.
Outbound
1. Choose a specific time in the day for you to make or reply to phone calls (see zone tip above).
2. Set a clear goal and an ideal time limit for each call.
3. An idea we have seen clients using successfully is to keep an egg timer by the phone for calls that are not meant to last more than about three minutes. A stopwatch works better for calls that you know should take much longer to complete fully.
4.. Having something on your desk that you want to do next can help to focus the mind on finishing off phone calls promptly.
5. We do an experiential role-play exercise with clients to show the amount of time that a five-minute call feels like when you are not distracted. Participants often comment afterward that It’s a more than adequate amount of time for a lot of the calls they make daily (that they may often spend up to 15/20 minutes on normally).
How can you stop wasting time on emails? (Use the CROW).
A lorry load of emails can easily dominate a day at work leaving you utterly fatigued and unfulfilled. ATPO recommends using our CROW method (Check, Read, Organise, and Write) for keeping emails under control.
Check
Check your emails at specific times in the day. Three times a day should be about right. Before or after you do some important tasks. (Not while you're doing important tasks). Don't allow the distraction of unending email alerts.on your phone and PC while doing important tasks.
Read
Read and separate the emails you will need to reply to into two separate categories.
(A) For immediate reply. These emails will be short and in need of minimal effort and
(B) For a specific time in the day. These emails will need more thought and effort.
Organise
Use folders to sort your eamils for you automatically. Just make the rules and let the system do the rest. It means you'll never have to trawl aimless;ly for lost emails sent or received.
Write
This is where many of us 'get lost in the machine' and waste enormous wads of time. Here are 5 basic rules that will help you to write efficiently.
- Keep your email messages focused on the topic as listed at the top of the email.
- Write the key points/messages first. Then add the greeting and final salutation. The greeting and salutation can add to the tone you want to communicate but shouldn’t be confused with the key message/s.
- Ensure that the key points from any attachment are included in the email itself. Recipients often don’t have the time or bother to look at attachments.
- No matter how you feel, try to be respectful and calm otherwise your key messages might be ignored or worse lead to a series of pointless to and fro accusations with no resolution.
- As most of us don’t have proofreaders, use a software proofreading system to ensure your email is clear and easy to read (and grammatically correct).
In summary, in order to save time and be more productive you need to ;
- Take control of your tasks.
- Divide and conquer your phone calls.
- Use the CROW to manage your emails.
If you would like to apply some of the above techniques please do so and tell us how you got on. Here’s another tip. Don’t try them all at once. It takes a while for any new behaviour to embed in your work practices. So to give yourself every chance of success do the most achievable ones first. If you have any questions about this article or just need more information about time-saving techniques do please contact us.
And don’t forget we provide a range of services ( face to face and virtually), that focus on organisational development including effective time management techniques. Every service we provide can be customised to the specific needs of leaders and general organisations.
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