No, it cannot really. However, how is it possible that your colleague who has fills a similar position as you is so much more productive? He goes home on time, has regular lunches and what is more, resolves everything calmly and stress free. You, on the other hand, are still sitting in the office at six o’clock trying to get through your backlog and swearing. And what about your subordinates? Although it is said that the captain leaves the ship last, your ship is not sinking now, and, besides that, you surely have other hobbies than just spending time in the office, even though your mind is still stuck in the office.
Some people, it seems, might be able to generate the additional time required. The truth is, your colleagues are not superheroes. The thing is, they know exactly how much time the activity takes. According to Mark Langley, the director of the Project Management Institute, poor organizational management causes up to 11 % financial dollar loss from each project because of poor estimation and planning. Thus, if a week has 167 hours, wouldn't it be great to get, e.g., 17 hours back? The Fast Company website has prepared a few tips that will help you plan your day at work and thus save time and your nerves too.
1. What devours your time?
Many of us might suspect what activities take away our time, but do we have a real awareness of how much it corresponds to reality? According to Langley, for effective planning it is important to get a realistic picture of how we spend our time. But before you start drawing any conclusions, write down your daily activities. Do you love mobile applications? Try one of these. If you are not a technology fan, try a simpler text documentation here.
2. How much time do you waste?
Very few of us are able to re-evaluate the productivity of their previous work week. Now is the time to focus on individual activities. How much time do you spend commuting? Come to work at 9 am and by 10 a.m. you already have a meeting with colleagues. How do you effectively use your time in between?
3. Feel free to be a pessimist.
We often overestimate the time dedicated to certain activities, making us overly optimistic, and then time runs out on us. We tend to assume that we will manage everything right the first time, and so often fall victim to procrastination. Liz Pearce, CEO of LiquidPlanner, therefore, proposes to create a "pessimistic" slack, in the event that something unexpected happens. You never know...
4. Plan consistently.
Another problem with estimating the scheduled time is the failure to include associated activities in the plan. If we use a parallel with dinner, the cooking itself is not just about preparation, but also shopping, driving to the store, unloading the goods in the basket, standing in line...
In the part two of this article, we will add a few other points to the list. Nevertheless, if you have any notes, do not hesitate to share it with us now.
-bn-