What do successful solutions architects, software developers, telecommunications employees, food processing equipment positions, and field service engineers, all have in common despite working in such different disciplines? Aside from all having really great jobs with high income earning potentials, all of these employees have to have excellent time and project management skills in order to succeed in their respective roles. In fact, having excellent time and project management skills isn’t just essential for succeeding in the professional world, it’s also essential for succeeding in life in general!
Without developing time and project management skills, you might find everyday life annoying, frustrating, stressful, and perhaps even unfair. As a result, you might begin to feel dissatisfied and unhappy with your life, and feel as though you’re the “victim” to fate. This modality of thinking is disempowering, because it removes any sense of accountability and culpability from you, and instead leaves you powerless to external circumstances that you can’t change. By focusing on what you can change and improve, like your time and project management skills, you can feel more control and more empowered in terms of balancing your life and fulfilling your everyday responsibilities.
Here a few tried, true, and highly effective tips for better time and project management. these tips can be applied to both your personal and professional life.
Plan, plan, plan
Whether it’s using the calendar on your smart phone, carrying around a day planner, or even jotting down appointments in a notebook, planning your day, weeks, and months is essential for effectively managing and keeping track of your time. This “frees up” valuable “space” in your mind, since you won’t have to spend so much time on trying to remember who, when, and where you were supposed to be at any given time. It also holds you personally accountable, so you’re more likely to keep better track of your time and fulfill your responsibilities.
Remove distractions
When you sit down at your computer to work, do you find yourself wasting a half hour or more on your social media accounts before actually getting down to business? Do you kill time on reading the news when the going gets tough while you’re trying to complete a difficult task? As you can see, distractions can cost you a lot in wasted time and money, so removing them is one of the best ways to get more mileage out of your time. One of the best things about planning out your time by using a calendar is that you can also plan or schedule in play time, such as updating your social media accounts. Instead of feeling guilty about wasting half an hour on stalking your ex on social media, schedule in 15 minutes of social media time after 45 minutes of work!
Know when the right time is to multitask
Effective multitasking is a skill that few people possess, and even less possess the skill of knowing when to multitask and when it’s better to simply focusing on doing one thing at a time. It’s kind of like being a jack of all trades but a master of none; you might be able to do a lot of things at once, but how many of them are actually getting done well? There’s the kicker! Knowing when it’s best to focus on one task instead of doing many at the same time is key when it comes effective time and project management. Sometimes it’s best to give all your attention to one, difficult, and detailed task instead of stressing over multiple projects at the same time.