Smart Ways to Handle Everything Better at Work
By Sandy Schroeder
Sometimes it can be very frustrating to know we could be doing a better job of keeping the ball moving in our work. Deadlines add up, emails accumulate, and pretty soon you wish you had a good place to hide out.
Keeping the daily workflow under control, and making things happen the way you want them to, can be tricky. Here are a few tips from Forbes to try.
Start the Day with a Top Priority List
You may spend half the morning dealing with a minor issue, when you really could be focusing the whole day on your major goals. To avoid being sidetracked, break out two or three major tasks for the day, and then give them your full attention. You can work on lesser details later in the day when you have less energy.
Reserve One Spot Later for Email
It is all too easy to pop open the email and spend time responding, while your major tasks wait. Unless you have a job where emergency responses are part of the work, wait until early afternoon to attack all of your emails, sorting out the ones that need attention first. As you respond, keep emails short and to the point. If you are being pulled into a long reply, pick up the phone and solve the matter faster.
Hold Your Fire for Important Decisions
When you need to make important decisions, you want to have the energy to make good ones. Assemble all of the information needed, talk to the needed resources, and then give it your best shot.
Establish Time for Serious Thought
In many positions you already have responses for regular matters, but what about those big questions of what future goals should be. We all like to think that we give serious thought to our work, but too often we let mundane tasks crowd out the time available for serious thinking. Try to preserve time early in the day and early in the week.
Schedule Meetings for Later in the Day
Most routine meetings won’t require your highest level of energy. Placing them later in the day will let you cover the bases without using up precious early morning energy.
Delegate When You Can
It can be hard to let go of pet details, but when you do you will be fresher and stronger for bigger projects. Find people that think and work like you do, gradually handing off tasks.
We all work a little differently, but none of us have unlimited energy. Go with the approaches that work best for you and keep looking for ways to work better.
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