Seven time management secrets

Use your time productively

According to a research conducted by Salary.com, the average employee wastes 2.09 hours of his/her day, not including lunches and breaks. Especially the internet is a distractor.
Luckily, many people have specialized in productivity and time management.

Forbes selected a few ideas from these gurus that may help you to increase your productivity.


1. Master your e-mail
If it will take you less than two minutes to delete or reply to an e-mail, do it right away.
Switch off your e-mail notification, so that you will not be disturbed by notifications of an incoming e-mail. Send less e-mail, which in turn will yield less e-mails in your inbox. Keep your e-mails short and concise. Whenever possible: check your e-mail a couple of times a day, on scheduled moments.

2. Think (sharpen your axe)
You don't have to meditate, but taking a lunch break or a quick walk, and at the very least: a quick moment to think what to do, helps you focus and concentrate on the tasks at hand.

3.Use To-Do lists
Write your ToDo's down. This prevents you from waking up in the middle of the night, because you forgot something. Experts suggest keeping several lists, including keeping one with the three most important tasks for today. Delegate whenever you can, and be realistic about how much you can do in a day.

4. Make time for creativity
The goal of time management is to free up time for the more profound or complicated thoughts. Try to schedule time for creative thoughts. Switch off your e-mail or phone during that time.

5. Avoid unnecessary meeting
Be rigorous when it comes to spending your time. Say 'no' to every meeting that isn't necessary, or doesn't require your presence.


6. Don't multi-task
Do one thing at a time and focus on a task at hand for a maximum of one hour and move on to the next.

7. Clean your desk.
Spend the last 10 minutes of your day cleaning your desk. Throw away whatever you don't need anymore. Archive the rest. Suggestion: only touch paper once. Do with it whatever you need to do with it and move on.

Imagine what you can do by adding 10 whole ours (5 days times the above 2.09 hours) to your week. That's a full working week per month!

In commissioned sales, that would mean a 25% increase of your income!
Happy selling everyone!

Best,
Stephan