Time Management At Work

Time management at work is critical to your long-term career success. Time management and work performance go hand in hand because time is certainly a finite resource that we can't buy more of, as much as many of us would like to.

Some careers are simply known for being high-stress and requiring employees to work long hours. Time management at work is something we can all probably improve upon and one of the easiest ways to make better use of your time is to eliminate classic time wasters.

Here are some time management tips you can utilize at work:

1. Stop organizing or attending meetings that serve no real purpose.

Meetings: A viable alternative to doing work. If you have to attend the meeting, keep it on topic and ask the person calling the meeting to put a time limit on it that everyone knows about and stick to it. The worst thing is when you attend a meeting that serves no purpose that goes long.

2. Stop wasting time surfing the Internet.

How did people waste time before computers? The Internet is a great resource but it can also be a great time waster. Use the Internet for relevant work-related purposes only.

3. Stop other people from wasting your time.

If you are a nice person and people take advantage of it by dropping work on your desk that you shouldn't be doing, you are going to have to learn how to say no from time to time. If people always pop into your office to talk, shut your office door. If they don't get the hint, tell them you are busy and politely ask them to leave. Same thing with phone calls: keep them short and to the point whether you are making the call or receiving it.

4. Organize your phone calls and emails and how you respond to them.

One way to get work done is to (where possible) only answer your phone and emails at specified times rather than simply answering the phone every time it rings and responding to an email whenever one arrives. Instead, respond to phone and email messages at one time once you have completed your current tasks rather than handling them each time they occur.

5. Learn to tell the difference between necessary and unnecessary work.

Understand what work needs to be done and what can be eliminated or delegated to someone else where applicable. Look for ways to improve the way you complete work and try to automate or streamline work that you need to do regularly.