Mastering Task Management at Work: A Comprehensive Guide to Reach Your Best Work Results
We all have the same amount of time, the same 24 hours in a day. However, some people manage to get more done and perform better during the working day, while others have not even really started their tasks. How to manage work more efficiently? How to do more during the day while also have quality time to rest? Maybe some of these task management tips will be useful for you and you will become a more productive person as a result.
Productivity goes hand in hand with motivation. If you feel a strong motivation to perform a task or activity, you will be able to complete it productively and with less effort. Similarly, if there is no motivation, it is impossible to find a sense of purpose and it seems that things do not go well. How to increase productivity and deliver better results in the work environment? Sometimes, with small changes, you can bring more structure and motivation into your work. We are here to provide you with a step-by-step guide, you can use to easily tackle the next task on your schedule.
Task management
Start with the hardest job, the task that is the most complicated for you, so that you can find motivation to finish it sooner and smaller tasks will seem easy. The very basis for structuring your workflow is to create a to-do list. As soon as you create it, you will definitely understand which jobs are more complicated and which ones are easier to do. As tempting as the simple tasks are, try to start with the more difficult ones. You may not be able to complete a difficult task in one go, but you will be able to devote more energy to it than if you started with easier tasks.
Divide larger tasks in to smaller achievable actions. Starting with bigger jobs is one approach to boosting productivity, but one approach doesn’t work for everyone. Try redistributing large tasks into smaller tasks. This way, you will be able to pay more attention to the work at hand and do it more carefully, because you will know the details.
A valuable tool that can be used for such task prioritization is the Eisenhower matrix. You can divide the tasks to be done into four quadrants of the matrix according to the importance of the tasks and how urgently they need to be completed. This way you will be able to understand which duties should be done first and which can be delegated to others, without wasting your energy and time on them.
Willing to keep a track of your tips completion? And maintain new habits? Get your free PDF version of the 100 Productivity Tips you need in your life in 2023 and begin right now!
Do you want to build and maintain new habits? Get your free PDF version of the 100 Productivity Tips and start today!
Prioritizing
Lack of time and insufficient time management are often mentioned as the main reason that hinders the development of companies and teams, creates stress in the team and for each person individually. Time management is one of the first skills we acquire and one of the ones we develop throughout our lives.
First, you have to finish the work and tasks you have already started. Leaving unfinished work until tomorrow or later causes a lot of stress. Whenever you don’t finish a job on time, it makes you feel bad and prevents you from concentrating on other things, including fully relaxing. On the other hand, when a difficult task is completed, a large amount of endorphins are released in the body, causing a feeling of joy and satisfaction. This, in turn, gives you the energy to tackle the next task. Use this effect!
It is no exaggeration to say that every minute you plan saves 10 minutes of your time. If you know at the beginning of the week what needs to be done, your work will be much more productive. Some time ago it was considered a norm to plan the week ahead, but recent studies show that it is better to plan a month ahead. Planning is just one stage, the next stage of being successful is being able to execute your plan. It is simple – plan and implement.
Avoid distractions
Acknowledge what distracts you and take action to exclude these distractions from your daily life and work. In today’s environment, you are definitely exposed to many different impulses on a daily basis, even in the work environment. Countless things can distract us, especially when we’re trying to find motivation to get things done. Although you usually try to ignore such distractions, it would be more effective to pay attention to them and write them down.
When it comes to distractions, it’s important not to multitask. It may seem to you that it is possible to divide your attention effectively, but then each of the tasks you perform does not receive full concentration and is not performed as carefully. Remember that if you pay less attention to the work, it will take longer to complete. Try to fully concentrate on one thing, perhaps you will be able to finish individual tasks faster and start the next ones.
Focus and concentrate
Successfully completing tasks and achieving results starts with focus. There is so much going on at any given moment. We rarely meet people who claim that they have a lot of free time, we usually see that more people are overworked, overwhelmed by the amount of work, information and the abundance of various educational, entertainment and other offers. There is obviously need for serious work to be done to improve our focus and combat procrastination. We know that slight feeling of guilt and maybe even despair that it is impossible to do everything.
In such a situation, it is very easy to deviate from what is important. Then we need to stop, look around and understand where our focus is. This strategic solution teaches that in the midst of endless and urgent tasks, it is especially important to focus your energy and effort on just one or two goals. How many goals do you currently have?
We recommend that you choose one particularly important goal. When choosing the most important goal, think about the most important thing that could help improve your results. This is a crucial goal. Consider the idea that you will devote at least 20% of your working time to it in parallel with the urgent daily tasks that will inevitably fill your time. It is impossible to fill your day with only the important, discarding the urgent.
Workplace habits
There are habits that may not be good for your health and make your work process difficult. Some of these activities may seem harmless, but they can harm the brain in the long run. Sometimes we tend to do inappropriate, unproductive things in the work environment – and it’s worth thinking about how to get rid of these habits.
In your professional life, there are very likely periods when working late shifts is a necessity that can lead to overworking, late night working, working at the weekends, not taking enough breaks. This can greatly affect your health and well-being.
Make sure that the work is not only psychologically, but also physically overloaded. As the workload increases, tasks may become more complex and longer working hours are required. All this may not make it possible to have a full lunch, both the quality of the rest and the work schedule can suffer. In the working environment, more attention should be paid to the allocation of free time – nutrition and fluid intake, as well as healthy balance.
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Digitalization of tasks
Have you ever had the desire to streamline – receive, create and manage all applications and tasks? When you can follow the scope of work and promptly delegate work using digital solutions for your company and your work duties. The purpose of the digitalization is to improve the information and communication technology (ICT) management processes and organize your work tasks
Using practical, technological, organizational digital tools will take your work productivity to a new level. Digital planning is a flexible and efficient solution for managing tasks, processes and employees. It is time to stop using paper and switch to the digital task management systems that suit your business needs. You can eliminate paper documents, save time, reduce costs and create clear, efficient communication channels within company and customers with fully automated task management software of your choice.
Plan your time
It seems obvious that time management is related to efficiency and how productive you can get work done, but sticking to a plan is often the hardest thing to do. Different approaches can be used to plan time, such as the “2-hour solution”, where two hours are set aside each week to plan and visualize the week ahead.
The most important thing is to plan your day with a chance to be flexible, because it is impossible to predict how things will turn out. If you manage to stick to the plan and there are no unplanned delays – great! You will be able to devote your free or flexible time to rest or complete other tasks.
Much is said about time management, but productivity and motivation are also directly dependent on energy management. It will be difficult to find motivation if you have spent your time and energy reserves on insignificant tasks – be aware where you spend your valuable time.
To finish up
Energy, just like time, is also a valued resource required for work and task management. In order not to waste the reserves of this resource unnecessarily, determine the priorities for yourself and decide which tasks will be the most important to begin with.
Also remember not to take on too much, as this too can waste energy and time on things where it is not needed. If you start the working day focusing on the most important tasks, you will accomplish much more and your working day will become more productive.
Start with the most difficult work, divide tasks into smaller ones, avoid distractions, digitalize your work-flow and don’t forget about maintaining a steady focus as you take on work challenges one by one. These recommendations will hopefully help you achieve the desired results faster and be more successful.
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