Is your personal productivity all that it could be? How much do you really get done during the average day or week. And how much time do you spend doing it? In this article I'm going to discuss how to use a task based approach to increase your productivity.
Task Based Or Time Based?
I used to spend a lot of time planning and worrying about how long I would spend doing something. During high school and university I would use time based planning to get things done. What does this mean? When planning out my week I would say - I'll spend 2 hours Monday night on Company Law and I'll spent 3 hours Tuesday night on Business Finance. In short, my time management strategy was to simply break my time up into blocks and throw these blocks indescriminately at the sunbjects I was studying.
So wht is the problem with this? Many of you will have spotted it already. For those that haven't, the problem lies in the lack of goals or specificity of objectives. It was easy for me to spend 2 hours "studying" Company Law but what did I actually achieve? Don't get me wrong - I knew what work was due and normally got it done on time. But it wasn't the most efficint way of doing things.
A Task Based Approach To Time Management:
I discovered a better way. Instead of saying I'll spend 2 hours on Company Law I would say I'll complete my Week 9 Company Law tutorial questions and complete the first 3 questions of the mid-semester assignment. The time allocated was the same but the goals had become specific. I would know at the end of the session whther I'd completed what I'd set out to do.
To use a task based approach, you'll need to break your work down into discrete tasks. Time is still important - in fact estimating times becomes critical to planning and scheduling. But time is secondary as a means of measuring progress. The primary method of determining progress is to ascertain whether the allotted tasks for that day have been completed.
Each task should be large enough to represent a significant step toward meeting your overall objective, but small enough to fit into one day, or preferably less. You'll need to be able to look back the end of a session or a day and tick off each of the tasks you've completed.
I switched over to this approach to time management towards the end of university and never looked back. And it's served me well in the years since then as well. In fact I would put down my increased productivity as a major step forward in my own personal development.
Improving Productivity Using A Task Based Approach
Effective Time Management Strategies
3 Ways To Find More Time In Your Day.
We'd all like to get more done each day but there never seems to be enough time. Let's face it - we could all use an extra hour or two each day. Think how much more productive you could be with that extra time available to you. You could start that exercise program you've been promising yourself, use the extra time to chill out and meditate, or you could spend it on some other task which will advance your personal development. In this post I'm going to give you 3 simple tips to help you find that extra time you need in your day.
Get Out Of Bed Earlier:
This may sound obvious, but you'll be surprised at the power that becoming an early riser can add to your life. I find that waking up early has multiple benefits. It gives me a continuous chunk of time first thing in the morning before everyone else wakes up. My mind is clear and my brain is functioning well at that time of the morning. And it gives me the time to plan out the rest of my day and even knock off a couple of tasks early. Set yourself the goal of getting up one hour earlier every day starting tomorrow.
Switch Off The Television:
I have found that one of the most effective ways of wasting time is by watching television. I'm not saying you need to go cold turkey. But think about how much TV you watch during an average week. We all have our favorite television programs and there's nothing wrong with sitting down to watch those. A little rest and relaxation can do wonders but there are limits. Over the next week, try to do the following. Pick out the TV programs you really want to watch. Make a list if that helps. Now apply a little self discipline and only turn on the television when one of those programs starts. Then make sure you turn it off again when the program finishes. Don't sit there channel surfing and wondering if there's anything else on. Think of it this way - if you didn't know it was on, how could you miss it?
Do You Waste Time Online?
This is a bad habit I'm especially guilty of at times. How often have you sat down with your computer with the intention of doing some "work" only to find an endless array or distractions to occupy your mind and your time? Do you check your mail and catch up on all of your favorite blogs and forums before you get down to real work? And again while you're "working", do you do the same thing? And again when you're finished? If this sounds familiar, you might need to be a little more disciplined and organize your time more effectively. Try changing the order around. Complete the important tasks first. Then with any time you have left at the end, catch up on the more menial tasks.
That's it - nothing earth shattering, yet these ideas can definitely help you achieve your personal growth and development goals more quickly. Get up earlier, watch less television and use your time online more efficiently. Sounds simple doesn't. But I challenge you to put these principles to use over the next month - or even the next week. You wont know yourself once you've employed these simple yet effective time management strategies.
