Are you feeling it? The hustle and bustle of December that is.
December is a high-activity, high-energy month, which can be overwhelming. So many tasks come to the forefront, demanding our time and forcing us to balance priorities. This might include work orders and project deadlines, budgets to spend, or staff to hire. And let’s not forget the company year-end town halls and holiday dinner parties. On the home front, you may be rushing to complete your Christmas shopping, planning travel, Christmas concerts, and food prep for gatherings with family and friends. There’s a lot!
How do you manage and prioritize your time? You’ll need to stay focused, organized, and productive. Here are a few ideas.
Create a to-do list and prioritize your tasks.
What are the tasks you need to complete and which are the most important? Also, consider how much time you’ll need to accomplish each task. If you’d like to take it one step further, categorize tasks by urgency and importance. This will help you identify what’s most important but not urgent, urgent but not important, and neither. Then, you can focus on tasks that fall into the urgent and important quadrant first. There’s no better feeling than crossing an item off your list, no matter how small!
Schedule blocks of time to accomplish tasks.
Giving yourself a time to get a job done allows you to focus on the task at hand and avoid multi-tasking, which can chew up time. Don’t forget to schedule time for breaks and relaxation.
Break up those big tasks.
When you have a larger task, it’s good practice to break it into smaller ones. You know what they say, the way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time! Add the smaller tasks to your to-do list and prioritize. Smaller tasks are easier to accomplish and less stressful to think about. Try setting a time interval for each task. This can also help increase focus.
How do you eat an elephant?
Remove distractions.
More times than not other activities are happening that we can’t always ignore. Small children need attention, a co-worker is looking for advice or the TV is airing your favourite show. Find a quiet place to concentrate and stay focused on the task.
There are different ways to manage your time. I recently read about a method called “Eat That Frog.” This method suggests tackling the most challenging task first thing in the day. This boosts productivity and builds momentum and what a way to set the pace for the remainder of your day!
Need more ideas? Check out my blog, “How to get stuff done.”
Writing for you. 