How To Schedule Your Time At Work
Making a great schedule for yourself each day is one of the hardest things to do consistently well, isn’t it? For some jobs, the way you spend your time is set for you. In other roles, you may have much more flexibility to set your own schedule each day. In either case, you choose how to do your work and efficiently you do it.
A major step toward managing all of your time well is to take control of your schedule. In this short article we offer 5 tactics to help you get control of your schedule at work:
- Be honest with yourself about how much you can actually do in a day.
- Guard your schedule jealously.
- Schedule time for yourself each day.
- Try a “closed door policy” to carve out uninterrupted work time.
- Set limits with your email.
Be Honest With Yourself
Making a good daily schedule requires you to be honest about how much time you have and about what needs to be done. You also need to give yourself enough time to transition one task to the next.
For example, your job may require you to travel between meetings. That may mean you have to drive to an alternate location to meet. For other tasks, you may need to do more research, develop a budget, or meet with a coworker. What about those phone calls you plan, but the person you’ve called can’t talk to you? When can you try again?
If you don’t leave enough time in your schedule for changes, you’ll lose flexibility and will probably fall behind and stay behind.
Overschedule, much?
Another problem with schedules is that some people take on too much every day. You only have a certain number of work hours. You can’t work on too many important projects back-to-back without overcommitting yourself.
That was recently a big problem for me. I changed roles and quickly realized that I need to actively manage my calendar and that I need to set clear priorities for each day. When I don’t do that, I end up with too many meetings on my calendar and not enough time to do the work I’ve committed to doing.
Does that sound familiar? You may be overcommitted because of the time it takes to switch between projects that are competing for your attention because others have unobstructed access to your calendar or because of unexpected interruptions.
When you’re over-committed, something you promised to complete doesn’t get done. Even worse, maybe everything you tried to do is only done halfway. That’s not a good way to use your time, is it?
Me time?
Don’t forget to make time for yourself. You need a break for lunch and a few minutes in the middle of the morning and afternoon. If you can, go outside or away from your desk to clear your mind. I find that a quick trip to the coffee machine gives me a chance to refocus.
Closed Door Policy?
An open-door policy can be great if you lead a team or if you are part of a team that collaborates to complete work. This time is critical to your team’s success. That said, it’s ok to have an understanding with your team. If your door is closed, you need that time to focus on critical work. You may find that scheduling these “closed door” meetings with yourself gives you the space in your day to move your work forward.
Once your closed-door session is over, open your door. This signals to your teammates that you’re “open for business.”
I’ve found blocking time on my calendar helps prevent others from overscheduling my day. These blocks are typically when my door is closed and I’m cranking out priority work.
Email is Not a Text Stream
Unless you must check your email all the time, you don’t have to check it every five minutes. Instead, you can schedule it for two or three times during the workday. You can also put email into folders and block times in your schedule to respond to different types of emails, like orders, client contact, questions, employee contact, personal, and others.
You may have the office-wide habit of checking email as soon as the envelope icon appears on the screen. That notification can distract you from your work. Turn off the automatic reminder and plan when you will check your email during the day.
I’ve always viewed incoming emails as others exerting control over my agenda for the day. For that reason, I use an out-of-office responder in outlook to let people I work with know when I will be reviewing my emails – usually 10:00 in the morning and after 5 in the afternoon. I also share that I am available by phone if the question or action requires a quicker response.
If you choose to use this tactic it’s critical that you stick to your schedule because people will depend on you to keep your word and respond when you said that you would.
The tactics outlined here are simple to describe, but hard to do – especially when the world around you is racing. With awareness, practice, and patience, you will soon begin to reclaim ownership of your schedule at work!
Feel free to leave your best practices for managing your schedule in the comments.
Make it a great day!
