How to better manage my time?

How to better manage my time? In today’s post I would like to propose the reflection on an important competence in the development of our
intrapersonal intelligence
. It is about the ability to efficiently manage the time we have.

Manage my time better

Time management is the ability to distribute the time available in relation to tasks efficiently and coherently with my priorities to achieve my professional goals.

In addition, we cannot forget that this distribution of time must also be aligned with the management of my time for my other personal activities, (time for my family, my friends, for myself, etc.).

This competence involves being able to organize and distribute our time correctly and distribute it according to the activities necessary to achieve our goals (professional and personal) in the short, medium and long term.

Managing My Time: Related Competencies

This competence implicitly includes the proper management of other competences related both to ourselves (intrapersonal intelligence) and to others (interpersonal intelligence):

In relation to ourselves:
1- Analytical thinking capacity, (the reflection that allows us to establish priorities and objectives),
2- The practical vision, (to achieve a more optimized use of time resources in an operational way),
3- Planning, (the decision-making process to choose which option is more favorable).

In relation to others:
1- Adaptation to the environment, (to consider the different circumstances that can influence the management of our tasks),
2- Teamwork, (take into account how collaboration helps us to be more efficient in the use of resources),
3- Negotiation: (how to find consensual solutions in the distribution of tasks in activities among several people).

Don’t say you don’t have time to do something you want. We all have the same time, 24 hours every day. It’s a matter of deciding what priorities you’re going to dedicate your hours to today

HOW TO TRAIN MY EFFICIENT TIME MANAGEMENT?

I would like to propose some actions to be able to develop the skill of efficient time management.

During an ordinary work week, become aware of what type of activities you do daily and how much time you dedicate to each type of activity.
Classify the tasks you have identified each day of that week into each of the following 4 blocks:

Important and urgent: They are the tasks related to your mission and main functions in the organization, they constitute your fundamental work and by which your performance is measured. Also tasks that are asked of you over which you have no decision-making power to postpone or delegate.
Critical tasks: Crisis, pressing issues, top priority, projects with due dates, meetings, and preparations.
Important and not urgent: They are the important functions in your mission, but they are not urgent for today, although you must plan to carry them out so that they do not move to the “Important and Urgent” quadrant and you do not have enough time to perform them. You usually have more time to do them, as they usually involve reflection, planning, creation, research, etc.
Proactive tasks: Preparation, planning, reflecting, anticipating contingencies, detecting opportunities, training to delegate, relationship building, prevention, training.
Not important and urgent: It’s the unforeseen tasks that you can’t put off. Questioning: Do I really have to do it? Do I have to do it today? Can I delegate and/or postpone it? What priority do I choose to give it?
Reactive tasks: interruptions , some phone calls, some reports, orders, separate from one’s own priorities, meetings, reports, correspondence.
Not important and not urgent: They are the so-called “time thieves”, it is important to become aware and identify them, to decide if you do that task, or choose to postpone it or not do it.
Banal tasks: trivia, hustle and bustle, advertising correspondence, some phone calls, actions that represent a waste of time, surfing the internet without any purpose, etc.

Next steps for better management of my time:

Once you have the tasks for each quadrant in writing, define the approximate percentage of time you have spent on each quadrant in that week you are analyzing.
Then define what percentage of time you ideally want to dedicate to each quadrant.
Identify which quadrant is the one in which there is the greatest difference between the actual situation and the ideal situation.
Define which are the 3 main activities or projects where you want to invest more time and which other quadrant you decide to reduce the time invested. To start, choose a maximum of 3 main activities.
Also reflect on how you are going to reduce the time spent on those activities that you do not consider a priority, (delegating, postponing execution, redefining the task or deadlines, canceling, etc.).
Write down the 3 specific actions that you are going to carry out to reorganize the distribution of timefor the next week.
At the end of next week, review the percentage of time spent in each quadrant. Repeat the action again, choosing in which quadrant you want to increase the time spent and in which other quadrant you want to reduce it. Write down the specific actions you are going to take to achieve that goal weekly.