We all have 24 hours a day. And while that seems like a lot of time, not all of us are able to make the most out of every minute of the day. Time management while spoken about a lot is not always practised. Imagine, with the right kind of time management, you can control and plan how much time you want to spend on specific activities while also getting things done in a shorter time frame and under reduced levels of stress.
According to our agents, mastering these time management hacks improves efficiency and productivity; while reducing stress and having more success in your personal and professional life.
Hack #1 Use a calendar notebook or a task management app
Let us just tell you that keeping all your ‘things-to-do” and all of your appointments in your head is extremely ineffective. The secret is that successful people use management and calendar tools to speed up their work processes and navigate calmly through the chaos. For your tasks, you could use jot them down on a notepad or use an app like Evernote and use Google Calendar to set up important reminders. These tools are free and so easy to use.
Hack #2 Plan to achieve a few hours of productive work
Your reality may be a standard of 8 full working hours but your productivity stays on at maximum capacity only for half of it. So make sure you do yourself a favour and identify when your most productive hours are and schedule your most important and high-value tasks during those hours.
Hack #3 Leave buffer time between tasks and meetings
Just like how multitasking is a waste of time; not getting your breaks between tasks and meetings can be draining to your energy. While it is generally understood that jumping from one task to another is a great use of one’s time, it actually has the opposite effect. Scientifically, the human brain can focus for about 90-minutes at a time. So it is more than important to get that break in between to be refreshed and reenergized for your next task.
Hack #4 Respect your need to get at least 8 hours of sleep
We’re laying this here for you from personal experience faced by our telesales agents who have noted that they are at their best when they are well-rested. Sure, you may have managed to get through work after a late night or even after being up all night but it is a destructive habit to form. Nobody likes being tired all day, so make it a habit of getting a good night’s rest to be your customer’s favourite agent the next day!
Hack #5 Limit your priority tasks to a maximum of three every day
Try not to clutter your “things-to-do” list with an endless list of important tasks. Even if you have a backlog of work, try to assign it properly throughout the day so that you can do a better job at it. Setting up your day with realistic goals means that you will end up achieving it!
Hack #6 Take the time to review your workweek
Most people plan to do this but end up not being able to because how does one evaluate the quality of their workweek, right? But you can evaluate your workweek by seeing if you have achieved most of what you wanted to do, reviewing some of the mistakes you made, your work deliverables, a mental health check, etc. Doing so will make you more conscious of your actions and help in creating habits that are mindful and healthy and will prevent you from burning out.
Hack #7 Celebrate your (goal) wins
Your goal for the day might be as simple and as intangible as ‘not losing your patience’ and if you manage to keep your cool throughout the day speaking to plenty of people, then you have achieved what you had started your day out to do. Celebrate completing a task that you may have abandoned a week ago, celebrate an ‘almost’ sale, celebrate calming a frustrated customer, celebrate making your caller happy, celebrate educating someone! They’re all wins and you deserve to make the most of them!
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