{"id":80521,"date":"2014-09-04T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-04T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=80521"},"modified":"2014-09-04T14:02:10","modified_gmt":"2014-09-04T19:02:10","slug":"easy-tips-for-time-management-er-maximizing-your-productivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=80521","title":{"rendered":"Easy Tips for Time Management – er, Maximizing Your Productivity"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Kate Kosturski, Senior Editor,\u00a0INALJ<\/a>\u00a0Ontario<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0INALJ Quebec<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Easy Tips for Time Management – er, Maximizing Your Productivity<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"kate_photo_2014\"<\/a>The Doctor and the TARDIS. \u00a0\u00a0Cher\u2019s belief that she could turn back time. \u00a0\u00a0Marty McFly in Back to the Future. Bill and Ted and their Excellent Adventures. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0All these people make the concept of time travel – and by a larger extension, time management – look so easy. \u00a0They bend time to their will, to fit their place and situation. \u00a0But is time management really that is easy? \u00a0No, because it\u2019s a concept that does not exist. \u00a0Time is finite – you can\u2019t change it. As much as many of us (myself included) would like, you can\u2019t add or subtract hours from the day, or make one hour longer (or shorter) than the next. \u00a0Thus, we can\u2019t really manage time – it manages us! (Those of you old enough to remember the comedian Yakof Smirnoff are probably reading that last sentence with the words, \u201cIn Soviet Russia\u2026\u201d in there somewhere.) Thus, all those \u201ctips for time management\u201d articles really are a misnomer.<\/p>\n

But what if you want to get more work done in the hours of the day that we have, with time for eating, sleeping, and relaxing? \u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t think of time management – think of maximizing your productivity. \u00a0\u00a0We can\u2019t manage time, but we can manage ourselves – how we think, how we behave, how we react.<\/p>\n

Earlier this summer, I had to attend a \u201cMaximizing Your Productivity\u201d session at work. \u00a0It forced me to throw out this concept of \u201ctime management\u201d and look at ways to be more productive. \u00a0\u00a0Although I consider myself an expert at productivity, I found a few tips to be very useful:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s okay to take a break<\/b>. \u00a0\u00a0The idea of being more productive by working longer hours and skipping lunches is a myth. \u00a0All you end up being is tired and hungry – and setting a bad precedent for your manager. (We\u2019ll talk about that in a bit.) \u00a0The break is the reset button, the CTRL-ALT-DEL for your brain. It gives the brain time to rest, away from the tasks at hand. \u00a0It\u2019s a good idea to take a five to ten minute break every hour, in any form – going out for a walk, getting up for the bathroom, reading mindless Buzzfeed listicles. \u00a0This reboots your brain, particularly the right side of your brain that holds domain over your creative thinking. \u00a0That break can bring forth new ideas and solutions to problems.<\/p>\n

Longer term, that break will have positive effects on your health. \u00a0Two years ago, I had a very high pressure job, and thought the only solution to the work day was to work through lunch – not every day, but at least 60% of the week. \u00a0My body ended up so run down and weak from all that supposed good productivity that I spent my entire Christmas holidays in bed with the flu! \u00a0My one 2013 New Year\u2019s resolution that I keep to this day? \u00a0Take a lunch hour. I find I am getting more done, and while I haven\u2019t completely avoided illness, I am taking a lot less sick days as a result.<\/p>\n

Finally, look at unexpected opportunities as a sign for a break. \u00a0Network goes down at work and you can\u2019t access email? \u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s a good time for a break!<\/p>\n

Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize<\/b>. \u00a0As much as everyone likes to think that their tasks are important, that just isn\u2019t the case. \u00a0\u00a0In turn, rethink how you prioritize. \u00a0It\u2019s good, of course, to ask managers or colleagues how important they think their tasks are, but inevitably, everyone<\/i> is going to say their task is important. You have to be the determinant of priority, and here\u2019s an easy way to do it:<\/p>\n

List out the tasks you have to do in a certain time period (hour, day, week, etc.). \u00a0\u00a0For the purposes of this example, let\u2019s say you have five tasks to be done in a given workday:<\/p>\n

A. \u00a0Finish job application<\/p>\n

B. \u00a0Work on INALJ Blog Post<\/p>\n

C. \u00a0Research conference speaking opportunities<\/p>\n

D. \u00a0Clean the bathroom<\/p>\n

E. \u00a0Update LinkedIn Page<\/p>\n

Then, compare each task to the others, and assign it a number between 1 and 5 (or whatever number of tasks you have on your list.) \u00a0So here, I will compare \u201cFinish job application\u201d to \u201cWork on INALJ blog post\u201d, and assign it a ranking, based on what I know about that task (i.e. deadlines, flexibility on getting it done, etc.) \u00a0\u00a0It may turn out that the job application is due before the blog post, so I assign that a \u201c1\u201d and the blog post a \u201c2.\u201d \u00a0Then I compare \u201cFinish job application\u201d to \u201cresearch conference speaking opportunities\u201d and assign the same. \u00a0\u00a0After you finish comparing your first task (Task A) to the others, then you do the same with Task B to the ones below it (C, D, E), and so on until you get to the last task in the list. \u00a0The task with the largest number of highest rankings (number 1\u2019s) is the one that gets done first.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s okay to say \u201cno.\u201d <\/b>Our culture is a \u201cyes\u201d culture – we fear saying no for upsetting someone, which could lead to longer term ramifications. \u00a0\u00a0At the same time, if we live in a world where everything<\/i> is the highest priority, then nothing<\/i> is the highest priority. \u00a0\u00a0Thus, embrace the \u201cno.\u201d – reclaim it. \u00a0This helps set proper precedent with your co-workers and managers – they will have a better view into your workday, and in turn, be able to prioritize their own work more effectively. \u00a0\u00a0The word \u201cno\u201d is essential to communication as much as the \u201cyes,\u201d if not more. \u00a0Use it. Embrace it. \u00a0Swim in it until your fingers get all pruny. (Bonus points to you if you know the move reference of that last line.)<\/p>\n

What are your favorite tips for maximizing your productivity? Share them in the comments? \u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Kate Kosturski, Senior Editor,\u00a0INALJ\u00a0Ontario\u00a0and\u00a0INALJ Quebec Easy Tips for Time Management – er, Maximizing Your Productivity The Doctor and the TARDIS. \u00a0\u00a0Cher\u2019s belief that she could turn back time. \u00a0\u00a0Marty McFly in Back to the Future. Bill and Ted and their Excellent Adventures. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0All these people make the concept of time travel – and by…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":80600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[69,6329,3592,3603,4123,4139,3868,6507,111],"class_list":["post-80521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-article","tag-being-productive","tag-blog","tag-inalj-ontario","tag-inalj-quebec","tag-kate-kosturski","tag-time-management","tag-time-management-tips","tag-tips"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/kate-kosturski.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-kWJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/80600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}