What Happened to Your Time? How to Prioritize When You Wear Multiple Hats
There are a number of time-tested ways to get through your to-do list faster: the Pomodoro technique, the Eisenhower Method, the ABC Method, and the Pareto Principle. With these systems, you can find the one that works best to help you focus and accomplish more.
Talk to most people, and they’ll say they’d love to have an extra hour in their days. While that would be nice, by managing your time a little more effectively, there are ways to get more done in less time—and have more time for yourself in the process. There are a number of time-tested ways to get through your to-do list faster: the Pomodoro technique, the Eisenhower Method, the ABC Method, and the Pareto Principle. With these systems, you can find the one that works best to help you focus and accomplish more.
Technology aims to ease your stress, too. From Toggl to Timely, to apps that let you access your CRM on the go, you can find apps for tracking your time, tackling your to-do list, helping you concentrate, increasing your productivity level, managing projects, and more. When you use these apps and find the right technique that works for your needs, you’ll be able to find that extra hour in your day—maybe even more. For more tips, tricks, and apps, check out the infographic below.
Tackling Time Management Techniques and Methods
- Pomodoro technique
- Select a task you’d like to focus on, it can be long or short
- Set a timer for 25 minutes and focus on that task
- Take a 5-minute break
- Once four pomodoros are completed, take a 20-30-minute break
- Eisenhower Method
- “What is important is seldom urgent, and what is urgent is seldom important.” — President Dwight Eisenhower
- This method categorizes tasks as:
- Urgent
- Important
- Non-urgent
- Not important
- Do urgent and important tasks immediately, followed by non-urgent and then not important tasks
- ABC Method
- Rank all work with the letters A, B, and C in order of importance
- Prioritize within each category by listing them as a number 1, 2, or 3 i
- Begin by completing A-1 tasks first, A-2 second, and down the line to C-3
- Pareto Principle (80/20 Rule)
- 80% of your outcomes come from 20% of your inputs
- For effective time management try to increase the amount of time spent in that 20% category
- Focus on the most critical 20% of your work that generates the biggest returns
App Attack to Help You Stay on Track
- Toggl
- Online time tracker/timesheet app
- Why it’s useful
- It allows you to check the amount of time an individual team member spends on a project and identify sources of wasted time
- It can improve your team’s overall accuracy and productivity for billable hours
- It enables you to sort and create reports by:
- Client
- Project
- Day
- Week
- Remember the Milk
- Online to-do list and task manager
- Why it’s useful
- It allows you to manage tasks from a computer or mobile device
- It sends reminders via email, text message, or IM
- It allows you to share tasks and assign to-dos with other people on your team
- It syncs with Google Calendar and Evernote
- Noizio
- Ambient sound equalizer
- Why it’s useful
- Helps you to relax
- Increase your productivity
- Easy to choose and blend ambient sounds into a mixture that will perfectly fit your mood
- Choose from 15 ambient sounds
- October Rain
- Coffee House
- Thunderstorm
- Campfire
- Winter Wind
- Sea Waves
- River Stream
- Summer Night
- Sunny Day
- Deep Space
- Sailing Yacht
- Inside Train
- On The Farm
- Wind Chimes
- Blue Whales
- Timely
- Time tracker and project controler
- Why it’s useful
- Connect calendar and all calendar events
- Set a money- or hour based budget for projects
- Use tags and subtags to track activities and phases in your projects
- Helps to better see how time is spent
- Notification system reminds team to submit their timesheets
- Focuster
- Optimizes schedule in Google Calendar
- Why it’s useful
- Shows you how much free time you have
- Automatically reschedules priorities until they are completed
- Sends reminders when you are distracted prioritize your day by showing you how much free time you have
Conclusion
Implementing some of these apps, methodologies, and tips into your daily routine can help keep your and your team on track.
Get ready, get set, and get into that workflow. With one or a mix of these five distraction-blocking apps, you’ll become a better, happier, more productive salesperson.
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