Beyond Tech

Are you an IT pro who's struggling with how to effectively manage your time? I'm Zach Memos. And in this episode of Beyond Tech, I'm going to share with you 10 tips to help you improve your time management skills. [MUSIC] So today we're talking about time management for IT pros. Did you know that time management really should be called self management? It's true. There is no way anyone is going to outrun time as it simply keeps going forward but we can learn to live in time to be more effective and efficient. Here's some quick points to remember. Number one, minimize your distractions. This is going to be different for everyone but distractions can include emails, texts, phone calls and even unnecessary breaks in our workflow. Turning off notifications, placing your phone on silent and scheduling your brakes more on that later will help you minimise the clutter. Number two, understand that time management isn't just logical, it's also emotional. Our feelings of frustration, fear, worry, sorrow or even happiness can dictate how we choose to spend our time. Time management is emotional. So number three, we must understand that time management is self management. Time goes on with or without us. So what we must realize is that we need to focus on self management in our relation to time. Number four, efficiency is not enough. Gadgets and gizmos that helps streamline our tasks are great and they do save time. But why is it that even though we all carry around little pocket computers, we still don't seem to have enough time. It's one dimensional thinking that technology alone will afford us more of the precious time we all seem to be in short supply of. Number five, avoid the prioritizing trap. There is nothing about prioritizing that creates more time. Think about that. All it does is bump up your number 10 item on your to do list for instance and moves it to number two. So juggling your activities is not the best use of your time. Number six. Use three dimensional thinking when planning your day's activities. How soon does this need to be accomplished falls under urgency. How much does it matter falls under importance. And how long will it matter is tied to significance? So remember this. How soon? How much and how long? Three dimensional thinking. Number seven, we need to multiply our time, but how? You multiply your time by giving yourself, here it comes again, the emotional permission to spend time on things today that will give you more time tomorrow. This is a significance calculation and significance changes everything. Number eight. Use a focus funnel. Keep it simple. A focus funnel is a visual depiction of your thought process as you plan on how you will spend your time. As tests fall into your funnel, ask yourself first, can you eliminate it? Is it even worth doing? You can give yourself permission to ignore today or say no to a task to give you more time tomorrow. Now secondly, if you can't eliminate the task, ask yourself, can you automate it? Anything you create a process for today, saves you time tomorrow. Think of setting up online bill packed, a little time spent on that activity today saves you a lot of time tomorrow and thereafter. Thirdly, if it can't be eliminated or automated, can it be delegated? Can I teach someone else to do this? Yes, you can. You can delegate anything. Number nine. Procrastinate. Really, but procrastinate on purpose. Now these tasks fall into a holding pattern, you've determined they can wait until later. Ask yourself if it's significant enough to spend your time on or if now is not the right time to do it? Patients can be a virtue. Number 10. Try using the timer method. 25 minutes of work followed by a five minute break or 55 minutes of work followed by a five minute break, etc. There are apps you can use to help you, such as focusmates and mira nair timer. The timer method can help you stay focused. There you have it, time management is truly self management. You can't create more hours in today, but you can use the time you have more effectively following these simple suggestions. Thank you for watching this episode of Beyond Tech. Essential soft skills for IT pros. Hopefully these tips will help you manage your time more effectively. See you in the next episode. [MUSIC]