Jeepney Press/Arnel Sugay

More work and less time?

By Arnel Sugay

Bob, not his real name, unconsciously snoozed his alarm clock. When the alarm sounded off the second time, he leaned to one side to check the time.

With a surge of energy, he bolted out from his bedroom to take a shower. After his quick shower he did not have the time to prepare his breakfast. His tumbler with coffee will be his pick-me-up drink in the office.

Meandering through the streets of the city, his car slowed down. He was caught in the rush hour of Monday morning. While stalled in the thoroughfare, he thought of what he needs to accomplish for the day and for the rest of the week. His heart beat quickened. Bob, looked at himself in the mirror. He saw a how-will-I-be-ableto-complete-all-these-pressingpriorities look.

Can you relate to Bob’s situation? Bob has a lot of learning and unlearning to do on how he manages his time if he needs to be productive. The time management hacks that he may want to ponder upon would include some of these techniques:

1. Urgent and Important. Many of the things listed in our To-do List are not all urgent. Others are important. What is the difference? Urgent tasks would require immediate attention. Examples: return the call of a client, emergency. Important tasks do not have a deadline and would not necessarily need to be taken care of immediately. However, if delayed for too long it can become urgent.

2. Know your priority. When you visit an Emergency Room (ER), your medical condition will be assessed by a doctor to determine who among the patients in ER needs to be given a priority. This is called triage. Below is a guide.

3. Know your timewasters. What prevents you from focusing at your deliverables? According to a research by Career Builder, the number one cause of timewaster among workers is the use of smart phones and followed by internet. If you are guilty of this, keep your smart phone away from you to eliminate distraction.

4. Pomodoro. This app can be downloaded whether you are an iPhone or Android user. If you need to finish a report, set the timer of Pomodoro to 30 minutes. Do not do anything else so you stay focused. After 30 minutes, take a break for about 10 minutes. Then focus on the next task and set the timer again.

Which of these techniques have you tried before? Which one do you think will make you more productive moving forward? Email me at arnel.sugay@gmail.com

Arnel Sugay

Jeepney Press