Balancing Your Time

Can you get this report done for Monday? Can you update this schedule before the end of the day? Can you coordinate the materials that the customer has due to us? Can you write this/attend that training class/coach that employee?  The list goes on and on, and this is just at work!  We won’t even go into balancing the private life with because that could go on forever and this is only a blog, after all!

Balancing your work load with the various responsibilities and projects can be a struggle. We all know that there are multiple tools to track tasks.  We also know that we have the ability to push back (gently and politely) on work assigned.  Managing our own personal resource load is just as important as managing the resources for a project team.

Depending on the projects/tasks you are working on (schedules, specific tasks), different tools may be used to help budget time and make task lists.  Project schedules are good for overall task-tracking, but they may not work best for you as you may not own the schedule.  CRMs or any on-line project tracking tool can be helpful. They all have features that enable notes, updates and statuses for your tasks.

There is the basic Outlook calendar tool that gives an option to manage tasks and they are right on your desktop as a reminder.  One of my personal favorites that I have used since, well, MS DOS was around (yes, that long ago) is a notebook.  I know, it is archaic in this gadget/technology obsessed age, but it works well for me.  I take notes, I can cross them off, I am able to go back days, months, years and see what I worked on, finished, information that I may need.

So, find your favorite tool, be it electronic or pen and paper, and start crossing things off your list. It is such a great feeling that you’ll be motivated to be more productive. It’s a win-win!