Reprioritizing your time helps control what you accomplish each day. The more productive you are, the better you feel. This impacts your job performance.
Because the number of hours you have each day is limited, you need to get the most out of them. The better able you are to reach your goals, the more likely you are to move forward on your career path.
Implement these tips to reprioritize your time and accomplish more at work.
Assess Your Time
Focus on which tasks typically comprise your day. This includes your distractors and fillers.
Your distractors are tasks indirectly related to your work that stop you from focusing on your priorities. They tend to revolve around people and culture. Examples include engaging in long conversations or trying to make unhappy coworkers feel better.
Fillers are tasks directly related to your work but not highly valued. They don’t lead to recognition, raises, or promotions or help you advance your career. Examples include scheduling follow-up meetings, writing down meeting notes, or completing other office tasks.
Make a list of your distractors and fillers. They may be taking over your day and need to be cut.
Determine Your Priorities
Evaluate how essential each distractor or filler is to reach your career goals. For instance, ask yourself whether each task is a fundamental part of your job description. Also, determine whether it provides you access to a valuable connection or different part of the organization. Include whether the task brings you joy.
If your answer for at least one question is yes, keep the task on your to-do list. It’s worth making time for. Otherwise, take the task off your to-do list.
Some tasks you may be able to stop doing. Others you may need to talk with your manager about reassigning to another employee. Make a note next to each task you no longer want to fulfill so you know which action to take.
Respectfully Say No
Turning down requests you can’t or don’t want to fulfill helps you control your time. You may want to thank the person for the opportunity, then share that you’re at full capacity right now. Or, if your manager makes a request, you might say you can carry it out if it replaces a specific task.
If a close colleague makes a request, you may want to be specific about why you can’t carry it out. Or, if you’re willing and able, you might want to offer to perform the task at a later time. These responses show you’re a team player and let you stay focused on your goals.
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