insideKENT Magazine Issue 83 - February 2019 | Page 141
BUSINESS
Finding Balance:
Is time
management
your new year’s
resolution?
by Rick Schofield, Partner at Wilkins Kennedy Ashford
WITH SO MANY GADGETS DESIGNED TO MAKE LIFE
EASIER, ISN’T IT ABOUT TIME WE RE-VISITED OUR TIME
MANAGEMENT THIS NEW YEAR?
As a culture, we are permanently “switched on”
thanks to better technology and more flexible
working. According to research by the Chartered
Institute of Personal Development (CIPD), which
surveyed more than 2,000 employees, 40% of
people check work emails at least five times a
day outside of working hours. Almost a third
said that remote access to work means that they
can never fully switch off and 17% said they
were losing sleep over anxiousness associated
with working remotely.
Here’s an idea – turn it all off: iPhone, tablet,
the lot. If you can, do it for the entire weekend.
You might just find you return to the office well-
rested and recharged – you’ll be so much more
efficient. If you start to feel like work schedules
are getting on top of you, then carefully analyse
your workload and prioritise everything that is
important for that day alone.
Better still, if you can, try to be analytical all the
time. Don’t just rush from one meeting or one
job to the next and learn to plan your day. Don’t
just open the diary and say, “Right, what’s first?”
Set aside 30 minutes to really plan: what needs
doing, when, how, with whom? Give everything
a beginning and an end time.
When you plan, make sure you insert short gaps,
even if only five minutes, between meetings and
tasks. Five minutes planning what to do and say
in a meeting will make it more effective and
probably shorter. Or, take a break – why not?
Physically you could probably keep going for
ten hours, but the brain needs some downtime.
So schedule 30 minutes in the middle of the day
– and take it seriously: get away from the desk,
out of the building, stretch your legs.
Efficiency doesn’t just apply to work – it can
resonate into our personal lives too. We are all
juggling family and other commitments around
work and it can sometimes feel like you just
don’t stop. There is no reason why you shouldn’t
be able to apply your structure to your time.
If you are online, keep distractions to a
minimum. Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram,
Twitter. There’s no shame, we all do it. But
learn to turn them off.
Finally, tidy your desk. Apart from making you
look unprofessional, clutter is distracting and a
serious impediment to efficiency.
Being efficient is an important part of your
business plan, but your business also needs you
to be working at the top of your game. If you
could do with a few tips to help your business
run more smoothly, perhaps dust off your business plan or
need some help with other management issues, contact us
at Wilkins Kennedy to see how we can help.
Local offices:
Ashford: 01233 629 255 / Canterbury: 01227 454 861
Maidstone: 01622 690 666 / Orpington: 01689 827 505
Sandwich: 01304 249 997
[email protected]
www.wilkinskennedy.com
wilkinskennedy
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