               The ability to efficiently manage your time at work is an absolute necessity. Some people find themselves constantly feeling overwhelmed by work that just seems to keep piling up. They feel that there’s just not enough time in the day to get everything done and they don’t know what to do. As it turns out, there probably is time to get everything done in a reasonable amount on time; people just don’t realize how much time that they waste every day that prevents them from accomplishing necessary tasks.
               Every day workers waste approximately two hours of their eight hour work day. You may feel like you aren’t one of those people and you don’t think you’ve ever wasted that much time in a week much less a day. You might be wrong. Little things that you do during the day that was time can seriously add up. Taking fifteen minutes to read a few of your favorite blogs and then going to talk to a coworker for thirty minutes might not seem like much at the time, but already that adds up to 45 minutes. On top of that, most of the time when people do things that waste a lot of time such as spending thirty minutes socializing, they don’t even realize how much time they’ve wasted. Chances are when they look back on their day they won’t even remember what they had done all day to waste so much time. Surfing the internet for personal use, socializing, and conducting personal business are the three most common time wasting activities in the average workplace.
               Another way that people lose time and end up being completely swamped at the last minute is due to procrastination. Putting off big projects until right before they are due is definitely the wrong way to go. Even though the project may seem simple and easy to finish, you never know when a problem is going to pop up and cause you to lose a ton of time. Jumping on projects, whether they are big or small, quickly and getting them done early will ensure your success. If you finish something early you can run it by others in the office for their approval and feedback which could help you make your project a success. Some people who procrastinate work as many hours as an average person, but they spend those hours working on the wrong things. They invest all of their time in tasks that may be important, but are not quite as important as some of the urgent tasks that they are overlooking and avoiding.
               There is plenty of time in the day to get things done. You may feel that this is not true because you are not managing your time efficiently. First, you need to figure out exactly where your time is going because it’s not just disappearing into thin air. Create a daily activity log and write down everything you do during the day and what time you were doing it. That means that you have to write every single thing you do even if it’s something like extended socializing that you don’t necessarily want to admit. Once you can see where all of your time is being allocated, you can figure out how to work to adjust your schedule to keep yourself on-task and hopefully reduce some of your stress. Once you see where your time is going, you need to figure out what is wasting most of your time and work to either completely eliminate that distraction or at least reduce it so you can get more done. If you can’t stop yourself from talking to your favorite coworker, just try talking to them a little less because it could make a huge difference. Now that you know where your time is going and where you will start trying to waste less time, you should make a to-do list. It might seem strange, but a to-do list can actually keep you focused and help you get more done. When you have all of the day’s tasks sitting right in front of you, staring you in the face, you’re much more likely to complete most if not all of them. Another simple way to make yourself more efficient is to simply organize the things around you. Organize your desk so you don’t have to be like the average person who spends up to 45 minutes a day total digging through their messy desk. Another thing you can organize is your email. Flag important emails, put them into easy to recognize categories or folders so you don’t have to spend a bunch of time rummaging through emails from two months ago looking for an email Bob sent you an hour ago. Flagging projects you need to complete is an easy way to remind yourself that it needs to get done, as it should catch your eye every time you browse your inbox.
               Investing in an automated time and attendance system can definitely improve your time management. Using an automated time and attendance system, you can easily keep track of how much vacation or sick time you have available without having to talk to your HR department and it allows you to submit leave requests quickly and well in advance. Submitting leave requests with an automated time and attendance system will save you a decent amount of time that would have otherwise been spent filling out manual forms or requesting permission to take time off verbally. Handwritten forms can easily be lost, and verbal requests can easily be forgotten. An automated time and attendance system can keep you updated with your available paid time off as well as create a record of your leave request that’s nearly impossible to lose. Automated time and attendance systems can even help you calculate the amount of time spent on each project you’re working on. This will help you see where your time has been going and keep you more organized and on schedule.
               If you simply take a moment to organize your time and the things around you that you spend lots of time looking through, then you will begin to see a dramatic change in the way that your day is spent. It may take some discipline to cut back on some of your less productive time, but with some effort it can be done. A little organization and time management can go a long way and transform your busy days into less frantic, much more productive ones.
               Every day workers waste approximately two hours of their eight hour work day. You may feel like you aren’t one of those people and you don’t think you’ve ever wasted that much time in a week much less a day. You might be wrong. Little things that you do during the day that was time can seriously add up. Taking fifteen minutes to read a few of your favorite blogs and then going to talk to a coworker for thirty minutes might not seem like much at the time, but already that adds up to 45 minutes. On top of that, most of the time when people do things that waste a lot of time such as spending thirty minutes socializing, they don’t even realize how much time they’ve wasted. Chances are when they look back on their day they won’t even remember what they had done all day to waste so much time. Surfing the internet for personal use, socializing, and conducting personal business are the three most common time wasting activities in the average workplace.
               Another way that people lose time and end up being completely swamped at the last minute is due to procrastination. Putting off big projects until right before they are due is definitely the wrong way to go. Even though the project may seem simple and easy to finish, you never know when a problem is going to pop up and cause you to lose a ton of time. Jumping on projects, whether they are big or small, quickly and getting them done early will ensure your success. If you finish something early you can run it by others in the office for their approval and feedback which could help you make your project a success. Some people who procrastinate work as many hours as an average person, but they spend those hours working on the wrong things. They invest all of their time in tasks that may be important, but are not quite as important as some of the urgent tasks that they are overlooking and avoiding.
               There is plenty of time in the day to get things done. You may feel that this is not true because you are not managing your time efficiently. First, you need to figure out exactly where your time is going because it’s not just disappearing into thin air. Create a daily activity log and write down everything you do during the day and what time you were doing it. That means that you have to write every single thing you do even if it’s something like extended socializing that you don’t necessarily want to admit. Once you can see where all of your time is being allocated, you can figure out how to work to adjust your schedule to keep yourself on-task and hopefully reduce some of your stress. Once you see where your time is going, you need to figure out what is wasting most of your time and work to either completely eliminate that distraction or at least reduce it so you can get more done. If you can’t stop yourself from talking to your favorite coworker, just try talking to them a little less because it could make a huge difference. Now that you know where your time is going and where you will start trying to waste less time, you should make a to-do list. It might seem strange, but a to-do list can actually keep you focused and help you get more done. When you have all of the day’s tasks sitting right in front of you, staring you in the face, you’re much more likely to complete most if not all of them. Another simple way to make yourself more efficient is to simply organize the things around you. Organize your desk so you don’t have to be like the average person who spends up to 45 minutes a day total digging through their messy desk. Another thing you can organize is your email. Flag important emails, put them into easy to recognize categories or folders so you don’t have to spend a bunch of time rummaging through emails from two months ago looking for an email Bob sent you an hour ago. Flagging projects you need to complete is an easy way to remind yourself that it needs to get done, as it should catch your eye every time you browse your inbox.
               Investing in an automated time and attendance system can definitely improve your time management. Using an automated time and attendance system, you can easily keep track of how much vacation or sick time you have available without having to talk to your HR department and it allows you to submit leave requests quickly and well in advance. Submitting leave requests with an automated time and attendance system will save you a decent amount of time that would have otherwise been spent filling out manual forms or requesting permission to take time off verbally. Handwritten forms can easily be lost, and verbal requests can easily be forgotten. An automated time and attendance system can keep you updated with your available paid time off as well as create a record of your leave request that’s nearly impossible to lose. Automated time and attendance systems can even help you calculate the amount of time spent on each project you’re working on. This will help you see where your time has been going and keep you more organized and on schedule.
               If you simply take a moment to organize your time and the things around you that you spend lots of time looking through, then you will begin to see a dramatic change in the way that your day is spent. It may take some discipline to cut back on some of your less productive time, but with some effort it can be done. A little organization and time management can go a long way and transform your busy days into less frantic, much more productive ones.
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