How to manage your time effectively

How do you manage your workload for the day or week?

Do you like to write tasks down on a notepad, add reminders to a diary, stick post-it notes all over your desk or computer screen, or are you reliant on your phone giving you updates?

There are so many ways to manage your time, whether it’s apps on your smartphone, an online app or by using a planner and a notepad.

By using one that you’re comfortable with, you can keep yourself from forgetting anything important and make effective use of your time!

I stay organised and manage my time effectively by using a mixture of apps, notepads, a planner and calendar on my phone & laptop. Wow, you might think that’s a lot to keep up-to-date. Well it’s not really. They all have a purpose, and help me make the most out of time.

Confession time I’m a bit of a list person!

I have always liked to write lists, whether it’s for tasks I need to work on within my business, client work I have booked in, or new ideas I've brainstormed. For home, I use lists for the weekly grocery list, meal planning, items to take on holidays, along with any errands or appointments I have. 

For my business, I have notepads as well as my to-do list which allows me to prioritise the tasks I need to work on for the week, day and next day. 

By jotting down all of my tasks I know exactly what work I have on and I can prioritise urgent v.s. non-urgent tasks and block time out in my diary. If I don’t write down my tasks I feel disorganised and worry about what tasks I need to do.

At times I use a planner where I write in my appointments, school events, reminders, birthdays as well as jobs I have scheduled in, which I then transfer to my phone calendar with set reminders, which I find useful especially if I get a call when I’m away from the office and need to check my calendar.

For training workshops and online meetings, especially where I have received an email with an invitation to attend, I like using the Outlook calendar on my laptop. This allows me to accept meeting requests and is handy while I'm working, as it will pop-up with a reminder close to when the meeting is about to begin. I can also sync with my phone if I choose to.

Apps for managing your time

There are some great online apps available, such as Asana, which is a work management app that allows you to create, share and track tasks, set deadlines, and delegate work to staff members. Within Asana you can share information such as images, files, or links to content on websites. Its a great tool for keeping track of projects or monthly tasks. What I like is that I can tick off the tasks as I go as well as add comments on a task when I need a client or contractor to respond.

Another project management and collaboration tool is Trello - think of a large electronic whiteboard with a bunch of post-it notes stuck all of it, well Trello looks a little like that. Trello sets your projects into ‘boards’ were tasks can be easily dragged & dropped under the various project boards. You can see what projects are being worked on, who is working on the project, and where something is in the process.

Both apps can be integrated with Outlook. With Asana, you can create a task from your inbox by forwarding an email to a specific project ID address. Which is really useful if you’re receiving numerous emails from a client on a particular project and don’t want the emails to get lost in your inbox!

Trello lets you integrate your Trello Board calendars with Outlook’s calendar. So rather than switching between Outlook and Trello you can view your project deadlines within one calendar.

There are some VAs who prefer Asana to Trello or vice versa. I prefer the list structure of Asana, if you need a project management tool, I think the best thing is to create a free plan and try a few out to see what suits you best.

Are you a list person or do you use technology to manage your time?

Need help with time-consuming tasks get in touch with me today on 0452 393094 or by email.