Organising your day

A good manager needs to understand how he or she can work more effectively and be more organised. As you progress up the career ladder, you spend less time doing hands-on tasks and more time organising people. This can occasionally create a problem because, although you've been trained to be at the customers' beck and call, this is no longer your sole responsibility. So how do you learn to be more effective, better organised and improve your performance? Here are 10 tips to make the most of an already busy day:

1. Ask "What's in it for me?"
2. Know what you have to do - Your effectiveness will improve if you know what you have to do. Better still, know what you have to do for the next day. Using a to-do list is probably the easiest way to remember. Research shows that those who write things down are more likely to remember to do them. And by knowing what you are doing tomorrow you are more likely to go home with peace of mind and be refreshed when you come back to work.
3. Keep distractions to a minimum - Surveys show that it takes between five and seven minutes to regain focus after being distracted. Try to keep your desk tidy so that you aren't distracted by papers and magazines lying around. Minimise interruptions by telling people that you don't want to be disturbed.
4. Plan - Rather than thinking of all the things you have to do to get a job done and worrying about things going wrong, imagine that the job is going well and work out the things you need to complete the task successfully. This means that your focus is on the event rather than getting bogged down in the detail. Plan activity on a timeline to ensure there are no scheduling problems.
5. Prioritise - This is about whether you are doing the most important thing first. If not, make a list and assign levels of importance to each job.
6. Stop putting things off and leaving them until later - Life is full of simple choices: do I do it now or do I do it later? Procrastination is a habit, which you may have practised for many years. Be aware of what you get up to when you are meant to be doing something else. Look at the relationship between the two. If you are doing one task because you prefer it, think how much more you would enjoy it if you got the boring task out of the way first.
7. Delegate - The keys to successful delegating are:
   - - Be specific: let people know what to do and how to do it
   - - Give a deadline and get approval for it
   - - Describe the feedback system and keep to it
   - - Give a reason for doing the task
   - - Let people know what the end result is likely to be
8. Prepare for meetings - Remember the purpose of the meeting and the desired outcomes. Make sure you go in prepared and focused.
9. Say "no" - Don't be afraid to say you can't do something if you are too busy. Do this straight away and you'll have more time for yourself.
10. Use your diary - Plan your time by entering items in your diary. You can even assign some time to thinking, planning and taking a break. Just make sure you stick to it.

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