How To Ace Focus & Time Management

Whether you’re in the office or working remotely, time management and overall focus, can be a challenge. 

You’ll find yourself overwhelmed with responsibilities and believe your 8-hour workday won’t be enough to tick all the check boxes, even though you don’t need that much time to be productive – several european countries clock earlier and have proven it to be efficient. 

Yet, in order to take advantage of your productive self, focus is key! Everyone can get things done well and quite quickly when their mind is in the right place, and while a lot of professionals aren’t easily distracted at home, most of us have been through the black hole of low productivity and procrastination that comes along with remote work. 

Here are a few things you can do to improve your time and tasks management: 

Set Specific Daily, Weekly and Monthly Goals

I keep hearing funny comments about my post-it and notebook addiction – I tend to use a lot of post-it notes and the first thing I do after checking my emails is writing down my tasks for the day. Keeping track of your tasks and goals, whether you’re old school like me and find writing them down helpful, or prefer using a software handy tool, this is an easy way to measure progress and keep track of what still needs to be done. This is literally science speaking – it has been proven by a Harvard Business study that writing and defining write away your goals helps you achieve them more efficiently. 

Prioritizing Is Key

Besides making a to-do-list, it’s important to prioritize all your tasks so you can start from what needs to be done right away and progressively tackle the leftovers throughout the day.

I admit I had to fight my urge to not push dreading tasks or tasks that aren’t my favorite to take care of. Prioritizing is crucial to stay on track and not waste too much time and energy on secondary activities.

Handy Software Can Be Your Ally

TimeCamp, Quickbooks, Active Collab – here’s at least 3 time management software to help track your time and tasks. Do you need to use this mandatorily? No! But if you’re struggling with time management, software can be an ally and help you plan your time and activities as easily and breezily as possible. It does not prevent procrastination or distraction, but that’s why I advise everyone to include buffer time on their plan, either your home or at the office. 

Explore The ALPEN Method

The ALPEN method was created by Professor Lothar J. Seiwert, a german management expert and economist. 

The method is divided into 5 steps which correspond to every spell letter and goes from planning activities to buffer time, decision making and follow up. It encourages professionals to work with time blocks and pre-schedule their breaks. It doesn’t sacrifice time to decompress and relax but it surely helps to organize and work more efficiently. You can learn more about it in this article. 

Avoiding Distractions

I noticed a big spike in my productivity when I got back to the office. One of the many things that made my remote work experience difficult was leaving my bed early and putting house tasks to the side during my working hours. I found myself working in my pajamas until noon and preparing loads of laundry machines during bathroom breaks.

I highly recommend you to keep a very defined morning routine, consider your goals in the long run (once again, think monthly, weekly and daily), create a distraction free work zone (no Netflix unless the background noise keeps you pumped up and less lonely), and defining your homely routine as well – do register your house chores and create specific schedules for them as well.

In the office, talk to your buddies and define lunch and break hours together so you’re able to enjoy everyone’s presence without messing around with your tasks (make sure you consider all safety measures, of course). 

Share your helpful tips with us and we hope these ones can also help you become your best and most organized self.

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