Ask the Expert – Time Management Tips

Question: There are many days that I seem to receive a tremendous amount of email all related to the same subject. How do I deal with all of this and still keep the pertinent information?

Answer: Usually when you receive multiple messages, they are a string of information all related to several people making comments and requesting specific action from someone. Let me suggest you delete all the earlier messages and keep only the final message.

When you think you have the final information, create a folder for it and the delete it.

Question: There are many times that I receive multiple tasks in a day and they seem to consume all of my time. How do I manage so many tasks?

Answer: Where people tend to waste the most time is handling an item more than once. Stop watching your popup window and deal with one task at a time until it is completed. Moving between several tasks can cause errors not to mention a lot of wasted time. If you cannot complete a task today advise the one who sent it to you when it will be complete. When you have multiple tasks, it is always best to complete them in the morning when you can concentrate on each task with less distraction.

Question: How do I manage multiple tasks with various due dates and levels of importance? Sometimes I feel overwhelmed with what is asked of me.

Answer: Let me give you a tip from writing this column. Every two weeks I submit a column based on a specific topic related to questions we have received. I designate time at the end of the day when I give 30 minutes to reading the questions submitted and researching and answering each question. Usually in two sessions I complete my column and submit it. Now just to help keep this in perspective, I write for several industry publications and allot time each week based on the articles needed and the time deadline for each one. Using a specific time of day and allotting the number of days to complete each article will keep you on track. It is a matter of knowing what time each assignment will require and setting specific time to complete it.

Question: Can you please give me an idea of how best to manage my time and not miss sending requested information or making scheduled calls?

Answer: The easiest way to manage your time in this case is to use the Reminders section of your Outlook or similar calendar. You can plan out when you will do each assignment and also set alerts to remind you of a call to make or when you should start a task. If you find you set the reminder and still miss making a call, set one 30 minutes ahead of the call and then another one 15 minutes before. Sometimes multiple reminders will get you focused