How to Plan Your Work Day
How to Plan Your Work Day
Work dynamic and autonomy make us think about work day planning, how to plan the working day to be productive and finish all important tasks in time.
In this article learn about a couple work day planning methods and their benefits. These described methods are more targeted than to-do-lists.
Tasks and time management
Planning includes task prioritizing and scheduling on certain days and sketching out the approximate amount of time to be spent on each task, written in study. Workers themselves determine when to accomplish which tasks.
Task prioritizing is at the core for work day planning. Study shows that tasks that are marked with higher priority are more likely to be completed than the tasks with lower priority. Plus the attractiveness of tasks isn’t related with its completion when time management planning is applied.
Time blocking
This planning method helps to organize the day and properly determine time for tasks and breaks.
Steps for work day planning with time blocking method:
- Write down all the tasks
- Assigns a priority level based on urgency, importance
- Think how long time the tasks can take and how much time you have
- Create time blocks with certain activities, tasks and breaks
- Follow the plan
Time blocking is not about finding more time but rather creating a sense of control of your time – wrote Naveen Raja, specialist in design thinking.
Time blocking helps avoid multitasking and procrastination at the same time. Each task is planned in a certain time block.
Printed and electronic calendars are very suitable for day and task planning in blocks. And the time block lengths are up to task priority, urgenty, complication and time availability.
Most Important Tasks
The Most Important Task (MIT) method has less focus on the time frame, but helps concentrate on certain tasks till they are completed on that day or in the following days.
Steps for work day planning with MIT’s technique:
- Write down important and urgent tasks
- Choose 1-3 of them
- Put them in order without certain time blocks
This planning style provides a clear and not so crowded plan with a couple important tasks. It’s like the essence of a to-do-list.
If the project or work is more complicated and consumes a long time, break it down into smaller and specific tasks. And create MIT’s list of these small bites.
Benefits of work day planning
Clear plan provides many great benefits. Let’s start with avoiding procrastination. Time frame helps to better see deadlines and presence of other projects and tasks.
Work day planning lets employees be mobilized and gain a sense of progress and achievement of goals.
Both self-induced and external distractions are lower and impact less when employees have a goal, because they have a clear target and can return back to the task more easily.
Certain time periods and priority levels of tasks are the key ingredients to plan the work day and accomplish the tasks in time. Choose a work day planning method that suits you the best and make the planning as a habit that leads to completed tasks and success achieving.
Discover useful tips on time planning at work and productivity increasing at work.
