Sometimes the days just aren’t long enough. Consider these eight practical ideas for how to master your workflow and stay organized — or, simply put, how to get things done.

The indisputable fact is that most of us are forced to do more work with fewer resources and less time. Even before the downturn, a rapidly changing and increasingly complex work environment made managing job duties difficult. It seems like the days simply aren’t long enough to gather and process the incessant stream of information, to stay organized and tackle all the work assigned.

“No matter how organized we are, there are always only 24 hours in a day,” Susan Ward, a partner at IT consultancy Cypress Technologies, writes at About.com’s Guide to Small Business: Canada. “Time doesn’t change. All we can actually manage is ourselves and what we do with the time that we have.”

The following are eight practical ideas for mastering your workflow, or simply put, for getting things done.

1. Evaluate your time. Track your daily activities so you can form an accurate picture of how you actually spend your time. “Look for time that can be used more wisely,” the Mayo Clinic advises. “For example, could you take a bus or train to work and use the commute to catch up on reading?”
2. Set daily goals. “Remember, the focus of time management is actually changing your behaviors, not changing time,” Ward says. “A good place to start is by eliminating your personal time-wasters. For one week, for example, set a goal that you’re not going to take personal phone calls while you’re working.”
3. Design your own to-do list. Before you leave work, plan all activities for the next day, and prioritize tasks using a daily to-do list/checklist. “Rather than just enumerating all your outstanding tasks, add some analysis that will help you identify how you can best do what needs to be done,” American Express OPEN Forum recommends. “How long do you estimate each task will take? Can you be interrupted? Simple, personalized categories will help you to keep on top of things.”
4. Group similar tasks. “Accumulate similar tasks and do them in a group,” John Mariotti, president and CEO of The Enterprise Group, writes in a separate OPEN Forum article. “[W]hether it’s paying bills, returning calls, mailings, filing or whatever — group the work, then ‘knock it out.’ Assembly lines in plants are efficient because they combine work in the best way.” Jonathan Salem Baskin of Dim Bulb concurs: “If you open your online calendar to add an appointment, check to see if there are others to add before you close it out.”
5. Break down daunting tasks. Break down large, time-consuming jobs into smaller, more manageable chunks, and focus on just one task at a time. Work on each segment a few minutes at a time until each one is completed. Consider the 10-minute rule: “Work on a daunting task for 10 minutes each day,” the Mayo Clinic advises. “Once you get started, you may find you can finish it.”
6. Make meetings matter. “Review your meetings,” WebWorkerDaily recommends. “Although it is true that too much time is wasted in meetings, it does not follow that meetings are by nature a waste of time,” Dr. Jeff Cornwall of The Entrepreneurial Mind says. They should be held with an objective, an agenda and a time frame. They should conclude on time with action plans in place and a documented record of who will do what by when.
7. Take breaks. “Too much stress can derail your attempts at getting organized,” the Mayo Clinic says. “When you need a break, take one. Take a walk. Do some quick stretches at your workstation.” Brief breaks often enable workers to be more focused and more productive for the entire day. Glen Stansberry of personal development blog LifeDev advises preparing for your next task before you take a break.
8. Allow for unexpected interruptions. “Don’t plan too much into your day because, inevitably, Murphy’s Law will happen,” Stansberry advises at OPEN Forum. “Make sure you’ve got a bit of buffer time to ‘expect the unexpected.’”

Do you have any basic tricks to help with managing your time? Share them in the comments section below.

Resources

80 Ways to Steal Valuable Minutes for Your Work Day
by Glen Stansberry
American Express OPEN Forum, March 23, 2010

11 Time Management Tips
by Susan Ward
About.com: Small Business: Canada

Getting Started with “Getting Things Done”
by Merlin Mann
43Folders.com, Sept. 8, 2004

Time Management: Tips to Reduce Stress and Improve Productivity
Mayo Clinic

Time Management 101
American Express OPEN Forum, Feb. 23, 2009

20 Tips to Save Time and Money in Your Small Business and at Home
by John Mariotti
American Express OPEN Forum, Sept. 3, 2009

12 Ways to Find More Time
by Meryl K Evans
WebWorkerDaily, March 24, 2010

Prepare for Your Next Task Before You Take a Break
by Glen Stansberry
LifeDev, May 14, 2007