B2 – Upper Intermediate
Managing how to accomplish tasks is one of the best tools in becoming successful in one’s career or endeavor. However, most of us are wondering why it feels like we just can’t to accomplish all the tasks we should on a daily basis. Maybe, we lack the skills to organize and plan allocating our time to different activities that we need to pull off. Time management is the key.
Here are some tips on how to manage our time to make it more productive and effective.
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/essential-time-management-skills/
Discussion Questions:
- Which of the tips do you apply in your daily life?
- Do you have additional tips on how to effectively manage your time?
- How do you block out distractions?
- What is your stance on multitasking?
- What are your thoughts about getting some down time to rest?
4 replies on “Time Management Skills”
Which of the tips do you apply in your daily life?
Tip number 4 “Avoid multitasking” is a must for me, if I get into several things or projects at the same time, I’m pretty sure that the day is going to be unproductive. Not only because I need some time to reorder my thoughts from one project to another(where was I?), but also doing several bits to all your projects is less productive than giving a boost to a single one.
Do you have additional tips on how to effectively manage your time?
I’d say that those breaks to get a coffee, or searching the fridge for something if you work from home, are really dangerous because you’re going to be quite unproductive if you abuse it, moreover, you’ll also get fat by skipping a healthy diet.
How do you block out distractions?
Simply I don’t, I’m the kind of person who has to keep his notification down to zero, no matter if it’s
WhatsApp or emails, whenever a notification pops I have to read it. Well, actually there are a lot of notifications that I simply check but I don’t read them, just to keep that counter to zero. I can’t stand watching a red or glowing notification ball, it’s beyond me.
What is your stance on multitasking?
None. I tend to focus myself on only one task at a time, if not I would fail on every single task that I try to focus on at once.
What are your thoughts about getting some down time to rest?
I think that the best time for that is after lunch. I really struggle not to fall asleep while attending meetings just after lunch. I know people who think that you can’t rest while working, but the true thing is if you don’t,
you’re going to get stressed way sooner than others that take a brief rest from time to time. They simply cannot expect you to perform constantly 8 hours non-stop every single day, that’s insane.
Impressive job writing your responses.
Take a look at a bit better way to write this sentence:
Until your next entry!
The article gives us 7 key points to manage our time in a better way:
1. In the first place, it is necessary to know what distract us. To this end, it advise us to take a timer and fix an alarm every 30 minutes, when the alarm goes off, the person should have to write down what she/he was doing in that very moment.
2. Once known our weak points, we have to look for different ways to avoid them, such as turn the notifications off or block our social media applications.
3. It can be useful to have a notebook and schedule all the tasks we have to do along the day. The scheme has to be accomplished.
4. Multitasking has to be avoided since we would waste some time to reorient our current task if we have diverted our attention in other different activity.
5. Try to avoid attending unnecessary meetings or chatting with our co-workers because it also causes waste of time.
6. Before doing any phone call or scheduling a meeting, think oneself if something productive will arise from it.
7. It is essential for a person to be productive that he/she feels well, rested and fresh. Therefore, vacations and daily rest is necessary for all of us.
In my daily life, I apply several of these tips. For me, one of the most important ones is to be rested because I need to have my mind fresh to concentrate in my work. On the other hand, I prefer to write an e-mail rather than do a call or draw up a meeting, since it goes straight to the point and avoid any deviation of the subject. Finally, I usually prepare a schedule with all the tasks I have to do every morning, and try to put together similar activities in the same block of time.
I do not use any further tips different from the article. It seems to me very complete and covers all the points.
When I’m doing a task which requires complete concentration from me, I turn my e-mail off and the status of the application Teams is changed into “not bother”. So, I assure myself that there won’t be anything which can distract me.
I recognize that multitasking is something that I need to improve since if I’m doing a task and I receive an e-mail at that moment, I usually stop my task to read it and finally waste my time to come back to my work, and what’s worse, sometimes I have forgot what I was doing and I have left a part of it unfinished.
It is necessary for health and productivity to take a rest and even, to have a breaktime along the day. It helps the people to recover and come back to the work with more energy.
Interesting thoughts. We would like to commend you for putting in a lot of efforts in your writing exercise.
Here is how you can improve a few of your sentences:
Keep doing your best!