Working time planning. Eleven effective tips

CEO

Make plans for the year in the spring, plans for the day - in the morning

Chinese proverb

to whom: owners, top managers, executives

When you don't have a plan, your actions are chaotic.

Each of us, managers, thinks: how much can we increase labor productivity? Data obtained empirically in my company showed that after the introduction of daily planning and reporting, the team’s labor efficiency increased by ~ 40%.

It's no secret that in the average Russian company employees They spend at best 3-4 hours a day out of 8 on work. However, everyone pretends that this is how it should be. The manager is content to stage a flurry of activity as soon as he looks into someone's office.

And the subordinates... And what about the subordinates? They are more than happy with this state of affairs: during working hours they can solve a bunch of personal problems, place orders in online stores, communicate by phone and on social networks with friends and family. It is not without reason that they say that 80% of people work as effectively as they are competently managed.

The conclusion is banal and at the same time terrible in its simplicity: in order to increase the efficiency of a company by 40%, it is enough to ensure that employees work at least 6.5 - 7 hours a day(yes, eight is already aerobatics!).

Daily plan and report - a continuous test of professional aptitude for employees

But how do you understand: which of the employees chats on social networks, and which continuously produces results? Constantly stand behind your back? Impossible! This is where daily plans and progress reports that are mandatory for every employee come to the rescue.

To put it very briefly, the meaning of daily plans and reports is as follows: an employee draws up a work plan for each day based on an 8-hour day and reports at the end of the working day for each completed task (time spent, result, etc.).

Any good technology has benefits for both parties. Let's talk about it.

Benefits of a daily plan for a company

Problems are solved by employees according to accepted priorities (taking into account the company’s business requirements), and not according to the principle of “wants”, “easier” and “more interesting”.
The probability of employee “downtime” tends to zero. There are always tasks in stock. If “downtime” does occur, it will be visible in advance.
Having looked at the plans, you can immediately remove the “failed” tasks and replace them with useful, topical and relevant ones.
When a person plans things based on 8 working hours and knows that during this time there will be demand, the likelihood of “wasting time” is noticeably reduced.

Benefits of a daily plan for an employee

Major Personal and Professional Upgrade: Planning skills are essential in all areas, and life outside of work is no exception.

The manager will be pleased with you, because... all high-priority technology tasks are included in your daily plan. And “being in good standing” opens up additional opportunities in a vertical career.
Abolition of “slavery”, when a person sits at work until “night” (now 8 hours are allocated to complete tasks, therefore, the manager will no longer plan them for twelve hours).

Agenda

In the future, we will only talk about the principles of daily and weekly planning and requirements for plans. Separate articles are devoted to:

Technology for a manager to analyze the daily and weekly plans of his subordinates - an article in development.
Requirements for working reports, methods for creating them - article in development.
Technology for the manager to analyze daily and weekly reports of subordinates. See article “”.

Personal effectiveness of the leader

I also use daily planning and reporting technology in my work. I report to myself - take it into account if you have no one to report to. Thereby my personal efficiency has doubled(no joke!). Including due to the completion of higher priority tasks, because before I took on those that came to mind first.

And a very useful insight. When you start planning, it’s much easier to think at the planning stage: is this your task, isn’t it better to delegate it? When you have already started a task and halfway through its implementation you understand that it would be good to delegate, it is much more difficult to “let go” of it.

Technology for implementing and implementing daily plans

Please note that it is necessary to monitor the implementation of the plan, the timing of completed tasks and the quality of the results.

Quite a few managers have “broken their teeth” when trying to implement daily plans and reports, and here’s why:

The implementation will meet with fierce resistance from office employees. Accept it, it’s natural, but you need to prepare for it. You might find the article “” useful.
The implementation of daily plans and reports, as well as further work to maintain the technology in operation, requires an investment of time, money, management efforts and the will of the manager. And most importantly, a lightning-fast reaction to any violation by employees.
The implementation will additionally bring total transparency of plans and reports. A manager at any higher level should be able to view the report of any subordinate manager and his subordinates. The immediate manager is responsible for the plans of his subordinates. Why won't employees like this? Not every middle manager is interested in having the “all-seeing eye” of top management.

Recommendations for organizing daily planning: ready-made regulations for implementation

Organizing the process of processing the incoming flow of tasks on the part of the employee

As soon as a task appears, it is entered into the work plan for the current or subsequent days (regardless of the form in which it was set) with an approximate date of planned completion.
If a task belongs to the “non-urgent and unimportant” category, it is entered into the so-called STACK task storage. An employee turns to STACK when planning his next week, or when he has downtime at work.

The assigned task, which takes more than 3 hours (except for participation in events and meetings), is divided into smaller ones, which are assigned the original one as the base one.

For each task from the standard list, a priority is selected and set

Bonus: example of a table with priorities for employees

For an example of a priority table that helps employees cope with self-scheduling, follow 2 simple steps:

1) Write a detailed comment to the article(the comment form is located at the very bottom of the article, see screenshot https://yadi.sk/i/QHQ2_R4oiWjkV). Share your experience of implementing planning for subordinates (not necessarily successful).

2) Send a request to receive an example of a priority table through my personal social media accounts:

Requirements for the format for entering tasks into the plan

Each employee adds an indicative list of his tasks to the plan (brief description of the task + planned time for completion). The plan includes the following tasks:

Planned within projects;
Previously received in the form of individual tasks (orally, by mail, Skype, etc.). If the task is in an external task setting system, then you need to add a URL link to this task; When you receive a task (orally, by mail, Skype), you must add it to your work plan yourself. In this case, all requirements for the format of entering tasks apply.
Planned by the employee for implementation on his own initiative.

For each task you must indicate:

Task name. It should reflect what actions need to be performed with what object. For this purpose, it is advisable to use the nominative case and the imperative mood of the verb for nouns. This greatly simplifies the subsequent search among all tasks. Example: Develop regulations: planning (“develop” - imperative mood; “regulations: planning” - nominative case).
Planned completion time. Example: Make a commercial offer: 2 hours 30 minutes
Deadline(deadline by which the task must be completed). If you cannot determine the deadline for a task, contact your immediate supervisor.
Brief plan for completing this task. Add links to the algorithms you plan to follow and/or a short action plan. The absence of a brief plan in the body of the task gives rise to a bunch of questions when discussing the work plan and the risk that the task will be done in an ineffective/suboptimal way or not done 100% and/or will require rework.
A priority. The performer determines it independently according to separately formalized rules. If you can’t determine it, you need to contact your immediate supervisor.

If an employee sees that his resource is “insufficient” for the assigned task, he is obliged to immediately inform the task director and his immediate supervisor about this.

Daily work plan

The plan must be created based on the weekly plan and incoming operational tasks (before implementing weekly planning: based on the tasks known for that day).
The plan for the next day is drawn up before the end of the current working day.
The planned time for daily tasks is calculated:

for office employees based on 8 hours minus the usual time for solving operational and force majeure tasks (for project managers: 7 hours - planned; 1 hour - for solving incoming tasks). The time planned for tasks may vary depending on the day of the week and other conditions.
for freelance specialists - a daily time limit agreed upon when discussing the terms of cooperation.

The plan for the new day is placed on top of the plan for the previous day (if text documents are used for plans).
If more than 4 hours a day are spent on unscheduled (in relation to project plans) tasks, or it becomes clear that project plans cannot be completed with the current workload, management is immediately notified of this (no later than the next day).

Example of a daily plan (screenshot from Bitrix24)

The example shows a plan that an employee creates in the Bitrix24 system. The screenshot shows only the first six tasks, the rest did not fit on the screen. Selected columns: 1 - task name; 2 - deadline; 3 - planned execution time.

Transition to weekly planning

After mastering daily plans, employees are transferred to weekly planning. At the same time, daily planning remains the same, but is greatly simplified, because In a weekly plan, tasks are divided into days. If you don't do daily planning with your employees, they may be planning their week like the image below.

Key benefits of weekly scheduling:

longer planning horizon compared to one day
Saving employee time and significant savings of manager time

Weekly work plan

How to make a plan?

Go through all monthly project plans, take from them a list of tasks with a deadline by the end of the week + 5 days.
Open your monthly work plan and write out some of the work from there.
Include operational tasks (previously known or set by the manager) into the weekly plan.

The plan for the new week must be drawn up in last working day of the previous week(usually Friday).

Tasks must be planned for the entire work week, taking into account the time reserve for introductory tasks (determined for each position individually).

The drawn up plan for the week needs to be clarified (based on information received over the weekend and in the morning on the first working day) on the first working day of the week, until 12:00(usually Monday)
For specialists who have a small level of “unforeseen” work (website maintenance work, management of a promotion project), the week should be planned without taking into account unforeseen work.

after all, that’s why the tasks and “unforeseen” ones may or may NOT exist.
if the plan was not completed due to the fact that newly received tasks were being completed, then some of the tasks from the plan can be transferred to the next week.

Automation of daily and weekly plans

Most popular question: “In what form should subordinates make plans?” Ideally, you need to make plans in the form of tasks in the system, where in the future the execution time will be kept track of them and reports will be generated. In my opinion, today the Bitrix24 system is most suitable for this.

What if your company has a different system for setting tasks? Think about how to organize planning with its help based on the requirements for plans that I formulated. And even if you don’t have a system for setting and accounting for tasks at all, it doesn’t matter. In my company, for a long time, plans for the day and week were made in separate text files in GoogleDocs format (very convenient to edit and discuss). And only after some time we switched completely to working in Bitrix24.

Frequently asked questions about daily plans

How to set tasks if the performing employee is not a direct subordinate to the manager?

Either obtain the authority to set such tasks within the framework of project subordination, or agree on the addition of a task with the immediate supervisor of the performer.

It is important to remember: time is not rubber. When a new task arrives, it “pushes” another task out of the plan. Priorities in setting tasks are a matter of competence of the immediate manager.

It turns out that this system introduces “total control” over the work of a subordinate? This should be done by his leader. Should this manager be controlled by his manager?

The manager controls the preparation of plans for his direct subordinates (example: the head of a department reviews the plans of department employees), but not necessarily every day. For loyal employees (1 year after the start of implementing regular management, there will be no others left in your company), the frequency of checks can be once every 3 days, once a week.

A lot depends on the position and experience of a particular employee. And also on the type of planning that is used in addition to daily and weekly plans: monthly planning for projects, strategic plans for projects. If one of your employees needs constant “total control,” ask yourself the question: “Do you need such an employee?”

Some managers themselves do not want to control on a daily basis because... it takes time and attention

Planning work for your subordinates and monitoring its implementation are the direct responsibilities of the manager. In order to master this function, I recommend that you “pump up” your management competencies. The article “” can help.

It is important to assess whether in your company there is a “bias” for managers in working to “produce results”. First of all, a manager must allocate time to manage subordinates., the production of results - in the second place and according to the residual principle of time. If you allocate enough time to the manager for management, and at the same time he still strives to produce results with his own hands, while his subordinates are idle, he is a good specialist, but a bad leader.

Those who read this article also read

How to evaluate employee performance at the end of the working day using daily reports: the “analysis and comments” method

How to implement regular management in your company (part 1): goals, basic principles, pre-start preparation

Sometimes it may seem that 24 hours a day is sorely not enough to get everything done. A correctly drawn up daily routine will allow you to clearly plan your day so that there is still free time left.

What do you need to know if you don’t know how to create a daily routine?

There are four basic rules. First, plan your future day in the evening. It’s good to do this schematically and put the sheet in a visible place. This way you can save time. How to manage everything? Here is a sample daily routine:

7.00 - rise.
7.00-8.00 - morning exercises, hygiene procedures, breakfast.
8.00-12.00 - work.
12.00-13.00 - lunch, rest.
13.00-17.00 - work
17.00-19.00 - sports.
19.00-20.00 - dinner.
20.00-22.00 - personal time, family time the next day.
22.00 - going to bed.

Secondly, plan only those tasks that you enjoy doing. If you do something you don't like, you will quickly get tired and begin to experience discomfort. Thirdly, set your priorities correctly. Get yourself a diary (dated) and write things there in order of importance. For example:

Problems that require immediate solutions.
Important, but not very urgent matters.
Tasks that can be completed another day. A dated diary is necessary not only for setting goals, but also for various ideas that come to your mind. It is impossible to remember everything, but this method will allow you not to miss important thoughts.

Fourthly, find time to relax - this is a must. However, if there are still unfulfilled tasks, try to solve them on the day off, since tomorrow you will be back at work.

Time is money

Every business person knows how to make money. But how to manage time - only a few. There is even a special science - time management. It is taught by those who do not know how to create a daily routine so that time works for a person, and not vice versa. You need to start by analyzing and identifying holes into which useless time is leaking. It may only be ten to fifteen minutes. However, even these are important. They may not be enough to complete the tasks assigned for the day. The second thing you need to do is outline your goals: both short-term and long-term. It is clearly formulated desires that move a person towards their achievement. Otherwise, success will not come. After this, you can plan your time. There are seven very effective tips that will help you cope with the task:

The 70/30 principle. It is impossible to plan the whole day. Set aside 70% of your time and schedule tasks. Leave the remaining 30% for unforeseen circumstances and force majeure.
Today - for tomorrow. Don’t be too lazy to put the upcoming one in writing. This will allow you to manage your time wisely and arrive at your scheduled meetings without being late. At the end of the business list, you can write praiseworthy phrases: “You did great! But don’t relax!” or “Keep it up! But there’s still a lot to do!” They will motivate you to solve your problems.
Remember that the main activity occurs in the morning, so try to plan most of your activities for the pre-lunch time. It becomes easier psychologically when you realize that half of the assigned tasks have already been completed, and there is still a whole day ahead. Then lunch time can be devoted to short rest and personal calls. And after the meal, hold a couple of not very important business negotiations or a small meeting.
Take breaks! Be sure to rest every hour for 10-15 minutes. This method will allow you to work more productively and not get tired ahead of time. In moments of relaxation, you don’t have to lie on the sofa or smoke in the toilet. Use this time profitably: do a warm-up, water the flowers, rearrange folders on the shelf, read the press or get some fresh air.
Be realistic about your capabilities. You will waste a lot of time and health on achieving unattainable goals. Set yourself tasks that you can definitely solve.
Always clean up your work area at the end of the working day. This will help save you a lot of time in the future and will allow you to put your thoughts in order. Always keep important things in the same place and within easy reach.
Get rid of those things that you don't need. A person is used to leaving things “for later”, in case they come in handy. Look around you, if you haven’t used something for several months, without a doubt throw it in the trash.

To plan your time, you can keep a diary, notepad or regular notebook. Write down goals and objectives, thoughts and ideas there. And be sure to create your daily routine. A successful person can be seen from afar!

Owl or lark: does it matter?

Scientists have long divided people into two categories, depending on their degree of productivity at different times of the day. These are the latter who wake up easily in the morning. In the early hours they are cheerful and active, but by the evening they are tired and cannot do important things. Owls, on the contrary, have difficulty waking up, and their maximum activity is achieved in the evening and at night. Obviously, when planning a daily routine, it is necessary to take into account the person’s psychotype. And, for example, important meetings for night owls should not be scheduled in the morning.

However, in the modern world, early risers have an easier time, since most of the work in the office or production begins early in the morning. Scientists are confident that any person, in principle, with a strong desire, can change their biorhythms. Each of us is capable of turning from a “night owl” into a “lark”. However, this will require willpower, patience and the ability to adhere to certain rules in achieving the goal.

The biological clock

Regardless of what biological type a person belongs to, he is in any case subject to the basic laws of nature. And they say that at different times our body behaves differently. And in order to use time correctly, getting everything done, you need to know about it. The biological clock begins its work long before you wake up. It looks something like this:

4 o'clock in the morning. The body is preparing to awaken, cortisone, a stress hormone, is released into the blood. This time is dangerous, as there is a high probability of heart attacks, exacerbation of chronic diseases, bronchial asthma, etc.
5.00-6.00. Metabolism is activated, blood sugar and amino acid levels rise - the body “starts” the work of all systems.
7.00. An excellent time for breakfast, as food is easily and quickly converted into energy.
8.00. The daily peak of the pain threshold is reached. At this hour, toothaches intensify, the head hurts with particular force, and the bones ache. It is better to reschedule your appointment with the dentist until the afternoon, when the unpleasant syndromes will not be as pronounced.
9.00-12.00. By this time, energy reaches its maximum, the brain works well, blood circulation increases - the optimal period for fruitful work: both mental and physical.
12.00-13.00. Lunch time. The stomach digests food well, but brain activity is noticeably reduced. The body begins to require rest.
14.00. Performance is still reduced. However, this is the best time for dental treatment.
15.00-17.00. Blood pressure rises again, mental processes are activated, and a peak in performance is observed.
18.00. The optimal time for dinner is so that the body has time to digest food before bed.
19.00-20.00. This watch is ideal for taking antibiotics. The nervous system is the most sensitive. The watch is intended for quiet family affairs or friendly gatherings.
21.00. This period is suitable for memorizing a large amount of information, since the brain is tuned to memorization.
22.00. A great time to fall asleep. The body adjusts to restore strength and energy for the next day. If you fall asleep now, you will be guaranteed a sound and healthy sleep.
23.00-1.00. Metabolic activity decreases, pulse slows, breathing is even. Deep dream.
2.00. At this time, you may feel cold, as the body becomes especially sensitive to lower temperatures.
3.00. The hour when suicides most often occur. People have depressive thoughts. Better go to bed if you haven't already.

Plan your daily routine taking into account your biological clock. Then everything will work out for you!

The Jack Dorsey Experience

Jack Dorsey is a successful entrepreneur and founder of the social network Twitter. At the same time, he serves as director of the world-famous company Squer. How does he manage to combine work and leisure? It is likely that few people will like the daily routine of a businessman. But Jack's experience is truly impressive. He works 8 hours at each job, that is, 16 hours a day. However, only from Monday to Friday. He leaves the remaining two days for rest. His success lies in the fact that he draws up a thematic work plan for each day, which he strictly adheres to. At the same time, he performs the assigned tasks in both companies. A manager's working day looks something like this:

On Monday he deals with administration and management.
Tuesday is dedicated to manufactured products.
On Wednesday, Jack is busy with marketing and public relations.
Thursday is aimed at establishing and maintaining connections with business partners.
On Friday, new employees are recruited and general organizational issues are resolved.

Of course, the daily routine of a successful person is very similar to the schedule of a workaholic. However, he always finds time for walks in the fresh air and relaxation.

Daily routine of a successful person. Example: Winston Churchill on working at home

Everyone understands that Winston Churchill, as head of the British government, had irregular working hours. However, despite everything, he managed to keep up with everything and stick to his daily routine. You will be surprised, but waking up at half past seven in the morning, Winston was in no hurry to get out of bed: lying down, he read the latest press, had breakfast, sorted out his mail and even gave out the first instructions to his secretary. And only at eleven o’clock Churchill got up, went to wash, get dressed and went down to the garden to take a walk in the open air.

Lunch for the leader of the country was served at approximately one o'clock in the afternoon. All family members were invited to the feast. Within an hour, Winston could easily communicate with them and enjoy the company of loved ones. After such a pastime, he began his duties with renewed vigor. Not a single day of Winston Churchill's work passed without a long nap. And at eight o’clock the family and invited guests gathered again for dinner. After this, Winston closed himself in his office again and worked for several hours in a row. Thus, the head of the British government managed to combine work with personal communication with family and friends. And this certainly made him a person not only successful, but also happy.

Daily routine for working from home

The daily routine of a businessman working from home is extremely important. The nature of some people's work allows them to work remotely, without even leaving home. As a rule, such workers are not used to spending time planning their workday, although this would be very useful for them. Often they work at home without any routine: they sit at the computer until late at night, then wake up late in the afternoon, exhausted and lethargic. Such workers are unlikely to ever become successful. Another thing is that if you stick to the right daily routine, you can achieve success at work. And also be happy in your personal life and at the same time maintain your health. Here's an example of how to create a daily routine:

You need to get up early, no later than 7 am. After waking up, take five minutes to do morning exercises, take a shower and have a hearty breakfast. After this, you should not immediately rush to work. Rest a little more, let your body wake up and get into a working mood.
You can work from 9 to 12. Do things that require mental stress, as at this time your memory is activated, your performance improves and your brain works better.
12.00-14.00 - devote these two hours to preparing lunch, eating and afternoon rest.
Afterwards you can start working again, but no later than 18:00.
From 18 to 20 pm, devote yourself to those activities that bring you pleasure: walks in the fresh air, activities with children, reading fiction, etc.
At 20.00 you can have dinner with the whole family and gather around the TV to watch an interesting film.
You need to go to bed no later than 22:00, because the next day you will have to get up early again.

As you can see, a total of 6-8 hours were devoted to the work. However, it is your daily routine that will allow you to perform it effectively and without compromising your health and personal life.

How to fall asleep quickly?

It is obvious that adequate and sound sleep affects our activity throughout the day. Therefore, it is important to go to bed on time and be able to fall asleep. Follow these tips:

Read an interesting book before bed. This is much more useful than watching TV or searching for news on the Internet. While reading, the brain relaxes and it is easier for a person to fall asleep.
Stop exercising a few hours before your desired sleep time. This is necessary so that blood pressure returns to normal, muscle activity decreases and the body is ready to rest.
Walking in the fresh air will have a beneficial effect on the time it takes to fall asleep.
Don't eat heavy food before bed.
Before going to bed, ventilate the room thoroughly.
Always wake up at the same time in the morning, even if you still want to take a nap.

It is obvious that a well-slept and well-rested person looks healthy. He is cheerful, cheerful and determined to solve assigned tasks productively during the working day.

A housewife is also a person

If it seems to you that a woman who sits at home with or without children does nothing, then you are deeply mistaken. In order to understand how busy a housewife’s every day is, you only need to be in her shoes once. Therefore, planning time is as important for her as the daily routine of a successful person. This will help you find at least a couple of hours for personal affairs and not become a slave to the household. In order to systematize her work at least a little, a woman is asked to keep special records. The table below shows how planned activities should be ranked.

As you can see, you need to make a plan for important and not so important things for every day. They will be performed regardless of daily duties such as cooking, washing dishes, walking a pet, and so on. Cleaning the entire apartment every day, you quickly get tired of doing everything superficially. We suggest you pay attention to one room per day. However, this must be done carefully and responsibly. This way you will kill two birds with one stone - you will practically not have to do general cleaning and you will not get tired to the same extent as from cleaning the entire apartment as a whole.

Let small tasks include goals such as changing bed linens, replanting flowers, and more. Also try to complete your daily duties in chronological order. This way you will reduce the time it takes to solve them. For example, when you get up in the morning, first make your beds, and then start preparing breakfast. Wash dirty dishes immediately after eating, rather than saving them all day (unless you have a dishwasher).

Remember! You must have at least one day off. Don't plan anything big for Saturday and Sunday. Write down on your schedule the things you can do with your family. For example, going to the grocery store. Be sure to involve your household members in the work and do not hesitate to ask your husband for help. Fill out this table for the week ahead. Then you will learn to systematize your homework and be able to find time for walks with friends, shopping for clothes and other pleasant things.

Work - time, fun - hour

It is impossible to work without a break. Even a business person needs to take at least one day off. We will show you how to spend it to the benefit of yourself and your family:

A working person spends too much time in the office or study. Therefore, he simply needs forays into fresh air. A day off is the best time for this! Go with your friends for a picnic in the nearest forest. Pick berries or mushrooms. In the summer, be sure to go to the beach by the lake or sea. Take a boat trip on a catamaran or boat. Play beach volleyball or rent bicycles. Whatever you do, it will certainly benefit you.
On weekends, the city often hosts various kinds of fairs, festivities, or just small themed parties in the park. There you can take part in competitions, enjoy the performances of actors, listen to live music, eat cotton candy or popcorn, and meet old friends.
The cinema is also a great excuse to relieve the stress of the past busy week. Choose a movie that will interest the whole family. And after the cinema, you can go to the nearest cafe and treat yourself to delicious pizza or ice cream.
If the weather is unlucky over the weekend, you can stay home and play board games. Or watch your favorite show. Reading an interesting book will also bring a lot of pleasure.
You can plan a shopping trip for the weekend. And to prevent it from looking too mundane, assign each family member to be responsible for a specific department in the retail facility. And order him to strictly adhere to the shopping list.
Saturday and Sunday are great times to receive guests. And, of course, don’t forget about your parents. They also need your attention and care.

If you are a business person, do not neglect rest. Be sure to plan your day off. This will allow you not only to maintain your nerves and health, but also to begin the next working week with new strength and fresh thoughts. Thus, in order to achieve the intended result, you need to learn how to manage your time. Your daily routine and how many tasks you have time to solve largely depend on how competently you can plan your time.

To do this, get yourself a diary and be sure to create a regime that you will strictly adhere to. Study the experiences of successful entrepreneurs and follow the advice that suits you. Determine your biorhythms and create a daily routine based on your capabilities. Set your priorities correctly, this will allow you to save energy and time on minor tasks. And don't forget about sleep and rest. This is an essential part of the daily routine of a successful person.

You've probably noticed that some specialists' careers are going uphill, while others, as they say, are lagging behind in office life. Some people manage to solve both current and strategic tasks, while others always miss deadlines. According to experts, it’s not just a matter of quick response and general professionalism. A successful career is primarily the result of effective work time planning.

How can you learn to use every working minute for your benefit? Read the advice from the recruiting portal.

Managing your time
Fresh and in the mood for productive work, you come to the office, turn on the computer, check your email, and at the same time remember what you have to do today. But while you are answering letters, your boss distracts you with a small but time-consuming assignment, and your colleague emotionally talks about yesterday’s meeting with the director. In the meantime, you receive two more letters marked “urgent”. When you finally remember that this morning you were supposed to start preparing an important presentation, the day has already passed the halfway point. Most likely, you will have to stay at the office again...

Is this a familiar picture? But all this could have been avoided by spending five minutes the day before planning the day. Of course, this would not save you from urgent letters, but still the day would be noticeably more organized.

According to the Research Center of the recruiting portal website, 23% of economically active Russians do not know how to plan their day. Meanwhile, according to time management experts, competent planning is the key to well-being in life and, of course, a successful career. By making a plan for the day, week, month, we become more organized, learn to value time and set priorities. A person who plans his time manages it himself, unlike those who go with the flow.

What should be included in the plan?
How should a specialist focused on career success plan his working time? A strategic plan for a year or six months should be turned into a tactical plan for the day every day. Daily planning is the secret of personal effectiveness for many successful people.

When planning your day, write down everything you need to do - from attending a meeting to congratulating colleagues or partners via email. And remember, for a successful career you always need to do a little more or better than what is expected of you. For example, if your manager has instructed you to systematize the department’s archives, do it in such a way that using the results of your work is not only convenient, but also pleasant. In addition, train yourself to include in your daily plan not only those tasks that the boss expects to be completed, but also those that will work for your personal image, bringing you additional “points” in daily office affairs.

You can make a to-do list in a regular paper diary or in a special program on your computer - it doesn’t really matter. The main thing is to put your thoughts in order and not forget a single thing that requires your attention.

Setting priorities
So, the to-do list for the day has been compiled. Now you need to set priorities - determine what is of paramount importance from what is written (designate such tasks in the plan with the letter A), what is important, but not urgent (B), and what is desirable, but not necessary (C).

When setting priorities, do not forget: what works for your career (your initiatives, projects for which you are personally responsible, etc.) should be of paramount importance, that is, marked with the letter A.

Having decided on the main thing, think about when it will be most convenient for you to complete this or that task. Work that requires concentration and absorption is best planned for a time when you are not too often distracted by calls and overly sociable colleagues. Many successful people have long made it a rule to do something difficult or important early in the morning, in peace and quiet, while the working day is not yet in full swing.

And, conversely, tasks that require contact with colleagues, clients or partners will be easier to complete in the middle of the working day, when everyone is available for communication and in a businesslike mood.

Time management for your career
A fairly effective rule of personal time management, which helps not to keep many small tasks in your head at the same time, sounds like this: if something takes less than three minutes, it needs to be done immediately, without delay. Do you need to call your client to confirm the time of the meeting? Don’t think about what time of day is best to do this – pick up the phone and call. Following this principle will free your diary from unnecessary entries, and your head from unnecessary thoughts and plans.

Another very useful commandment is not to do several things at the same time. And even if the laurels of Julius Caesar haunt you, do not try to discuss the terms of the contract over the phone and at the same time make changes to the table on the computer monitor. This way, you risk making a mistake in the table and missing something important in a telephone conversation. In other words, do important things sequentially, not in parallel.

Flexibility or hardness?
The plan is ready, priorities are defined, and now your task is to stay on course. Almost certainly, from the very morning you will have a lot of other things to do, some important and some not so important. Your manager may entrust you with important negotiations with a client, and your colleagues may be entrusted with the preparation of an important document.

Which of these is more important for life and career success is up to you to decide. On the one hand, you need to be able to not only draw up a plan for the day, but also adjust it as necessary. On the other hand, in order not to drown in unimportant matters, sooner or later you will have to learn to say “no” to people.

Main value
Daily planning teaches us to value time. A person who has a plan for the day, week, month or even year will hardly allow himself to lose an hour every day, for example, getting to work by subway. Most likely, he will spend this time reading professional magazines or listening to podcasts in English. After all, an hour a day is twenty (or more) hours a month and at least 240 hours a year! A lot of time that can and should be spent with benefit for yourself and your professional development.

Among other things, for the sake of successful career advancement, you will have to learn to forget about the temptations of the Internet, such as social networks, forums, chat rooms and online games. The only exceptions can be specialists whose daily activities are closely related to the promotion of their native company in the virtual space. For the rest, we strongly recommend using social Internet resources at home, in your free time from work.

Good luck to you in planning your working time!

Lack of time to do everything you want to do is a common problem in the modern world. Proper planning of the working day will save you a huge number of precious hours. And today you will receive some important tips on this topic.

To begin with, let’s highlight the planning of the working day itself - it needs to be done. Take it for granted. Next, you need to divide your day into 3 groups and for each of them we will give you our own rules. Everything is simple here:

The begining of the work day.
Middle of the working day.
End of the working day.

Rules for starting the day

Morning is the moment when you recharge your batteries after sleep. It depends on your condition in the morning, how productive will the day be?. Therefore, take the first portion of advice.

Positive attitude

Needless to say, if you are in a good mood in the morning, then things go easier, it becomes easier to solve business problems and they take less time.

Therefore, every morning, find something that will charge you with positivity: pleasant memories, anticipation of soon doing what you love. Make it a habit to ask yourself the following questions every morning:

How can today bring me closer to achieving my goal?

What can I do to get the most joy out of today?

What can I do today to maintain my lifestyle (health)?

This procedure will not take you more than 2 minutes, and the effect of its daily implementation can exceed all expectations.

The right start

The next point is the right start to your working day. Where should it start? From a leisurely breakfast and the same journey to the workplace.

Don't have time for a long, hearty breakfast? There is a simple solution: go to bed early. Otherwise, you risk ruining your day at the very start - checked!

Beginning of work

Start your working day right away at the same time. This rule will help you become an even more disciplined person.

When this becomes a habit, you will notice an increase in the mobilization of your forces as a bonus.

Verification of plans

If you were planning today's work day yesterday, then need to check in the morning. It will take about 10 minutes, but can save you up to 2 hours!

It is also better to do the planning itself taking into account 60% of your time, and leave the remaining 40% for force majeure and unexpected or urgent tasks.

Don't "sway"

Don't start the most productive part of the day with multiple greetings or discussing useless news. Start achieving your planned goals straightaway!

All “social” activities can be postponed to a later time. The afternoon period is suitable for this.

First things first!

Start your day with a resolution key tasks. Everything else will wait and will not go anywhere. Especially your mailbox with correspondence J

Secretary is your assistant

Be sure to inform your secretary about your plans, because he is your assistant and partner. Even if you only have 2 minutes to do this, do it.

This step will allow you to save time and increase efficiency. A good secretary will take your load off and remind you, if necessary, about an important meeting. He should be aware of all your affairs.

Rules for the middle of the day

Middle of the working day– this is the period when work is in full swing, you have completed or continue to perform the main tasks. For this part of the day, we have prepared 11 tips for you.

Order on the table

Leave on the table only those papers that help you solve the current problem. Remove the rest. There should be no more than six documents on the table.

Set deadlines

If you are a subordinate, then try to make sure that you could install it yourself or stipulate deadlines for completing the tasks assigned to you. If you are a manager, then cut the task completion time for your subordinates by a third.

Backlash

If you suddenly decide to attend some meeting that is unimportant to you, then be prepared for the fact that you will be given additional instructions on it. If you weren’t there, then you wouldn’t have received additional tasks...

Urgent tasks

Always and in any case, a situation arises that will be urgent and will draw your attention to itself. This will cause stagnation in completing current tasks.

Whether it is worth being distracted and delving into such situations is up to you. But always make a decision based on priorities: what is more important to do – current affairs or “urgent”? Delegate such sudden tasks whenever possible.

Impulsive actions

While performing current tasks (especially the most important ones), you may suddenly want to make a phone call or do another unplanned impulsive action.

Don’t rush to follow the impulse - think about whether it’s worth being distracted, how important is it?

Take breaks

Always during working hours plan breaks. How long they should be is up to you to decide. The most important thing in this matter is regularity.

Group your routine

You can combine all small routine tasks into sections or blocks based on similar characteristics. And then perform them in such blocks. For example, 6 blocks of 10 minutes - phone calls. The important thing here is to shorten the execution time of each block as much as possible.

Completing things

Bring what you started to the final stage. Try not to get distracted often when solving a long task. Because after that you will have to return to execution and do some of the work again, wasting time. At a minimum, restore execution speed.

Take advantage of the moment

If you suddenly have "forced free time", then think about how it can be used rationally. For example, when you are sitting in the boss's waiting room and waiting for your turn.

Your hour

When planning your working day, be sure to schedule an hour for yourself. At this moment, your secretary must answer everyone that you are not there, or simply close the office so that no one disturbs you.

Dedicate this hour to solving those tasks that are not urgent, but are important. Also, when no one distracts you, you can remember similar tasks that were simply forgotten in the hustle and bustle.

Reconciliation and control

Do not waste time on periodic checking your plans and monitoring their implementation. We have already said that this action will save more time than you spend on it. In addition, you can change something in planning due to, for example, changing priorities.

Rules for ending the day

Don't be distracted by frequently checking the time and waiting for the end of the working day. This period of time is also important, like the previous ones. Consider the following 3 tips.

Complete what's left undone

There is a group of cases that are not urgent, but they need to be done. To prevent them from accumulating and turning into a blockage, do them at the end of the day, when the most important goals have been achieved. During this period, it’s time to finish reading your correspondence, dictate instructions to the secretary for printing, etc.

Analysis of the day

Analyze, based on your daily plan, what you managed to do today, what is your efficiency, how often were you distracted from your main tasks, and how can you avoid this if possible in the future? This is one of the important elements of successfully completing tasks - control and analysis.

Plan for tomorrow

Spend 15-20 minutes planning your working day tomorrow. It's better to do this the day before. But also don’t forget to do the reconciliation in the morning.

Think about your biggest failures in life. Quarrels, misunderstandings that changed your whole life in a negative way. Failed exams, job interviews, etc. The reasons for such failures are similar, as a rule, they are the result of poor preparation and rash actions. Below we will look at how to manage everything and plan the day/week.

What happens if an athlete stops training a month before the Olympics - his skills and muscle strength will weaken significantly and he will take one of the last places. As in sports, in any business you need good preparation, without which the chances of success are greatly reduced.

The key factor in preparation is planning. There is "6 P rule": Proper planning prevents productivity loss.

Below I will give 7 ways to manage everything with the help of proper planning of the day and week.

Method 1: Make a list of tasks for the day

What is a task list for?

First, let's look at how our brain works. It was found that we can keep no more than 7+-2 things or important thoughts under control in our heads. To make sure of this, count how many circles are shown in the pictures:


Rice. 1	Rice. 2	Rice. 3


Rice. 4	Rice. 5

Most likely, one glance is enough to determine the number of objects in Figures 1, 3 and 4.

And for drawings 2 and 5, one glance was not enough; it was necessary to count separately. The fewer objects, the easier it is to manage them. The brain reaches its limit when the number becomes more than 7+-2.

The same is true with thoughts; at the same time we can store no more than 7+-2 tasks in our head, the rest is forgotten.

Let's imagine a real life situation

You get up in the morning and go to work, on the way you remember that:

You need to buy a gift for a loved one's birthday;
- Pay for the Internet before it’s turned off.

When you arrived at work:

Find out that you need to prepare a report today;
- I came in and a colleague asked me to send him a contract template;
- After the morning planning meeting, the boss asked me to do 3 things.

Your head is already full, but time does not stop; a client, a loved one, a colleague may call you, an unforeseen situation may happen, etc. What happens in this case? We forget something. If we forget to buy groceries in the store, then nothing bad will happen, of course, but we can forget something more important: not coming to an important meeting, taking medications, etc.

In addition, the more things we have in our heads, the worse our analytical abilities become, since energy is spent on memorizing information.

Benefits of a notebook

Notebook - eliminates all the problems described above and has the following advantages compared to working from memory:

1) Writing down is always faster than remembering. For example, writing down a cell phone number is 10-100 times faster than memorizing it. Same with business.

2) Energy Saving. In order not to forget important things, we often remember, which wastes energy. A notebook solves this problem.

3) Reliability. What is written with a pen cannot be cut out with an axe. Any task can be forgotten due to fatigue, emotions or other matters. But if you write down tasks, it is much more difficult to forget.

You can keep a list of tasks on a regular sheet of paper, a notepad, but it is better if it is a notebook, because it has a calendar. The list of tasks for the day can be on a computer or paper. The most important thing is that you have it because it is the basis for planning, like the foundation of a house. If the house does not have a foundation, then the maximum that can be built is a small one-story structure without heating made of plastic or plywood. Also in planning, of course, you can do without a list of tasks for the day or a notebook, but you will be very limited in your capabilities.

The most important thing in a task list or notebook is a list of things that need to be done during the day. The second most important part is the calendar, in it you can see the tasks that need to be completed on a given day. Therefore, a notebook is preferable to a regular list because it has a calendar.

Method 2: Work with your task list every day

The most important thing when working with a time organizer or notebook is to work in accordance with the previously drawn up plan. To do this, regularly review your notebook to find out if you have done everything you planned for today. You can view the list after you complete the current task. It is very important to list important things that need to be done today in your organizer.

Method 3: First write it down, then do it

If a new task arrives and it is not urgent, then write it down in your notebook first and start only when it comes to it. Any new tasks seem very important and we begin to take on everything: checking mail, making phone calls, etc. But as soon as you first begin to write down all incoming tasks in a notebook, you will find that next to this entry there are more important tasks.

All movements of the right side of the body are controlled by the left hemisphere of the brain, which is responsible for logic. When we write down a new task with our right hand, we activate the left hemisphere of our brain, which is responsible for logic. Activating logic when writing with our right hand will help us make better decisions.

By writing everything down in a notebook before you start work, you'll be able to get the most important things done during the day and be able to combat the unimportant tasks that constantly distract you.

4 way. First important, then urgent tasks

All planned tasks should be completed in order of their importance, and then in order of execution time. Starting with the most important ones and gradually moving on to the less important ones. Write things down in your plan for today in order of their importance, then sort them by urgency and start working on the highest priorities.

For example, an acquaintance called you to chat. A phone call, an urgent matter, because the phone is ringing right now, but it may not be important. If you have more significant tasks, say, preparing a work report, then it is better to first complete all the more important tasks, in particular the report, and then, if you have time, call back and talk with a friend. But not vice versa, otherwise, due to an insignificant call, you may not have time to do a more important thing.

Importance takes precedence over urgency. You should take on urgent matters only if you are in control of the situation and are confident that you will manage all the more important ones.

Method 5: Electronic organizer

There are a huge number of electronic notebooks. An electronic diary has undeniable advantages over paper ones:

A. Time saving. With an electronic diary, you do not need to re-write tasks from the last day to the current one, and you can also work with it both on a computer and on a phone or tablet, synchronizing data on all devices.

B. Volumes and speed: You can very quickly copy a large amount of information into an electronic diary for further work. For example: You want to bake a banana cake in the evening and you need to write down the necessary ingredients before you go to the store. If you have an electronic organizer, then you can quickly copy the entire recipe from the Internet into your diary, literally in a matter of seconds. At the same time, it will take you more time to write down only the ingredients on a piece of paper by hand than to write the entire recipe electronically. And in the store it will be enough to turn on the diary on your phone to quickly understand what to buy.

B. Convenience. An ordinary notebook is inconvenient to use in transport, a store, or on vacation; in these places it is difficult to write down and look at notes because the paper diary is large and you need 2 hands to open it. But the electronic notebook on your phone will always be with you, no matter where you are: Transport, store, street. You can quickly take notes on your computer and then sync so those notes appear on your phone in seconds.

Method 6: Plan your next day in the evening

Make an action plan for the next day in advance, the best time is at the end of the working day, before you go home. This simple action will help you get a better night's sleep, because often the cause of insomnia is that in the evening we go through all the important things that we need to do tomorrow so as not to forget them in the morning. And it is these thoughts that prevent us from relaxing and falling asleep peacefully, but if you write down all your plans, you will ensure not only a restful sleep, but also an evening.

In addition, when you make a plan in advance, your subconscious mind will constantly work all night on how best to do what you planned. The solution to complex problems may come to you at breakfast, on the way to work, or even in the middle of the night. It is in the morning that new ideas most often come and you will use this time with maximum benefit, you just need to write a to-do list for the next day in advance.

By the way, if you have questions that you want answered, then before you fall asleep and close your eyes, ask them to yourself, preferably out loud, and immediately fall asleep. And in the morning, get ready to immediately write down all the thoughts that may appear the moment you wake up or later.

Method 7: Plan complex tasks at the peak of your activity

Make a plan for the day so that work that requires a lot of energy comes at the peak of your activity, when you have a lot of energy and are most productive. As a rule, the peak of activity begins in the morning, because after sleep you have a lot of strength and a fresh mind, but it happens that the peak of activity can occur in the afternoon and even evening hours.

The most energy-consuming activities are those for which there is no talent.. As a rule, these are the ones activities you most don't want to do. These tasks are called frogs in time management because these tasks are unpleasant to start doing. There is a rule in time management - start the day with a frog., i.e. from an unpleasant matter. This rule will allow you to work more efficiently, because usually it is in the morning that you have the most strength, and these forces are extremely important to do the most unpleasant work.

I’ll give an example from life, I have a technical mindset, so exact sciences such as: Physics and mathematics are easy for me, but humanitarian subjects are more difficult, so when I was at school, I often prepared for an English test in the morning. I got up 1-2 hours before school and studied English. It was in the morning that I had the most energy, so at this time it was easier for me to complete a complex task for which I had the least talent. The results of the preparation exceeded all my expectations, I received excellent or good results in a subject that I did not like.

Plan the most unpleasant tasks for peak activity, for example, in the morning, and you will see how you will get more done and your personal efficiency will increase.

P.S. If you have difficulties or questions about the article you read, as well as about the topics: Psychology (bad habits, experiences, etc.), sales, business, time management, etc. ask them to me, I will try to help. Consultation via Skype is also possible.

P.P.S. You can also take the online training “How to get 1 hour of extra time.” Write comments and your additions;)

Subscribe by email

Add yourself