Knowing what your priorities are throughout the day will guide your schedule and help you avoid the pitfall of lost time. Invest your time in specific activities and expect results. If you have no end goal, it is easy to get lost.
Avoid interruptions throughout the day. Have time in your schedule for a snack, visitors, phone calls and e-mails. Leave checking your personal e-mail for the end of the day, after the workday is over. Allocate a block of time during the day to check your business e-mail and reply. Don’t let everyone else's schedules overrule yours.
Meetings inevitably run over their scheduled time slot. If each meeting runs over by 5 to 10 minutes, you will lose a significant portion of your day. At the end of a meeting that runs over, when the facilitator wraps it up, let him know that in the future you will be leaving the meeting at the scheduled ending time. When that next meeting comes, get out on time. Set a precedent that your time is valuable and everyone must be respectful of schedules.
No matter how diligent you are, you will at some point have personal matters interfere with your professional obligations. It is essential to have boundaries that allow you to answer your personal needs if necessary, but also allow you to put off trivial matters until you are on your own time. Set up a system with your family that allows this to happen. Ask them to email you about things that are not of an urgent nature, and save phone calls for emergencies or items that need your immediate attention.
Delaying taking action can take time out of your day. If you find yourself daydreaming or putting off making significant decisions, set specific guidelines and milestones and hold yourself accountable. You may want to work with a colleague to remind you of your markers. If you know you will have to stay late at work to complete milestones, you may find yourself more motivated during the day to accomplish these tasks.
Work on your self-discipline. You are your own greatest enemy when it comes to wasting time. Give your day structure and stick to what you scheduled for yourself. One way to monitor yourself is to keep a log of each minute you spend throughout the day. At the end of the day review the log and be honest about where you wasted your own time and adjust your time tomorrow.
Focus on the project at hand. Don’t look at upcoming projects or switch priorities on the project you are working on. Completion is within your grasp if you focus and follow your schedule, coordinate your time to be efficient and structured. Know where your strengths and weaknesses are when it comes to time management and work to effectively use this information to plan your day accordingly.