As you take charge as Executive Trainee in either Tied Agency or Alternate Channels, your progress as a professional will depend on how effectively you manage time.
Let us go through the essential steps which need to become a habit to ensure effective time management.
Spend time to save time.
Do not waste time rushing in and doing it wrong. Think about it first. What is important to tackle first? What will you need? How are you going to organize it? It may seem like a waste of time when you want to get started, but you will waste more time if you are not properly prepared.
Prioritize.
Make a list of what needs to be done, and then decide on the best order to complete the jobs in hand. This is not just in order of importance. Note which tasks need preparatory work. You might need to gather more information before you start on some parts, or you might have to order resources. It might be helpful to make a chart of order of work.
Make reminders.
You will not remember everything. Write it down. Find a way to do it the way it suits you. It may be a typed list with check boxes that you update daily, or post-its scattered over the wall. You may have a pile of index cards, or a file on your computer desktop. The important thing is that the system works for you, or else you will stop doing it.
Everything takes twice as long as you expect it to.
Allow time for distractions, mistakes and the unforeseen. When you have to fit other things into your day, stick to tasks that you can do quickly. For tasks that will take a long time, block time, and make it clear that you are unavailable for anything else.
Listen to your body clock.
Some people work best in the early morning. Some come to life late at night. Winston Churchill and Einstein napped during the day. You will work best if you follow your own pattern, so wherever possible, arrange your timetable so you are working at your peak time.
Say No to requests that get in the way.
When people ask for favours, it can be difficult to say ‘no’. Before you agree to anything, think about how far it will disrupt what you need to do. If it is unacceptable, tell them you cannot do it. Do not refuse on principle, but avoid doing favours, which may obstruct your progress.
Do not strive for perfection.
In theory, perfection is the ideal. In practice, it is unobtainable, and you will waste a lot of time if you keep trying. There comes a point of excellence when enough is enough, and further trials just delay the end result.
Find out how long things take.
Complex projects have unpredictable elements, but you can minimise this by being aware of how long the routine tasks take. Test this out by timing them once. If you know it takes seven minutes to print one copy of the report, you know that you need around six hours to print fifty copies. This will help you to allow the right amount of time, rather than be shocked by the delay.
