How to plan for more effective, efficient work days

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How effective and efficient is your workday? Do you have a healthy balance between your work life and personal life? If you’re unsure, that could be a problem.

It’s important to have a healthy balance between your professional life and personal life. One area should never overpower the other but rather exist in harmony. Unfortunately, this is not the case for many shop owners, and finding the right balance is the most difficult of challenges.

The goal of being effective and efficient at work eludes many shop owners and often interferes with their personal lives. In some cases, it’s the opposite, where you have shop owners spending too much time on their personal life, and it’s their work responsibilities that suffer. Either may be true for any one of us, but the goal should be to achieve a good balance.

Many shop owners ask, “Where did the time go?” and often use this as an excuse for not completing their tasks. However, the reality has nothing to do with the pace of time and everything to do with how they spent it. As a result, these shop owners have difficulty working on the highest priority items that give the biggest returns for their business. Instead, they’d rather do the little tasks that give them the short-term satisfaction of being busy—rather than the longer-term projects that are most likely to have the greatest impact on their business operations.

If this is you, the question is: what are you willing to do to ditch the excuses and become more effective and efficient with your workdays?

Limited Time Offer: ATI's Daily Task Prioritization ChecklistWant to be a better time manager? Download ATI’s Daily Task Prioritization Checklist to ensure your time is spent wisely and most effectively on tasks that actually advance your shop. By completing this checklist daily, you can plan for what’s ahead, prioritize what’s most important, empower staff members by sharing or delegating responsibilities, and minimize disruptions and distractions. To receive your copy, go to www.ationlinetraining.com/2021-12 for a limited time.

Most of us have been schooled on different skills and processes to make better and more efficient use of our time. So, why are we still struggling to be effective and efficient during our workdays?

Allow me to share with you five steps that will assist you with changing this behavior to get the results you need.

1. Plan your day.

Planning is one of the most important strategies for being effective with your time. Depending on your preference, it’s best to plan for the next workday during quiet time in the morning or after work in the evening. Some people are morning folks that love coffee, and others are night owls who prefer evening. When you start the day with a plan, your time will not be taken up by putting out fires or by doing things that your associates can handle for themselves.

2. Prioritize your tasks.

Prioritize duties, meetings, and phone calls according to the level of urgency and importance. For example, daily huddle meetings reviewing the day’s activities are important. Covering for an associate who has hurt themselves is urgent. Be sure you spend your time on items that move you toward accomplishing your goals for the day. If a task stays on your list for more than three days, it is neither urgent nor important. Therefore, move it to the bottom of your list or an entirely separate sheet for less critical projects. Here are some tips:

a) Prioritize tasks by putting checkmarks by the ones that only you can do.

b) Carry a schedule of important times during the day, and refer to it often.

c) Keep your mobile phone, planner, or whatever you use to effectively capture important information, such as appointments, meetings, and ideas.

d) Set times to handle associate concerns during office hours that are likely to have minimal disruptions.

e) Address emails and phone calls only during their designated time.

f) Chop up your bigger tasks into smaller, more manageable tasks.

g) Spend the most time on activities and tasks that provide the greatest return or business benefit.

3. Designate time for staff.

Managing staff and addressing their needs is very important but also very time-consuming. If not managed properly, these related tasks can snowball and become disruptive and counterproductive. Designate time during office hours to address tasks, such as completing paperwork, answering emails and messages, meetings, and other “time stealers” so that they don’t consume your day.

4. Delegate to staff.

As mentioned in tip number two above, put a checkmark on your list of priorities by the tasks that only you can do. The remaining tasks should be the ones that can be shared with or completed solely by other staff members on your team. Delegating these tasks to others will help reduce your stress while increasing your effectiveness and efficiency. Go through this exercise daily by breaking up your task list into the following categories:

a) Tasks or work only you can do.

b) Tasks or work others may assist you in completing and vice versa—work you may help them complete.

c) Finally, tasks or work others may do without you at all.

5. Eliminate interruptions and distractions.

You must control your work environment to minimize interruptions and distractions. Mastering your schedule is the best way to make sure that occurs. Vendors, associates, phone calls, customers who want to see you personally — all these items can and will distract you from your plan. Build a wall around your schedule and you personally. It is so much harder for you to regain your concentration after an interruption that it wastes time while you try to get your focus back. Instead, stick to your schedule, and make sure everyone is aware of your daily schedule. This will aid others in knowing when they may approach you for assistance.

These five steps will aid you in making the most of your time by planning your day successfully. It is up to you to commit to making the plan for the day and then sticking with it. Take small steps in making the change to become a more effective time manager. Remember that small wins lead to big wins, it’s okay to reward your accomplishments along the journey, and it’s best to delegate to staff members when appropriate.

To start your journey toward achieving a more effective and efficient workday, download ATI’s Daily Task Prioritization Checklist today at www.ationlinetraining.com/2021-12 for a limited time!