There is a lot of literature out there about time management, productivity, efficiency (bla bla bla) in the workplace. From books to podcasts, to videos and nowadays phone applications! It is very hard to read and learn everything we see or experience, especially because of the fast past environment that we live in nowadays. Therefore, I am sharing with you what I think are two strategies to organize my work.
First, when it comes to prioritizing, I unconsciously use the Eisenhower Matrix. Debuted first by the ex-president of the United States, Eisenhower was considered one of the best leaders at his time, but in order to manage his work-life balance and be productive at the same time, he categorized each task based on its importance and urgency. Based on these two categories, we get a matrix of 4 quadrants. Each task can be put in one of these 4 quadrants. What’s also good about this matrix is that we can use it in almost every aspect of our lives. The below matrix is an example on where some tasks lie and how to prioritize them.
The other way I work on my professional tasks at work is to use Outlook. A lot of employees complain about the clutter in their email; however, I would like to take the following actions in order to make an opportunity out of the negativity:
- I READ ALL MY EMAILS:
- For me, I can’t stand seeing any notification. I even can’t see the (1) sign in the “Deleted” folder. This for me decreases the stress about not reading my emails and getting things done.
- I Categorize my emails:
- Instead of marking the important or urgent emails as “unread” in order to get back to them, I create “Categories” on Outlook to mark what things I need to work on, what emails need my reply and what emails or tasks I need to follow up upon.
- Create Reminders:
- So this me who likes to do this, but I don’t like using “Red Flags” or “Sticky Notes”, whether the later were physical or on Outlook. What I do instead is put the tasks I need to work on in the “Calendar” section of Outlook. This way I get reminded of when to do the task and it alarms me when the time comes to an end.
I definitely know that what works for me doesn’t apply specifically to every situation and person, but it would be good to follow the strategy that achieves success in our work.
