When you move up the corporate ladder and excel in the business world, one of your most precious commodities will be time. With this in mind, leadership training for executives often includes recommendations on how to properly manage your time in the office. Here are a few tips to ensure your time management skills are where they should be. 

4 Ways to Improve Your Time Management Skills

1. Set Short-Term Goals

When you’re always thinking ahead and looking at your workflow in terms of quarterly reports or long-lead goals, it can be difficult to stay motivated. In the name of executive training, set your own personal, short-term goals. These action items will allow you to stay on top of your job and can ultimately boost productivity as you create a sustainable timeline where you’re unable to wait until the last minute to finish a big project. 

2. Prioritize Tasks

At the beginning of each day, write out two task lists. The first should include key daily activities that you must complete. The other should map out time-sensitive tasks of lower importance. Having both lists and your needs divided out by importance will help you manage your calendar and prioritize. 

3. Establish Effective Working Rituals

Having excellent time management skills requires on-going training and discipline. One way to set up lifelong habits is to create and adhere to daily rituals at work. This can include writing your task lists first thing in the morning, blocking off time for high-level strategic planning, or taking 15 to 20 minutes each afternoon to walk around the office and get your blood flowing. 

4. Reduce Your Appointments

When your calendar is filled with back-to-back meetings, balancing emails and the rest of your workload can become overwhelming. To ensure you and your team don’t fall into the trap of wasting time, cut back on meetings and always block time in your day to be in front of the computer. While it may be tempting to block off an hour for a meeting, try cutting that in half and see if you can accomplish the same amount of work. 

Are you looking for executive training that offers effective time management tips and tricks? If so, Colorado Leadership Institute l Crestcom is right for you. Led by leadership expert John Reeb, Ph.D., MBA, this team of business professionals has been helping companies and future leaders throughout the greater metro Denver, CO, area and the Front Range maximize their skills since 1985. To schedule a no-cost leadership skills workshop that offers a preview of what businesses will see in training, call today at (720) 515-8081. For more information on what to expect and how you and your organization will benefit from continuing education, visit their website.