7 Tips to Help You Manage Your Time
They say work smarter, not harder, right? Do you know how to accomplish this? Time management, and organization, is one of the most important sales skills you can have. Understanding time management and having a system in place is the key to your success.
What exactly is time management and why is it important?
Time management enables you to get more work done, often with a better outcome, in less time. Once you have figured this out, and what works for you, you’ll realize the benefit it brings. You’ll have higher productivity, better task management, less stress and even a better work-life balance.
One must possess the skills it takes to effectively manage their time. Some of these skills include:
- Organization
- Ability to Prioritize
- Set attainable goals
- Communicate effectively
- Ability to delegate tasks
- Able to handle stress in a positive way
As you walk, or maybe run, into AEP season, you can keep these 7 tips in mind to effectively manage your time:
- Wake Up Earlier – we all get 24 hours in a day, but what we do with it is what counts. Gradually waking up 15 minutes earlier a day will increase your productivity. Use this time to do something you enjoy, exercise, meditate, watch the sunrise, you’ll be surprised how this can affect the rest of your day. You may even find that your most productive hours are before most people wake up.
- Attack Your Most Important Tasks in the Morning – once you start prioritizing this time to accomplish your largest tasks, or even the ones you dread doing, you’ll be able to effectively manage your time for the rest of the day. Get it done and move on!
- Set Timers – if you’re one that is easily distracted with emails, phone calls, and of course the number one time-sucker, social media, it’s helpful to use a timer to keep you on track. Set your timer for 30 minutes and take that time to put away any distractions and solely focus for that time period. Often times, you may be able to go past the 30 minutes, but it’s a good tool to get your focus back.
- Take Frequent Breaks – giving yourself a break after about an hour so not only refreshes your mind, but if you’re sitting at your computer, you’re giving your eyes a break too. Take 5-10 minutes, take a walk, get a drink of water, and head back to your workspace and you’ll be even more productive for the next hour.
- Plan Ahead – when you don’t have a plan, you have no priorities and your tasks don’t seem to get done. Take 10 minutes at the end of your day, tidy up your space, and write out a list of what you need to accomplish the next day. Once you get to your workspace in the morning, review your list and you’ll be able to dive right in, starting with your most important tasks.
- Find Inspiration – Listening to podcasts, reading inspirational messages may reignite the fire to get you back on track. Sometimes putting on some music may boost your energy up to pump out those tasks that you can’t seem to get off your to-do list.
- Stop Multi-Tasking – We all do it, we check our email while on a phone call, we check our phones during a meeting, being present to the task will help you to stay focused and keep your mind from wandering. Blocking out time to complete tasks will ensure you get that important task done. Leave your phone in the other room, if that’s a distraction to you, close out your email until you’ve put time into your task.
Everyone wants to have more hours in the day, but the truth is: we don’t need more hours, we just need to effectively manage the hours we’re given. If you’re not disciplined with your time, you’ll always be scrambling and feeling unmotivated, burnt out and imbalanced. We don’t want that for you.
If the Brokerage Team can take any tasks off your to-do list, please reach out so we can help you succeed. Give us a call at (800) 878-1058, ext. 1380 or email your Broker Sales Specialist. If you’re not appointed with UIG and would like to be, please reach out to us at: [email protected]
