Time is the best-kept secret to success. You might wonder why you always fail to get everything done yet someone you know seems to excel at the same tasks without a struggle. The answer lies in time management. If you learn how to organize your work time properly, you’ll be working less while achieving more.
I don’t know about you, but most people spend long hours working, only to discover that there are no tangible results. We all have 24 hours in a day to accomplish various tasks, but without discipline and prioritizing, you’ll just be like most other people – wondering where all those hours went.
That’s why we bring you this elaborate post that looks into various ways to manage time and accomplish tasks.
How Can a Remote Worker Organize Their Work Day?
Time management
Time is a great asset for both entrepreneurs and employees, whether they work from home, as a team, solo, or in a shared office. The problem comes in when there is a lack of organization. The common mistake that most people make is waking up and starting to work without creating a clear plan. You need to model your day so that you perform tasks systematically.
Find the time when you’re most productive. Some work better in the afternoons or evenings, while others are supercharged in the mornings. As a remote worker, you have the freedom to design your own schedule. That said, creating a workday routine and sticking to it are two different things. It takes practice, commitment, and discipline to design a schedule that suits you and allows you to be productive.
Here are some time management skills that you can start implementing right now:
- Break down your work into chunks – your brain might be a supercomputer, but you’re also human and overworking it is counterproductive. Your brain’s effectiveness is at its peak for the first 45 minutes, and after that, it starts dropping dramatically. Therefore, to be more productive, take 10- to 20-minute breaks every 45 minutes to allow your mind to recover.
- Don’t work without time limits – before you start working on your laptop, you need to establish working hours. This involves setting a time limit for each task that you intend to handle on that day. Knowing when to start and end your workday creates a work rhythm that makes your time easier to manage – changing your work schedule every day upsets this work rhythm. Setting work limits might seem daunting at first. Nevertheless, if it develops into a habit, you’ll be surprised at how effective you become.
- Record time spent on everything you do, from answering calls and working on projects to performing chores and any other work-related or non-work activities. This way, you’ll have a clear picture of how much time you spend on each task, which will consequently help you to plan your days better. In addition, you’ll see how much time you spend on unproductive activities and find ways to reduce that time so that you can focus on the more productive parts of your day.
- Don’t forget to set aside time for interruptions. This allows you to do all non-work stuff without feeling like you’re wasting precious time that could’ve been spent working on your projects.
Get organized
Effective time management cannot be achieved without proper organization. In this context, the term organization describes two things: organizing your day and organizing your work environment.
First, you need to have the goals that you wish to achieve in a day, week or month. If you prefer working with daily goals, take the first 30 minutes when you wake up to plan your day. Secondly, you have to organize those goals to separate long-term goals from short-term goals. Remember when we said to break down projects into milestones? Organizing your goals can help you achieve that. With the set targets in front of you, you’ll minimize the chances of procrastinating, thereby increasing your productivity.
On the other hand, your work environment is where you’ll be spending most of your time, so it needs to be as comfortable as possible. Every person’s needs are unique, and it all depends on preferences. While some can work well with background music, others prefer complete silence. However, one thing that remains constant is the fact that organizing your workspace may have a direct effect on time management.
What your employer sees during the daily or weekly video calls speaks volumes about how organized and committed you are. Preferably, set up a home office with a comfortable chair and desk where you’ll be working from and make the rest of your home a place where you can live the way you like. More importantly, keep your workplace organized and uncluttered so that you can focus on productive things.
Use time tracking software
Most of you have probably used an access card when entering or leaving the office. It shows the time you reported to work or left the office building. It also counts how many times you left the office building during the day. This information can be used to monitor your movements, and if your activities were not work-related, then you’ll have some explaining to do.
That’s the same way time trackers like Hubstaff and Traqq work. They help you stay focused on the tasks at hand and motivate you to achieve your goals within the stipulated time. One of the key functions of employee monitoring software is to track productivity metrics. Managers can use the timesheet reports to review the workflow and formulate reasonable deadlines for remote workers.
Time tracking apps also help employees prioritize tasks and work within their own schedules. Using time tracking software leads to better time management, and both parties end up benefiting.
Schedule a time to check emails and answer phone calls
Let people know that you’re busy during a certain period, say 6 a.m. to around 3 p.m., so that you don’t get constant calls, emails or text messages. Likewise, don’t just be available whenever someone needs you unless it’s absolutely urgent and necessary. Some calls or emails can wait until you’re free to answer them.
How to Choose Time Tracking Software
As a remote worker, you should know that when it comes to time management, nothing makes your work easier than time tracking software. It has become a vital productivity tool for any individual, business or organization that wants to succeed.
But with so many time trackers out there, how do you choose the best? Here are the most important things that you should consider:
- Time tracking – this is an obvious feature for a time tracking app to have. Choose between an automated or manual time tracker depending on what suits your business.
- Project management – this feature is useful for those whose businesses are driven by the completion of projects rather than services or products.
- Employee timesheets – you need a time tracker with which you can record the time you spend on tasks in real time. The time entries will show when you started work and when you stopped. This data can then be used when requesting payment or to help you identify weak points that need to be addressed. This can also be used by managers to monitor employee performance.
- Alerts and notifications – most time tracking apps have some form of alert system. Opt for one that matches your specific needs.
- Invoicing – do you require an invoicing system? If you do, be sure to look for the most ideal time tracking solutions.
- The type of device you use – will you be spending most of your time in the office or out in the field? Some apps are designed for Android or iOS, while others are designed for Windows or macOS.
Other factors that you should also look out for include:
- Ease of use
- Budget
- Technical support
- Offline availability
- Ability to export data to other applications
What Is Traqq?
Traqq is a real-time tracking app that combines a number of useful features that allow you to monitor and track your tasks and activities, logging in the number of hours you’ve worked. If you’re managing a team of remote workers, Traqq helps you to monitor the productivity of each worker using the employee timesheet. At the end of it all, you can identify which projects take the longest time to complete and the general workflow so that you can make the appropriate adjustments.
With such reliable and efficient task tracking software, you don’t need to spend time monitoring tasks. Plus, it can generate weekly and monthly reports for analysis.
