Time management is essential for success. As an administrative assistant, your time is valuable, and so is the time of the people you support. Knowing how to adjust to ensure that every deadline is met and time is optimized is critical. Whether you’re looking to learn or improve time management, here are five tips to help you in your administrative career.
Don’t Procrastinate
It sounds like simple advice, but it does make a difference. Procrastination is a way for us to avoid doing things we don’t want to do, but if we did them, they’d be over faster, and we can focus on other tasks. If you feel yourself wanting to procrastinate, challenge yourself to 20-minute bursts of productivity and see how much you can get done.
Clear Your Inbox
Extra emailing looming can make you distracted even when you’re trying to avoid your inbox. A lot of people subscribe to the zero-inbox method by addressing and then deleting the email. Other businesses don’t have that luxury as they like to keep a data trail. However, you want to do it, try to go through your inbox and then either delete or move the messages into another folder once they’re addressed.
Avoid Multitasking
No matter what anyone says, our brains are not designed for multitasking. When we multitask, it’s easy to let things slip through the cracks. If you want to use your time productively, don’t try to force yourself to do more than one thing at a time. Learn to prioritize instead by handling the most critical or time-sensitive project first.
Write It Down
Keeping a planner or a calendar doesn’t just help you; it helps your entire team and anyone you support. If you have a desk planner, you can write your daily tasks on it and have the satisfaction of crossing them off once they’re complete. You should write down long-term goals, too. People are 42% more likely to achieve a goal if they’ve written it down.
Avoid Distractions
To better manage your time, you should also create opportunities to avoid distractions. While your job may be one where many people are demanding your time, you can create a process to reduce unnecessary distractions. For example, if you have an office, let your team know if your door is open; they’re welcome to come in. If it’s closed, you are not to be disturbed.
Are you looking for your next administrative assistant opportunity? Contact the team at NRI Staffing today.
