Effective planning of working time in an enterprise. Working time planning - abstract

In my work practice, I have repeatedly encountered managers who have one important ability. This is the ability to do a lot of things during the day, setting priorities correctly and without experiencing stress. It is simply impossible to overwhelm such a person with work. Regardless of how many projects are being implemented at the moment, he will quickly, calmly and correctly set priorities, group tasks and begin to complete them one after another. I thought about this quite a lot, talked with colleagues and realized that in most cases this ability is not innate, but acquired.

When I was in high school, my favorite uncle gave me some good advice: “Keep track of what you do throughout the day and sum it up at the end.” My uncle worked for the International Labor Organization and knew what he was talking about. I am still grateful to him for his advice, and to myself for following that advice. When I graduated from school, I had a clear schedule, most of my activities and tasks for each day were planned in advance and this did not cause any protest or discomfort in me.

Later I kept this rule for the rest of my life. Plans and tasks changed, and the habit of doing several different things during the day only grew stronger, and with it the performance and efficiency of my work. After all, if you think about it, high fatigue, apathy, low labor productivity are mostly the result of our vision of ourselves, our work and, last but not least, the lack of habits of planning and prioritization. Probably, for some creative workers and specialists of a narrow profile this is an insignificant drawback, but it will not be possible to be a good manager without the ability to plan activities, set priorities and group tasks.

So if you haven’t taught yourself to plan things at school or college, it’s best to do it as soon as possible. First, figure out what you actually do during the day. Just mark every half hour what you devoted this time to. When you review your weekly logs, you will be surprised at how much time is spent on unimportant, duplicative, or simply unrelated tasks and activities. Accordingly, the next step is to discard everything unnecessary. This will also have to be monitored for a long time; some habits or rituals are very difficult to get rid of. The third step is to group the main tasks and types of work and tackle them sequentially, rather than in random order. This will significantly improve your ability to concentrate. At first glance, doing this is very simple, no more difficult than doing exercises in the morning. But not everyone does exercises.

As for planning my day, even now I devote a lot of time to this (although my assistants do a lot of the preparatory and organizational work). Perhaps later I will write a post about the role of a personal assistant in the work of a manager. The basis of proper time management is. For me, this is strategy, relationships with key clients and partners, the largest transactions, the team, appointments and motivation of employees. If there is a problem in one of these areas, then it is my problem that I must solve first.

Another important point is the presence in the schedule of time for unplanned activities. They always happen, and it is important to have some reserve of time, because there is nothing worse than having one meeting creep into another or having to do something in a hurry.

We should not forget that all people are different, which means that planning should be individual. I built my optimal schedule a long time ago. Usually at 9 am I clarify the final schedule with the team and review the briefs describing the meetings that I have ahead of me that day. Preparing briefs is a separate topic: they clearly describe goals, objectives, and participants. This also saves me time. After about ten meetings, I go home and devote time to communicating with my family, and regularly go to yoga or fitness. And closer to night I’m still working electronically. This routine allows me to avoid switching between types of work and it’s easier to get into the desired mode. However, to build it and stick to it, I needed to start planning my time in school.

Who among us has not wondered what is the greatest value? Quite often, opinions differ on this matter. Some believe it is information, others believe it is time. Despite the fact that modern society has enough opportunities to save time, for some reason there is just not enough time. And the thoughts immediately come to mind: “Why is technological progress playing a cruel joke?”, “How to have time to do everything and do it well?”, “How to distribute and plan your day in order to at least partially relieve yourself?” Everything is very simple. You just need to learn how to plan your time correctly.

Rules to follow if you want to do everything

To keep up with everything and have time to relax, you should:

develop a specific plan;
prioritize matters that are minor in importance, without leaving them for later;
do not waste working time on unnecessary things;
analyze completed tasks daily;
depending on the importance, correctly distribute priorities;
to keep order;
develop the willpower to follow new habits.

How to learn to plan your day: stages of planning a manager’s time

It seems that it is not difficult to correctly distribute working time and determine the sequence of daily work, however, not everyone can do this. If thoughts come to mind about how to do important things on time and not get tired, it is important to learn how to plan and manage time correctly. A properly drawn up daily routine plan plays an important role here.

Do not forget about such an important factor as limited time. Time cannot be stopped, changed, or returned, which means the same applies to work, business, and our lives in general.

There are the following stages of working time planning:

developing discipline (learning to control your day is an important task for a successful leader);
determining the degree of importance of matters (it is allowed to plan no more than 3 urgent matters per day);
rational distribution of tasks into important, urgent, easy, simple, insignificant;
drawing up a step-by-step work plan;
getting rid of simple, small, easy tasks that take less than 10 minutes to complete (unloading the next days);
the manager’s refusal to do activities that “steal” time (watching TV series, spending many hours communicating on social networks, hanging out with friends);
determination of each thing in the house and at work its place;
getting rid of work trash (10 minutes a day is enough to sort through documents and throw away unnecessary things);
choosing a hobby for leisure.

In order not to lose friends and properly save time, you need to follow the rule: visit pages on social networks 2 times a week, set aside weekends to meet with friends, plan personal meetings in advance, reduce the time of “empty” telephone conversations to 15 minutes a day.

How to make a work plan

Fruitful planning is possible if you adhere to the following sequence of work:

Determine goals and objectives on the basis of which to develop a work plan. It can be short-term (for a week) or long-term (for a month, quarter, year).

Attention: A successful leader cannot deviate one step from the plan. You can make adjustments to it, for example, swap tasks, days of important meetings, plan events at a different time, but under no circumstances should you radically change them.

Distribute tasks and determine deadlines for their completion. It is important to learn to first carry out tasks that have a limited time frame and those that require a lot of effort. You can then plan for mid-term tasks and work that requires standard functions. Low-value work should be done last.

Mandatory marking of urgent matters that arose on the eve of execution in your diary or calendar (allows the manager to manage to do everything on time, without missing important points).

Analysis of all tasks, reducing the list of tasks (as far as possible).

To unload your day, it is important:

Follow the limitation of completing tasks: no more than 3 urgent ones, no more than 10 in total per day.
When planning, adhere to completing complex tasks at a more favorable time, preferably in the first half of the day, and performing easy tasks at the end of the work shift.
Do not carry out the next job without completing the previous one (it is important to plan tasks step by step, completing those previously agreed upon).
Do not leave unfinished tasks, do not postpone them to the next working day.
If there are still unfulfilled tasks, it is recommended to make a note about them in the calendar of important tasks, where you especially note them. If the same task “lives” stably in the diary for several days in a row, it is worth thinking about how to refuse it or simply transfer it to another person performing it.

Secrets of rational planning

You can plan your day correctly by:

assessing the work plan, adjusting tasks, creating a daily routine;
monitoring the execution of tasks, eliminating the simultaneous performance of several tasks (otherwise there is a risk of low productivity);
completion of started tasks;
eliminating obstacles that prevent the manager from completing assigned tasks, distract attention, and affect plans;
alternating work with rest;
time planning analysis;
continuous improvement of your work results.

Secrets of saving time for a manager

It is important to combine similar tasks, for example, combine negotiations, sort out correspondence, answer emails.
Creating a calm environment is equally important. This is necessary so that nothing distracts you from your work.
Limiting your working time will help you avoid unproductive results from business meetings.
The ability to prioritize is an important indicator of rationality and consistency of affairs, which affects the achievement of set goals.
Doing exceptionally important things allows a manager to achieve high performance in his work.
Distributing tasks among employees will help save a significant amount of time.
Step-by-step work is no less important. It is much easier to move towards your goal if you climb the ladder, starting with small things and reaching great heights.
Keeping a diary of important tasks will help eliminate the overlap of some tasks with others, and the accumulation of tasks at the end of the month.
It is better to make important decisions in the morning. This way you can create a feeling of success throughout your working day.
When making plans and schedules, it is important to take into account the true level of ability to work, since it is this that affects the final result of the work.

Planning and organizing work is the key to further self-development. Read the article about the basic principles and rules of daily planning.

From the article you will learn:

Why do you need daily planning?

Not everyone understands why they need to plan their working day. After all, every person, even without planning, knows what functions he performs and what tasks lie ahead of him. Many people do not see the point in making plans for the day, since there are always unexpected tasks that can confuse all the previously planned points.

Download documents on the topic:

If you compare two workers performing the same functions and having the same abilities, you will find that the volume and quality of work they perform are different. One employee manages to solve both current and strategic tasks, the second does not have time to complete even urgent assignments and is forced to stay after work all the time. The best results will be shown by those who are more . That is, someone for whom the planning process is a daily responsibility and need. Having a plan, even on a psychological level, forces a person to mobilize. He has a fixed goal and an internal need to achieve it appears.

How to plan effectively?

Planning and organizing work is carried out by the employee. It is not the manager, but the employee who should set tasks for himself. In this case, he sets goals for himself independently and acts in the direction that he chooses. As a rule, the percentage of completed tasks when planning independently is higher than when performing general planning. , developed by the director.

There is a work planning system that has been tested in practice and ensures optimal use of working time. This is a set of principles by following which a person can create a competent, realistic and achievable plan.

First, determine what you need to include in your daily plan. It should be drawn up taking into account a strategic plan developed for six months or a year. Planning for each day takes into account all the tasks scheduled for implementation, both directly related to work and secondary ones. For example, congratulating a colleague on his birthday. In addition to those items that the manager expects to be completed, personal matters must also be included in the plan. This is necessary for personal development and creating a positive image.

When planning work, large tasks that will take several days or weeks to complete should be broken down into steps and completed sequentially. For each stage, set a due date. Make a plan for the coming day, including subtasks. To draw up a plan, you can use a regular paper diary or a special program.

The goal of work planning is not to fulfill the plan items at any cost, but to timely and high-quality execution of priority tasks and urgent tasks. Therefore, the list of tasks to be completed must be sorted and the items arranged in descending order of priority. In progress You can use several methods simultaneously.

For example, tasks with a fixed deadline and tasks that require more effort to complete are given the highest priority. The second most important tasks will be the daily tasks that must be completed and those tasks whose completion dates are scheduled for the coming days. The lowest priority in daily planning is given to minor matters, the failure of which will not have significant negative consequences.

Day planning rules

Just like planning the work of an enterprise, planning the working day of an individual employee must follow the rules. Following them will help ensure that your plans are carried out in a manner that is comfortable for you.

Plan no more than 70% of your working time. This will allow you to calmly complete urgent unscheduled tasks and not be nervous if you have to be distracted from execution .
Do not include more than three important and urgent tasks in your daily plan at the same time. Limit the total number of plan items to ten.
Form similar cases into blocks. This will help to execute them using a single algorithm, which will reduce execution time.
Move the planning process to the evening of the previous day. You will have time to make adjustments to the plan if necessary.
Plan complex tasks taking into account your biorhythms. Some are more productive in the morning, some are more productive in the afternoon, and some work most productively in the evening.
Don't start a new task before you finish the work you've already started. If you had to take a break, come back and finish what you started.
Don't put off completing an unscheduled task if it can be done in a few minutes.
Take breaks every hour without remaining at your desk. Devote your breaks to light stretching, this will help “refresh” your head.
Don't be confused with achieving goals, do not set tasks for yourself and do not outline volumes that will be difficult to cope with.
If there are unfulfilled tasks that have not lost their relevance, move them to the plan for the next day.
Organize your workplace in such a way that it is comfortable to work.

Conclusion

Planning for each day is a useful and necessary skill. This is a way of self-organization and self-development, a guarantee that you can work effectively. The proposed work planning system will help you understand the basic principles time management and successfully use this knowledge in practice.

If you start to thoroughly understand what factors influence a person’s life in general, then you can find a great variety of them. Any area of a person’s life and each sphere of his activity, of course, has a number of peculiarities inherent to them, and sometimes what is applicable to one is completely inapplicable to another. But despite this, there are certain fundamental principles that are effective in absolutely everything. One of these principles, or more precisely, laws that can be considered guarantors of success in any field, can safely be called the ability to plan and prioritize. We will find out why this is so important in this time management training lesson.

After studying this material, you will learn about what business planning is and what its features are, why it is necessary and important to daily compile lists of work, personal and household chores. In addition, we will look at several effective planning techniques and principles, some of which are designed for every day, and some have a more long-term focus - for a week, a month, a year and even several years. This online training course will be useful for people of all ages and professions, and you will be able to use the information received to achieve your goals from the first day.

What is planning? Types of planning. Prioritization

The planning process

Planning is the process of optimal allocation of resources necessary to achieve set goals and objectives, as well as a set of processes that are associated with their formulation and implementation. Planning is an integral part of time management (time management) and, when used skillfully, increases its effectiveness many times over.

In its simplest and most formal interpretation, planning is characterized by the following stages:

Stage of setting goals (tasks)
The stage of drawing up a plan to achieve the goal
Variant design stage
The stage of identifying the required resources, as well as their sources
Stage of identifying executives and briefing
The stage of recording planning results in physical form (plan, project, map, etc.)

Types of planning

Planning, as already noted, is applicable to absolutely any sphere of life, but, depending on this, it may have its own characteristics, which, in turn, is expressed in different forms and contents.

Types of planning differ:

By necessity

Directive planning - implies the mandatory execution of assigned tasks, always has a specific addressee and is characterized by increased detail. An example is the setting of tasks related to solving issues of state/national significance, work in enterprises, etc.
Indicative planning is the antipode of the first: it does not imply mandatory and precise execution, it has a more recommendatory and guiding nature. This type of planning is widespread in the system of macroeconomic development of various countries.

By timing of achieving goals

Short-term (current) planning - calculated for a period of up to 1 year and can consist of plans for a day, a week, a month, a quarter, or six months. The most common type of planning. It is used both by ordinary people in everyday life and by leaders of various organizations.
Medium-term planning - calculated for a period from 1 year to 5 years. This form of planning is common in the activities of government agencies, firms and enterprises, but is often used by strategically thinking people. In some cases, it can be combined with current planning, which in its entirety is rolling planning.
Long-term (long-term) planning - usually calculated for several (5, 10, 20) years in advance. Most often, this type of planning is used at large enterprises in order to perform tasks of a social, economic, scientific and technological nature, etc.

Strategic planning is mainly long-term. With its help, the main directions in the activities of organizations are determined: expanding activities, creating new directions, stimulating the work process, studying the market and its segments, studying demand, characteristics of the target audience, etc. Widespread in the activities of organizations.
Tactical planning is most often also long-term. Its main goal is to create the necessary conditions for the implementation of opportunities found through the use of strategic planning. As a rule, tactical planning is used when planning the economic, social, and production development of an organization. Widespread in the activities of organizations.
Operational calendar planning is the final stage of strategic and tactical planning. Serves mainly to implement the process of achieving the desired results. With its help, all indicators are specified and the work of the organization is directly organized. Operational calendar planning involves determining the time for completing assigned tasks, preparing for the implementation of the process, maintaining records, monitoring and analyzing the process. Widespread in the activities of organizations.
Business planning - serves to assess the feasibility, relevance and effectiveness of planned activities. The preparation of a business plan is done very carefully, taking into account all kinds of indicators, opportunities, proposals, etc. It is widespread in the activities of organizations and the work of businessmen.

In addition to the considered types of planning that take into account primary aspects, there are also those that take into account secondary ones. They, in turn, differ:

By coverage

General planning - covers all the details of the context.
Partial planning - covers some details of the context.

By planning objects

Target planning - involves determining the goals required to achieve.
Planning of means - implies planning of the means necessary to achieve the result (finance, information, personnel, equipment, etc.).
Program planning involves the development of programs necessary to achieve results.
Action planning involves determining the actions necessary to achieve a result.

By depth

Aggregated planning occurs taking into account general parameters.
Detailed planning takes place taking into account all the details and features.

By coordinating plans over time

Sequential planning involves a long process that consists of several smaller stages.
Simultaneous planning - implies a one-time short stage.

Taking into account data changes

Rigid planning implies mandatory adherence to specified parameters.
Flexible planning implies the possibility of non-compliance with specified parameters and the emergence of new ones.

In order

Orderly planning - implies the sequential implementation of plans, one after another.
Rolling planning - involves extending the plan for a subsequent period after its completion in the current period.
Extraordinary planning - implies the implementation of a plan as the need arises.

Prioritization

Prioritization is the process of setting priorities - an indicator of the predominance of the importance of a particular plan item over the rest. Prioritization is important for the reason that among a large number of different nuances and features, there are those that have the least significance and have minimal impact on the process of achieving the goal, and those that play a dominant role in this process. The ability to prioritize can be called another indicator of the effectiveness and efficiency of any planning process, because The emphasis on the most significant points of the plan is often decisive in the question of whether the goal will be achieved or not.

As you can see, planning as a process is characterized by a considerable number of different nuances. Any of the types can be used separately, or maybe in combination with others. The main thing when choosing is to take into account all the features of your activity. But, no matter how many types of planning exist, no matter how many we consider them, no matter how many examples we give, all this will have no value if we do not understand why we need to plan anything at all, what advantages it has how will this help us in life? It is these questions that we will try to answer in the next section.

Why do you need planning?

Considering that our trainings are devoted to methods of increasing personal productivity, here and further in the lesson we will consider planning in relation to the activities of a person, and not organizations, firms, enterprises, etc.

Planning is the factor that largely determines not only whether a person achieves what he wants, but also what he achieves at all. The fact is that the planning process itself does not have some single and narrowly targeted effect, but has a complex effect, influencing many personal indicators of a person, the direction of his actions and his lifestyle in general. Below we list just a few of the positive aspects of planning and the benefits it provides.

Specification of the goal

As soon as a person begins to plan his activities, his thinking is activated, his creative potential is activated, and his brain activity increases. You can want something and “sort of” imagine it, while thinking that you know exactly what you want. But as soon as you sit down to draw up a plan and begin to think it through carefully, your goal begins to transform from abstract to concrete. Gradually you begin to imagine it in detail, take into account its features, and somehow vary it. There is a saying that says that a ship that does not know where it is going will never reach its destination. So is a person - if he does not know what exactly he wants, he will never achieve it. Planning makes it possible to understand and realize what you really want and achieve a specific goal.

A clear action plan

Even if we know what we want, we may never achieve it if we don’t know what we need to achieve it. Our goals can be mega-global, good and wonderful, but they will remain just a picture of what we want to have and do. This state of affairs can be corrected through planning. Firstly, it allows you to determine the specific steps that need to be taken in order to achieve the desired result. Secondly, it helps to identify the resources needed for this and their sources. Thirdly, it makes it possible to set a time frame. This way, once you have an accurate plan, you will know what you need to do to implement it, who or what you will involve in it, and most importantly, when you want to do it. Planning significantly speeds up the process of achieving a goal, because... is a practical guide to action.

Action, not thoughts about action

Until we have a plan to implement what we want, we are constantly thinking about this topic. We think about how much we want it, how nice it would be if we had it, we reflect on how we lack it now, perhaps we even imagine ourselves in the process of doing it. But there is one BUT - besides thinking, we do nothing else. And this indicates that, most likely, this will all end. It is important to understand that when you start planning, you are already taking the first and biggest step towards realizing your plans. This alone moves you forward significantly. And then a chain reaction begins: after drawing up a plan, you begin to carry out specific actions, the first point is followed by the second, the second by the third, etc. If you can instill in yourself the habit of planning even the smallest things, you will immediately notice how your desires begin to become reality. Another proverb can be applied here: “Water does not flow under a lying stone.” Get off the ground and start taking action. Planning creates the energy potential necessary to achieve a goal.

Possibility of maneuvering

Without knowing specifically what needs to be done to achieve the desired results, we can neither determine nor coordinate our actions. We can have a rough idea of what we need to do, but if we act without a plan, we risk reaching a dead end or even moving further away from the goal. When you have a plan and begin to act, you can, so to speak, manage the entire process online: it doesn’t work this way, try it differently, one thing doesn’t work, think about what can replace it. Having a clear plan will allow you to maneuver along your path, vary different methods and methods. As a result, you will have a comprehensive plan that will take into account all possible nuances and options for the development of events. The ability to plan is the ability to be flexible and ready for any situation.

High probability of success

And, perhaps, the most important advantage of planning is that, although not a 100% guarantee, it is still a huge probability of success. How many people we see who want very little, but without a plan, never achieve anything! And, in contrast to them, there is great amount examples of people who have fantastic goals that seem unattainable, but despite everything they achieve them and even more. What distinguishes the former from the latter is the ability to plan and prioritize. Determine your goals, start making a plan - after a while you will see that you have reached your goal, and thousands of onlookers without a plan remain in their places. Planning will make you a leader in any field!

Surely, now it has become much clearer to you why you need to plan and think through all your steps. Planning is carried out by businessmen and entrepreneurs, heads of huge corporations, creative people, writers, actors and show business stars, in general, all those who are commonly called successful people. Planning is part of the life and activity of any person who wants to increase their productivity and achieve serious results. It is for this reason, in addition to sitting down at the table, taking a pen and a piece of paper, and starting to plan something, today there are specially developed planning techniques that have proven their effectiveness more than once. We will give a brief overview of the most popular of them in the next section.

Planning techniques

ABC planning

The prerequisite for this method is experience that clearly shows that the percentage ratio of important and unimportant matters is always approximately the same. Any tasks, based on their importance in achieving the set results, should be distributed using ABC letter values. It follows from this that the tasks that have the greatest importance and significance (A) should be completed first, and then all the others (B, C). You need to plan your time using this technique, taking into account the importance of the tasks, and not the effort required to complete them.

The ABC method is based on three basic rules:

Category A - the most important matters. They make up about 15% of all the things you do, but they produce about 65% of the results.
Category B - important matters. They make up about 20% of your total business and produce about 20% of your results.
Category C - matters of the least importance. They make up about 65% of all your business, but also bring about 15% of your results.

You can find out more about this technique here.

Eisenhower principle

This technique was proposed at one time by the American General Dwight David Eisenhower. It is an excellent additional meter for quickly making the most important decisions. This principle involves setting priorities according to the criteria of importance and urgency.

You must divide all your tasks into four main categories and perform them in order of priority:

Category A - the most urgent and important matters.
Category B - urgent but not important matters. It is important to be able to separate them according to the criterion of importance from the first category, otherwise you can waste time on them, leaving the really important things for later.
Category C - not urgent, but important matters. Here you need to take into account the urgency factor: due to the fact that these things are not urgent, they are often put on the back burner, after which they become urgent, which is not a good thing. Therefore, their implementation should never be neglected. Such tasks, among other things, can be delegated - entrusting their implementation to someone else.
Category D - non-urgent and non-important matters. Often, a person is most concerned about such things and spends most of his time on them. Learn to accurately identify cases in this category. They should be done last, when the previous ones are completed.

You can learn more about the Eisenhower method here.

Pareto rule

This rule is sometimes called the “80/20” principle. It was formulated by the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto. Its basic premise is that the smallest amount of action produces the greatest amount of results, and vice versa.

Visually, this rule looks like this:

20% actions = 80% results
80% actions = 20 results
20% of people own 80% of all capital
80% of people own 20% of total capital
20% of customers generate 80% of revenue
80% of customers generate 20% of revenue
Etc.

Apply this rule to your daily activities, and you will see that 80% of everything you do in a day is only 20% of the result you need, and 20% of well-planned actions bring you 80% closer to your cherished goal. Based on this, remember that you need to start the day with the few, but most difficult, important and urgent tasks, and only then take on the easy and no less important, but present in a much larger volume. It is very convenient to apply the Pareto rule in combination with the ABC technique or the Eisenhower principle.

You can read more about the “80 to 20” principle.

Timing

The term “timing” refers to a method designed to study the time spent. It is carried out by recording and measuring the actions performed. The main goals of timekeeping are to determine how time is spent, identify “time sinks,” find time reserves, and develop a sense of time.

Keeping timekeeping is quite simple: experts advise recording all your actions with an accuracy of 5 minutes for 2-3 weeks. Visually it looks something like this:

8:00-8:30 - woke up, stretched, washed
8:30-9:00 - drank tea, turned on the computer, checked email
9:00-9:30 - went to social network
9:30 - 10:00 - prepared documents for work
Etc.

Entries can be supplemented with comments and additional parameters. There are several ways to keep track of time:

On paper - in a notebook, notebook, notebook
Using a gadget - mobile phone, e-reader, tablet
Using a voice recorder
Using special software on a computer
Online - special Internet applications
Gantt chart (see below)

Based on the data obtained through timing, you will be able to identify important features in the distribution of your time and adjust them. Read more about timing.

Gantt chart

The Gantt chart is a bar chart method developed by American management specialist Henry Gantt. It is used to illustrate plans and schedules for various projects. The diagram consists of stripes that are oriented along the time axis, and each of them displays a separate task that is part of the project. The vertical axis is a list of tasks. In addition, you can mark various indicators on the chart - percentages, pointers, timestamps, etc.

Using a Gantt chart, you can clearly track the process of project implementation and the effectiveness of the actions performed. But, in any case, this method will have to be supplemented with others, because the diagram is not synchronized with dates, does not display the resources spent and the essence of the actions performed. It is best used for small projects. The diagram itself is often included as an add-on to various project management applications.

SMART technology

The SMART goal setting technique is recognized as one of the best in the world. It originates in NLP and we discussed it in detail in one of our lessons. Here we will give only a brief description of this technique.

The word “SMART” itself is an acronym formed from the first letters of five words that define goal criteria. Let's look at them in a little more detail.

Specific - the goal must be specific, i.e. when setting it up, you must clearly imagine the result you want to achieve. For example, “I want to become an anthropologist.”
Measurable - the goal must be measurable, i.e. you must represent the desired result in quantitative terms. For example, “by 2015 I want to earn 50 thousand rubles monthly.”
Attainable - the goal must be achievable, i.e. you must take into account the characteristics of your personality: abilities, predisposition, talent, etc. For example, if you have a hard time with mathematics and you absolutely do not understand this science, it is better not to set yourself the goal of becoming an outstanding mathematician.
Relevant - the goal must be relevant to your other goals. For example, achieving a medium-term goal should implicitly include the achievement of several short-term ones.
Time-bounded - the goal must be defined in time and have a clearly defined time frame. For example, “I want to lose weight from 95 to 80 kg in six months by such and such a month.”

All together, this will allow you to determine the necessary actions to achieve the desired result, take into account the maximum number of factors and constantly monitor your progress. Read more about the SMART technique.

List of goals and objectives

The simplest technique with which you can plan time and tasks. It's just a list of things to do. Such lists are very convenient because they do not require any additional resources, such as a PC, mobile applications or the use of complex schemes, but they also allow you to clearly display everything you need to do and control this process.

Making a list of goals and tasks is very simple: you can simply write down on a piece of paper everything that you need to accomplish and when, and upon completion, simply cross out the completed items. Or you can make it a little more complicated: make a table in which there will be columns: “task”, “priority”, “due date”, “completion mark”.

All presented techniques can be used individually or in combination. Try all the options - for sure, after a while you will select the most convenient and suitable one for yourself, and maybe even create some of your own based on them.

To make things easier for you when planning your activities and time, we would like to conclude this lesson by presenting to your attention some very effective principles that you can use in your daily life.

Planning principles

Try all the planning methods discussed and choose the one that suits you best. Use it daily and in all matters.
Don't try to remember everything - take notes. As the saying goes, “the dullest pencil is better than the sharpest memory.”
If you have a lot of things to do, don’t try to do everything. Take the time to identify the most important and priority ones and start implementing them. Finish the rest later.
At the end of one week, make an action plan for the next. Do the same at the end of each day.
Get into the habit of carrying a notepad and pen or a voice recorder with you to record interesting thoughts that come to you.
Keep a “success journal” in which you will note all your successes, no matter how small, every day. This will keep you constantly motivated and remind you that you are on the right track.
Learn to say no. This ability will save you from wasting time, striving for unnecessary goals and communicating with unnecessary people.
Always think before you do anything. Weigh the pros and cons. Try not to commit rash actions and actions.
Always when you are in the process of something, remember yourself, be aware of what you are doing at the moment. If you feel that you are not moving forward, quit this activity.
Look critically at yourself: identify your bad habits that waste time, things that you like to do, but that do not move you towards your goal. Then gradually and one by one replace these habits and activities with new ones that are effective.
Determine your main priorities in life and live in accordance with them. This way you can always be focused on the main thing and won’t waste time.
Do not perform unnecessary unnecessary actions, do not do other people’s business. You must move forward yourself, but do not allow yourself to be used as a tool to achieve other people's goals if you yourself are not happy about it.
Regularly and systematically allocate time for self-improvement: reading books, watching educational and motivating videos, training your skills, etc.
Don't stop there - having achieved one goal, set another, more serious one. This way you can always be in good shape, have incentive and motivation.

Applying all of the above recommendations will allow you to be successful in any field and achieve your goals in the shortest possible time. The most important thing is to constantly work on yourself and put into practice the acquired skills. In order for everything you learned from this lesson to begin to bear fruit, you need to start planning your future activities today. Start with any method, practice, hone a new skill and make it a habit. Of course, it’s impossible to plan everything in our lives, but a lot can be done.

You can find additional interesting materials regarding planning and efficiency on our 4brain resource:

Test your knowledge

If you want to test your knowledge on the topic of this lesson, you can take a short test consisting of several questions. For each question, only 1 option can be correct. After you select one of the options, the system automatically moves on to the next question. The points you receive are affected by the correctness of your answers and the time spent on completion. Please note that the questions are different each time and the options are mixed.

Hello! In this article we will talk about planning your working day.

Today you will learn:

Why plan your working day;
Who needs it?
How to plan your working day correctly.

Planning your working day

In the 21st century, the rhythm of life has noticeably accelerated and continues to gain momentum. If previously, in order to be successful, you needed to do one amount of work, now you need to do much more to achieve success. And people begin to face a lack of time. If we are chasing all the daily tasks that life throws at us every day, there is no time left at all.

Working day planning is a tool that helps not only to use working time effectively, but also to reduce it. This is not a trivial to-do list that needs to be completed in strict order. Planning is the ability to choose what needs to be done, why and when.

That’s why proper planning not only structures everything you do during the day, but also frees up your time. First of all, you need to do the most important things - this is the main rule. It is useful for every person who has free time at work and does not have a clear schedule to distribute their time correctly.

What does planning include?

Working time planning includes:

Setting priorities.
Selecting important tasks.
Finding the best ways to solve them.
Finding employment in your free time.

Prioritization helps you understand what needs attention, what can resolve itself, and what issue should simply be ignored. Time and information have become much more valuable than before, and getting excited about something that does not produce results is pointless.

Selecting important tasks- almost the same as prioritization, only within the framework of one working day. You choose what will bring an important result, what needs to be done urgently, and what can be postponed.

Finding better ways to solve problems- a very important point. When planning, you must consider not only what you will do, but also how best to do it. At the same time, it is important not just to save time, but to do everything as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Working with free time should also be included in the work plan. Do you have 2 hours freed up a day that you can spend on something? You can tell your boss about this, and he will load you with work, you can educate yourself, or you can put effort into developing your own project.

Why is it important to plan your work day?

Anyone who has ever encountered freelancing, business, or “work at will” (like a taxi) understands perfectly the importance of organizing tasks throughout the day. But, for example, most office workers do not consider it necessary to plan their working day.

In fact, main reason planning the working day - increasing your own efficiency. If you listen to your own body, you can understand that some things work better for you at one time, and others at another. For example, it is more convenient for you to make calls to other companies after lunch, since you have already woken up, but are not yet tired, and monotonous work is completed faster in the evening, so it is better to postpone entering information into the database until 5 - 6 hours.

Planning a working day takes into account not only the basic elements of problem solving, but also the personal preferences of each person. Time management was not designed to impose the same pattern of highly efficient work on everyone. You must adapt your tasks to the characteristics of your body.

Organizing and planning your workday allows you to do more in less time, leaving time to do the things you enjoy.

Who should plan their working day?

Every person should be able to plan their working day. This way you can save time and work more efficiently. But there are 3 categories of people who simply must engage in personal planning.

. The most undisciplined worker is a freelancer. He doesn’t have a clear schedule, and only the deadline reminds him that it’s time to sit down to do something. That is why it is very important for freelancers who work with several clients to plan their working day. It often turns out that new orders appear with a difference of one or two days, and if you wait until the last minute, you may not have time to work on two projects.

Businessmen. Everything here is almost the same as in freelancing. Especially if it's an online business. On the one hand, you can relax at home while your employees are working, but on the other hand, this approach will inevitably fail. In the West, the cult of workaholism flourishes among businessmen. They believe that if you don't work 60 hours a week, it means you're lazy and have nothing to do in business.

Managers. A leader will not always be a businessman. The owner of the company may not take an active part in the affairs of his company, but its director takes responsibility for the operation of the whole mechanism. That is why leaders of medium and large companies must use their time effectively, because their decisions determine the future of the company in the long term. Planning a manager’s working day is a way to most effectively distribute your time between strategically important tasks.

Working day planning methods

There can be many methods for properly planning your workday. But one of the most effective is Eisenhower Matrix. Its essence is as follows.

There are 4 squares:

Square A - Urgent and important matters.
Square B - non-urgent and important matters.
Square C - urgent and unimportant matters.
Square D - non-urgent and unimportant matters.

Square A should almost always remain empty. With proper planning, all important tasks should settle in square B and be completed as they approach A.

Square B are important things that will help you achieve your goal. This includes all tasks that need to be completed within 1 business day.

Square C means urgent and unimportant tasks that need to be delegated to others. A prime example of urgent but unimportant matters is calling a potential client. An employee can do this, you better focus on other things.

Square D, means that there are non-urgent and unimportant things that do not bring you closer to your goal, do not give positive emotions and, in principle, are not needed. All useless ideas should be written down in this square.

This division of tasks according to their importance and urgency allows you to understand what you need to pay attention to during the working day, and what you can safely forget about. The matrix helps not only in work processes, but also in everyday life. If you want to learn English, it is interesting to you and will help you in your career - this is square B. But if you want to learn Spanish just for the sake of knowing it, this is D, and you can safely forget about it.

Rules for planning working hours

There are several rules for how to effectively conduct your workday. For convenience, we will divide the day into 3 parts:

The begining of the work day.
Basic workflow.
Completion.

Morning is the most important stage. Depending on how much sleep you got, how you got up and what you did, your mood, psychological attitude and performance will depend.

The principles of a “correct” morning include the following:

Positive attitude. If you wake up every day thinking that you hate your job, your productivity will decrease. Try to start your morning with pleasant thoughts.
Try not to "sway". Have you noticed that after you get up in the morning, you need another 30 - 40 minutes to finally come to your senses? This is time that is not worth wasting. Immediately after waking up, take a shower, brew some coffee, and instead of spending half an hour going nowhere, you can have breakfast in peace.
A leisurely breakfast and the way to work. Starting the day without rush is very important. When you are in a hurry, your body spends extra energy and nerves that could be used for more productive work. If you can’t afford a hearty breakfast and a leisurely trip, go to bed later and get up earlier.
Key tasks. Most successful businessmen tend to say that the most important tasks should be completed in the morning. As the saying goes, “If you want to do everything, eat a frog for breakfast.” The role of a frog is a task that you do not want to take on at all. Do it in the morning, and the positive mood from the fact that the “frog has been eaten” will last throughout the day.

The main workflow consists of the following tasks:

Solve urgent problems. It is important to understand that if some urgent matter comes your way during the working day, you do not need to turn all your attention exclusively to it. First you need to understand whether it is important or not. If it’s important, then you need to start working on it immediately. If not, transfer responsibility for its implementation to another person.
Meet deadlines. Every day you should set yourself approximate deadlines within which you must cope with the entire volume of tasks. It is important that it is not “Do everything before 18 o’clock”, but “At 14:00 - start making a plan, at 15:00 - analyze the indicators, at 16:00 - make a report,” etc.
Order in the workplace. This is an implicit but very important point. If your desk is a mess, your eyes will constantly be lost among it. And if there is some foreign document at your workplace, you can start studying it and just lose 20 - 30 minutes.
Don't follow impulses. It's the most important. There are some triggers that make you shift your attention from work to something less important. Call a friend while you're reviewing your sales plan? It’s better not to do this, then you will lose concentration and can easily lose the working spirit.
Group your routine. It is very important. If you need to make 60 phone calls during the day, then it is better to divide them into several small groups, 10 - 15 at a time. After you have made the call, you can perform another task. By constantly switching from routine to active activity, you can get much more done.

The end of the working day is based on the following principles:

Finish what is needed. There is a group of things that fall into the “important but not urgent” square. It is best to complete them during the working day, and always keep the “important and urgent” square empty.
Check your results against your plan. Everything you did during the day needs to be compared with what you planned. If you have just started planning your work day, then small deviations from the plan will be in order. Try to keep them as few as possible.
Make a plan for the next day. It is best to do this at the end of the previous working day. This way you will maintain a working spirit and, at the same time, it is important to draw up a real program of affairs.

If you are a manager, then during the working day you must work closely with your secretary.

Please remember that this is all general advice. They don't take into account your individual characteristics. If it’s more convenient for you to do urgent work in the afternoon rather than in the morning, that’s your right. If you prefer to do a big, difficult task last, and it doesn't affect your mood for one day, do it last.

Planning your working day should be individual.

Basic mistakes when planning your workday

Despite the fact that the practice of time management is firmly established in our lives, most people make common mistakes when planning their work day. Here are a few of them.

Mistake 1. Wrong prioritization.

The Eisenhower Matrix tells us that we need to do important things. But many people can easily get confused about what is important to them. Square A, which should remain empty and is responsible for urgent and important matters, is often confused with Square C, where unimportant matters that require immediate attention have accumulated.

It is important to remember that you should spend your energy exclusively on what is important to you at a given time. You should work for the future when things can be put aside and planned wisely.

Mistake 2: Spending too much time on little things.

In order to explain why it is necessary to do the “basic” first, and only then the little things, we will use the Pareto Law. It says that 20% of effort produces 80% of results. That is, when you work on something important, you spend 20% of the effort and achieve 80% of the result. When you work on the little things, you get 4 times less results and spend 4 times more effort.

Let's look at a small example. You need to launch an advertising campaign. If you create 10 creatives, select keywords and phrases for them, and launch them on prepared sites, then this will be 20% of the work that will give 80% of the result. But if you spend time editing fonts and images, selecting and polishing phrases, and searching for additional platforms for advertising, you will spend much more effort. All this will need to be done, but after the start of the advertising campaign, when you achieve the first result.

Mistake 3. Lack of time for personal matters.

Every person should have a personal life and freedom to choose an occupation. If you have a lot to do and you don’t find one or two hours to do your hobby, then this is poor planning of your day. Planning your working time is important not only because it allows you to get more done. It gives you the opportunity to do what you like without haste.