Career Tips – A Four Step Guide to Mitigate Time Blindness
By: Neil Patrick G Nepomuceno
If you’re having trouble with activities and responsibilities that involve time management such as planning, scheduling, assignments, and even goal setting, you may be experiencing what psychologists call ‘Time blindness.’
But don’t worry! Here are four useful tips on how to accurately perceive the sequence of time at work.
SET UP DIGITAL CALENDARS AND TO-DO LISTS
Consider using a digital calendar to keep tabs on all your different appointments, deadlines, and events. Never miss an appointment, deadlines, and work-related events by keeping tabs on your daily activities in a digital calendar! Simply access the built–in calendar app on your mobile device or desktop PC.
TIPS: After adding your responsibilities to your calendar, you can set reminders for yourself in advance, just remember to disable the alarm sound, or switch to a silent device profile while at the office.
MAKE IT A HABIT: Check your schedule every day and ensure that you’re on top of all your upcoming deadlines and events.
DIVIDE YOUR TASKS INTO SMALLER STEPS
Feeling uneasy during big tasks? Are you anxious about how long it would take to finish it? Instead of going the easy route of “backlogging” these tasks, you can start setting a timer, and breaking them into smaller, more manageable tasks.
TIPS: STAY FOCUSED. Complete these little tasks one by one. If you finish the entire smaller task within the allotted time, that’s great. If not, you’ve still made progress on the assigned task.”
REDUCE SWITCHING BETWEEN TASKS
A telltale sign of time blindness is the inability to prioritize a more important task when a new task or notification pops up. While this can be unavoidable, it is best to keep it to a minimum to ensure high-quality outputs.
TIPS: USE DIGITAL TOOLS. If you leave your to-do list to memory and have to multi-task, then it is more likely that you will forget something crucial. Writing lists or using online organizational tools such as Excel or Trello can help you feel confident about managing your workload.
GIVE YOURSELF ENOUGH TIME TO FINISH YOUR GOALS.
It is important to recognize how long it will take to complete a task without compromising the quality of your work. This skill comes with experience, but for newcomers, you can seek advice from colleagues or establish an initial time frame and adjust it as they gain a better understanding of their responsibilities.
TIPS: Multitasking, when done inefficiently, can cause unnecessary stress if you are doing too much at once, and not giving yourself enough time to finish your tasks. To mitigate this, be sure to set realistic time frames.
Remember, effective time management isn’t about multitasking relentlessly but about setting realistic time frames. By doing so, you not only avoid unnecessary stress but also ensure that your tasks are completed with the quality they deserve.
Striking this balance is key to fostering a productive and fulfilling work environment.