When John Kim co-founded Syncis in 2009, he did so with the aim of facilitating the recruitment and mentoring of people who were looking to start second careers in the financial services. Many of the people who become Associates of the company do so while working in other roles simultaneously, which makes effective time management crucial to their success. This is an area where a lot of people struggle, so try to keep these handy pointers in mind if you want to make the most of the time you have available at work.
Keep A Schedule
If you don’t keep a schedule you will find that your work is often unfocused and you waste a lot of time trying to figure out what you should be doing next. You should wake up each day with a solid plan of action that details that tasks you have to complete and the amount of time you can dedicate to each of them. Your schedule should also include a little bit of spare time, as this will allow you to be flexible enough to take on emergency tasks or add a little more time onto a job that needs completing.
Make Use of Deadlines
A realistic deadline will motivate you to buckle down in your work to get the job done. Whenever you schedule a task in your diary you should try to settle a time for when it needs to be completed. This helps you to avoid procrastinating and also gives you something tangible to work towards.
Eliminate Distractions
It’s likely you have been in a situation where you have been trying to focus on work, only for a conversation with a colleague to start that ends up lasting more time than intended. The issue of distractions is even more difficult for those who are starting careers and people who are working from home, as they need to make the most out of all the time they have available to them. If you absolutely have to get a task completed, you need to shut yourself off from the world. Close your door, turn your phone off and stop checking emails. Do whatever it takes to get the job done.
Always Question Yourself
It can be too easy to get caught up in the mundane work that doesn’t really serve a purpose other than to occupy your time. Before you start a task you should question yourself and consider how important what you’re doing actually is in terms of how it will help you achieve your career goals. If you don’t think what you are currently doing is the best possible, use of your time you need to stop and find something that serves a more direct purpose.
John Kim Syncis is the Co-Chairman and Co-Founder of Syncis.
