Are you using your time productively?

Or do you sometimes feel like you’re achieving nothing?

Here’s a list of time management hacks that are perfect if you work in the financial services industry.

Get your efficiency back on track and gain more time for the things you want to do.

Prioritise

When you start your day, list your tasks and give each a priority from 1-3:

1. Urgent – for example, answering client queries by phone and email where if you don´t get back to them, you may lose a potential lead or existing customer.
2. Important – projects with deadlines, such as reports, client quotes, or researching new products.
3. Unnecessary – distractions such as reading social media or promotional emails or doing chores if you work from home.

Colour-coding is a great way to see what needs doing at a glance.

Once you’ve completed a job, simply tick it off for a sense of achievement.

Delegate

If you have an assistant, use their skills to help you make the most of your time.

Don´t do tasks yourself if someone else can action them for you.

Some people have a fear of letting go and end up doing everything themselves.

This is a sign of poor management:

You need to learn to trust those who work for or with you.

Organise

Have a look at your work environment.

Are you surrounded by mountains of paper and clutter?

This can be unproductive.

For a start, it means you can’t find that important financial report quickly.

But it can also be distracting.

Take the time to work out a system and keep your desk tidy.

Make time at the end of the day to clear up and set priorities for the next day, so you can get to work fast.

Having a good start to the day puts you in a positive mindset and motivates you to keep going until you clock out.

Read our guide on how to improve your home office set-up for more tips and tricks on this topic.

Work smarter

Are you a morning person, or do you work better in the evening?

We all have a time of day when we work better, so do the more difficult tasks during these hours.

If you know you have a lull in the afternoon, take a short break or do a few admin tasks to keep on top of things.

In addition, try not to work for too many hours in a day.

While it might seem beneficial to burn the midnight oil finishing that client report, you’re more likely to make mistakes if you’re tired.

Maximise the use of technology

There are so many tools out there to help you manage your time.

If you still like to work with a paper diary and planner, that’s fine, but consider the tools below.

We promise they can make a difference to your time management skills:

• Email calendar – to schedule appointments and deadlines
• Trello – centralises project management if you work with a team
• Pomodoro – an online timer that splits your work into blocks
• RescueTime – shows you how much time you’re wasting
• Toggl – tracks time spent on tasks and projects
• Evernote – capture your thoughts and ideas and save them for later
• Pocket – save that useful financial article you want to read or other content for later (including this article!)

Take some time to review your time management skills and get your working life under control so you can spend more time doing the things you love.

If you have a remote job or run your business remotely, you’ll also be interested in our top tips for switching off when working from home.

And click here to learn more ways you can achieve the perfect work/life balance.