Organization of the working day: recommendations from psychologists. How to organize your working day

With the modern rhythm of life organization of working hours is becoming increasingly relevant. People constantly calculate how much time in their lives they spend sleeping, how much time they spend at work, and how much free time they have left. But no one considers how much time they waste, especially at work.

You can’t even imagine how much time it takes you to look through email, drink tea with colleagues, work out, and especially social media. All these so-called cases seem harmless, but in the end they literally steal work time. In addition, people like to create stressful situations for themselves. They tend to put off important things until later, and when the time comes to hand over the work, they begin to work in emergency mode. This tendency is called.

For ordinary people, this is simple laziness, but scientists say the opposite. A person putting things off until the last minute realizes the importance of the situation, but still puts it off until the last minute. This happens for various reasons: lack of motivation and interest in work or lack of understanding of what the end result should be, etc. Effective organization of working time would allow such situations to be avoided. There is such a thing as time management. This is the science of correct and effective distribution of your time: both working and free. If you don't plan time, it will slip through your fingers like water.

To organize your working time, it is recommended to divide all tasks into four groups: important and urgent, unimportant and non-urgent, important and non-urgent, unimportant and urgent. Psychological research showed that people spend more time on unimportant and non-urgent matters, and leave important and urgent ones for later, when there is no longer time for them. A few simple rules will help you organize your working time effectively.

In order to do this, you need, first of all, to put things in order on your computer desktop and in your workplace, so as not to waste time searching for the required document or file. The concept of “creative clutter” does not apply to work.

Also in the morning, in order not to waste time preparing for work, try to come to work early, about 15 minutes before the start of the working day. This is enough time to turn on the computer, look through email, drink a cup of coffee and chat with colleagues.

Try to note the time every time you go online not for work purposes, but to distract yourself, or when you read SMS messages on your phone. You will be surprised at how much time you will spend. Of course, in order to effectively organize your working time, you need short breaks, they prevent you from overworking, but you shouldn’t stay at your workplace, it’s better to get up and walk around.

If you feel that you are not meeting deadlines with your work, you can set aside a few hours and come to work on a day off. Often you can do it in a couple of hours on a weekend than on weekdays. And you will thereby avoid stress and emergency work.

Sometimes it happens that even efficient organization of working time does not help “clear the rubble” at work. This is due to the fact that there is more work than you are capable of doing. Therefore, if your work depends on orders, do not take everything in a row and realistically assess your strengths.

Prioritize what is important and learn to quickly switch from one task to another, this will help you get more done in a day. And don't forget to leave work on time. Manage your time so as not to be late, otherwise you will never be able to separate work from your personal life, and therefore you will not be able to get rid of stress.

In conclusion, I would like to say, perhaps, the most important criterion that needs to be taken into account when organizing the working day effectively: you need to get enough sleep so as not to feel like a “broken trough” and not fall asleep on the go.

These simple rules will significantly simplify your life, help organize work time effectively, achieve high results at work and relieve stress and fatigue.

“Don't trust calendars. There can be as many days in a year as you want. One person spends a year doing something that could be done in a week, while another lives through the events of a whole year in a week.”

Charles Richards

One of the most significant difficulties in life and self-improvement remains the lack of time. Of course, time is the same for everyone - there are 24 hours in every person’s day. The question is how we use these hours.

Here are some examples of how you can free up some time to do what you really want.

1. Track how your day goes

Use pen and paper—or your computer—and a watch. Track where your time actually goes during the day, not where you think it goes. You might be surprised how much time you waste on stuff (especially things that aren't that important or interesting to you).

2. Accept that you don't need to do everything you do.

The sky will not fall on your head if you give up any activity. This is the most important item on the list. Everything you “should” be doing is preventing you from improving yourself or even just taking some time to take care of yourself. But in reality, you don’t “owe” anything.

Try to look at the situation as if you were choosing what to do. Of course, if you decide to do or not do something, there are reasons for it. The reasons may be good or bad, positive or negative. Sometimes at first glance things do not seem to be what they really are, but your task is to learn to control your life and make choices instead of letting the world around you control you and decide for you. Such skills will help you understand what is not of paramount importance to you, abandon these activities or devote less time to them, and do something more interesting.

3. Use Parkinson's Law

You can work faster than you think. Parkinson's Law states that a task will get longer and more complicated depending on the time you are willing to spend on it. For example, if you promised yourself to resolve the issue within a week, everything will certainly become confused to such an extent that you will have to devote much more time to finding a way out of the situation than you expected.
Instead, focus on finding a solution to the problem, then give yourself an hour (not a whole day) or a day (not a week) to implement your plan. This way of acting will stimulate your thinking and force you to concentrate on action.

4. Reduce the amount of information you receive

This is a very important point. To find time for personal development you will most likely have to watch TV less often, leaf through magazines and newspapers, especially if you are used to doing several of these activities at once. Eliminating them will free up a lot of time, but still, you probably won't want to miss your favorite show or forget about the newspapers. The following question will help us find a compromise...

5. Combine several activities to your advantage

If you want to watch your favorite TV show, combine it with something healthy, like exercising on a stationary bike. Or organize a meeting with friends and chat with them while playing tennis (also physical exercise) or shopping (treat yourself to a couple of new CDs or fashionable clothes).

Plus, you can get a variety of information during short breaks throughout the day. Listen to an audiobook while commuting instead of at home. While sitting in the waiting room of an institution waiting to be seen, you can watch a new episode of your favorite show using your iPOD or mobile phone.

6. Periodically ask yourself how necessary your activity is.

Most of the time we are busy with something unimportant, although we do not realize it. By asking yourself what you did during the day, you may discover that you could have put your time to better use (whether you were at work or at home). To help you remember to ask yourself helpful questions, use external reminders in the form of sticky notes, screen savers, and accessories.

7. Get your act together

Instead of wasting time, immersed in thoughts in the hope that someone will do the work for you or take the initiative, instead of trying to find an explanation and justification for your idleness, develop the habit of doing all the tasks at once.

Be proactive and do what you have to do. Most often, this can be done another time, sometime later, but by the time you are forced to act, you will have lost a lot of time looking for reasons to put off work, thinking about the inevitable and irritation because, in the end, , you'll have to get down to business. And if you expect someone else to do it for you, it may take a long time before your expectations are met.

Developing this habit can be difficult if you are used to thinking for a long time (or too long) before doing something. Having started working on myself, I found one effective method: you need to correlate your actions less with thoughts and emotions, recognizing the fact that you are in control of your internal state, and not vice versa. Of course, you can allow yourself to think about the situation a little, but then it is better to do what you intended to do as soon as possible.

8. Don't spray yourself

You may be great at multitasking. Me not. Therefore, if I am faced with a task that requires concentration and careful planning, I prefer to do only that for a while. It may seem that the more things you do at once, the sooner you will finish your work. However, in my experience, this leads to confusion, overexertion, and as a result you waste much more time than would be needed if you were to solve all the questions one at a time.

9. Work in silence

Organize your workplace so that nothing distracts you from your work. Put away things that might cause you to procrastinate - close the door, disconnect from the Internet, turn off your phone, and tidy up your desk. Then choose one activity for yourself and complete it.

10. Eat right and exercise

The time you can use productively depends largely on your physical condition. If you get home from work or class and are exhausted, you'll likely end up spending the evening sprawled out on the couch.

By exercising and eating right, you can improve your physical fitness, which means you'll have more energy for what you do. Along with your well-being, your ability to concentrate will also improve, that is, you will cope with the task at hand faster, and at the same time you will have the strength to do something else after completing the work.

• Why Busy People Are Actually Not All That Successful

• What to do if you need to be at two meetings at the same time

• Why it's better to leave a quarter of your time free

• What is the essence of the “three nails” rule, which is appropriate when time pressure arises?


In this article, two of your colleagues will tell you how to organize your working time in order to get everything done and deal with time pressure.

How to manage your working time so as not to find yourself in time trouble and what to do if it does catch up with you? Peter Bregman, a consultant on company management and creating leadership teams, gives, for example, the following advice (see Peter Bregman’s book “18 minutes. How to increase concentration, stop distractions and get things done that really matter.” - M.: Mann, Ivanov and Ferber, 2014).

You can often hear from managers that they are so busy that they simply have no time to plan their time and analyze how it was spent. A vicious circle is formed: there is no time to manage time. To solve this problem, we offer a short one-week algorithm for mastering basic time management tools, which even the busiest General Director can do.

In the article you will find detailed step by step plan, which can be implemented today.

1. Stop periodically to take a breather. This will help you recover, focus on priorities and move more effectively towards your goal.
2. Define criteria for assessing task completion. This will make it easier to understand that you have achieved results and can move on to the next task.
3. If you don't work on a problem for three days in a row, change its priority or move it to a later date. This will help you concentrate on the main thing.
4. Set your phone, computer, or watch to beep every hour. This will allow you to systematically monitor and evaluate current activities and intermediate results.
5. Don't let yourself be distracted. Scientists have found that 40% of people do not return to a task they were previously performing after being distracted.
6. Be consistent. Never do several things at the same time. This will force you to constantly switch between tasks, which will reduce your productivity.

To organize your working time, analyze your day

Alla Ivanova, General Director and owner of the Alla Print and Cosmetics Gallery companies, Moscow

Managing your time is difficult to learn, but every successful leader must master this skill. I went through a lot of special training, read relevant literature, adopted the experience of other managers - and realized that not a single time management model fully suits me. So I started creating my own. As a result, I developed a number of rules that allow me to plan my time in such a way as to achieve my goals and at the same time remain full of energy.

Rule 1. The more time you spend planning, the less time trouble you will have. I have come up with a pattern: every ten minutes of planning today saves an hour of your time tomorrow. That's why I distribute my time like this. On Thursdays (sometimes on Fridays) I make a plan for the week ahead. I don’t fill it completely; As a rule, I only write down the main tasks and meetings. This makes it possible each evening to more carefully build a schedule for the next day. This way you use your time more practically, you always have time to implement your main plans and adjust smaller tasks to them. But I don’t recommend planning your time down to the minute: you will start blaming yourself for not getting a lot done.

Rule 2. When planning your time, leave about a quarter free. No matter how long I plan things for (week, month, year), I always leave about a quarter of the total time in reserve. Experience shows that during the day there is always an urgent issue that requires my attention. For example, today an old friend of mine came into the office. He didn’t warn me that he was coming, but thanks to this method I had a little time so that we could calmly drink coffee and talk. Having such a time buffer, you can more calmly prepare for all upcoming or unscheduled matters. For example, I know that one negotiation will require an hour to travel there and back, plus about an hour for the meeting itself. In this case, I set aside not two hours for this task, but three, so that I can feel more confident, even if for some reason the meeting drags on. If you manage to finish things on time or ahead of schedule, you can spend the remaining time as you wish.

Rule 3. During periods of intense work, take forced breaks. When work is very intense (for example, a new project is being launched), I force half-hour walks around the park into my schedule. At first, I had to force myself quite harshly: for example, at exactly one o’clock in the afternoon every day for a week I went outside and turned off the phone. After such a break, you work much more productively.

Rule 4. If two tasks of equal importance arise, determine their priority in advance. Recently, two important clients for us expressed a desire to meet with me on the same day. Both partners provided the same revenue to our company, so it was not possible to make a clear choice with whom to meet. In such situations, I am guided by two factors: territorial (how far is the place where you need to arrive to solve the problem, how many resources are needed) and personal (what are the relationships with contractors). There are managers who do not agree to communicate with anyone other than the director. I try to meet with such people personally, and send an assistant or confidant to the rest. The key is to let clients know that they are all important. It’s worth calling and talking about it personally, and then offering options for solving the problem. This way you can gain time, and you will have the opportunity to solve problems one by one.

Rule 5: Divide and conquer. I realized a long time ago that I wouldn’t be able to do anything alone. Therefore, I distribute responsibilities among competent employees, thereby not only simplifying my life, but also improving the quality of personnel management. Some managers are afraid of a state of affairs in which their employees are better versed in some areas. On the contrary, I respect competent specialists. Even if they are smarter than me, it is only in one area. For example, I, of course, but only within certain limits - that’s enough for me. Therefore, you should not try to understand everything.

Rule 6. Work on your own mistakes. I analyze every day (usually on the way home) what events and circumstances took up my time, what mistakes I made, what I managed to do and what I didn’t. Gradually, with experience, you will learn to anticipate events that may affect your routine. So, I noticed that one of the reasons for time pressure was my reluctance to do unpleasant things, in particular to call certain people. I regularly put off such conversations until the last minute, which later led to problems. Another effective way identify ineffective use of time - write down everything you did during the day, down to the smallest detail. This list clearly demonstrates where you are wasting your time. It is worth conducting such a thorough analysis when it is necessary, that is, when you realize that the day is stretching out and you are no longer able to keep up with everything.

Rule 7. Don't rush to earn all the money. I noticed: people who are always busy are not so successful. Notice: when we are in a hurry, we cannot even fasten a button the first time, let alone make important decisions. Over the years of leadership, I have learned to periodically stop, take a deep breath, and only then continue on my way - calmly and measuredly (see also: Make stops while working to sharpen your axe.) And for this, it is important to learn one rule: you cannot try to earn all the money, torn between many things.

• Time Management Techniques: Time Management in a New Way

Stop while working to sharpen your ax

The annual world championship of lumberjacks was held in Canada. The finalists were a Canadian and a Norwegian. Each of them was assigned a plot of forest. Whoever can fell the most trees between eight in the morning and four in the afternoon will be the winner. The finalists began the competition, and soon the Canadian heard that the Norwegian had stopped. Realizing that this was his chance, he redoubled his efforts. After some time, the Norwegian got down to business. They worked almost synchronously, then the Norwegian stopped again. He took ten-minute breaks every hour, and the Canadian continued working. When the bell rang to end the competition, the Canadian was sure that the prize was in his pocket. However, he was defeated. - How did it happen? – he asked the Norwegian. – Every hour I heard that you stop working for ten minutes. How did you manage to cut down more wood than me? This is impossible! “In fact, everything is very simple,” the Norwegian answered directly. Every hour I stopped for ten minutes and, while you continued to cut down the forest, I sharpened my ax.

When pressed for time, require short letters from employees and do not forget about the main goal

Ilya Rubtsov, Director of Corus Consulting CIS, St. Petersburg

There are times when the number of tasks that require simultaneous work for me simply goes off scale. It seems that it is not only problematic to keep them in your head, but also impossible to deal with them all in principle. When such a period comes, I use several effective techniques.

Twitter-style. There are employees who like to write long and rather confusing letters. If I receive this, then I ask the subordinate to briefly, in one or two sentences, reformulate the idea, isolate the essence and write in clear language. It often happens that, trying to rethink the problem, an employee finds a way out on his own - or the problem becomes so simple that you can make a decision or give advice quite quickly.

The "three nails" rule. It is better not to abuse this rule, but sometimes it allows you to focus on really important things. The method comes from an old story: three nails are nailed to the wall, and if a task appears, you hang it on the first nail and forget about it. If the same task arises again, it is moved from the first to the second nail, and you also forget about it. The same thing happens a third time. If the task reminds itself for the fourth time, then it is completed, since there is nowhere to outweigh it. But it comes to this in rare cases; more often than not, the problem is either solved without your participation, or becomes irrelevant.

Timer. Many cases are completed later than planned. Moreover, each delay affects the completion of subsequent tasks. This situation aggravates time pressure. Most people's phones have a timer function that allows them to sound an alarm after a certain amount of time. This helps to clearly limit the time for completing tasks and not disrupt plans. For example, I have all my affairs, meetings and events indicated in an electronic calendar, which is automatically synchronized on my computer, phone and tablet. All calendar entries include a reminder for the next task: when it comes time, a message appears with a sound on your computer and phone indicating that it is time to wrap up and move on to the next task.

Filter. Deputies and assistants are very useful, they prepare the necessary information for you, help you complete tasks, relieve you of unnecessary problems, allowing you to free up time for the main, most important things. For example, when another problem arises that urgently needs to be solved, instruct your assistant to work through and prepare information on the basis of which you could quickly make a decision.

Global goal. It is important for the director to remember global goals, about the company's strategy. All questions and their answers must be related to the solution strategic objectives. To keep these guidelines in mind, I take time every Monday to identify key priorities and plan the most important tasks for the coming week as part of the implementation of the company's strategy.

And one more recommendation on how to organize your working time. With intense work and enormous responsibility, the mental stability of a leader is very important. And to maintain it, you need to be able to disconnect from work. It is advisable to set aside time every day for sports, hobbies and any other distracting activities. This allows you to maintain energy balance and restore strength for efficient work.

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IN Lately Psychologists note an increased amount of stress among the population. No wonder, because in cities high tempo life, and, trying to be on time everywhere, a person gets quite overstrained. Therefore, it is important for everyone to be able to and know how to organize their time with maximum benefit for myself. As a result, this will allow you not only to keep up with everything, but also to find opportunities for personal affairs and relaxation. This skill is needed not only by adults, but also by children. After all, it is from an early age that it is most effective to learn something.

Why do you need the ability to organize time?

Some people find it strange to learn how to manage their time. Some people think this is the lot of bores. Most likely, everyone is familiar with a type of personality who is always and everywhere late? It is unlikely that it can cause pleasant sensations. But proper planning not only protects you from being late, but also allows you not to live with the feeling of “again a wasted day.” So, the advantages of organizing time:

• The constant rush will disappear.
• Absent-mindedness goes away.
• There is time for hobbies and meeting with friends.
• There is no feeling that days are going by “in vain”.
• Creation of working days and weekends.
• No processing.

As you can see, obviously, knowing how to effectively organize time is useful for every adult. The main benefit is that in this way a person is saved from nervous tension, anxiety and subsequent stress. In other words, by managing your time wisely, you can maintain your health.

Ways to organize time

Behind for a long time existence, there were many ways to organize your time. There is no single correct type, since they need to be chosen based on the individual characteristics of the psyche. For example, each category has its own time management principles. It’s clear that organizing a student’s time is easier than organizing the time of an employee in a significant position.

Basics for planning

First things first, buy yourself a diary. What it will be like is up to you. Some people prefer a notebook lined by dates, others prefer weekly divisions, and others need blank sheets of white paper. Either way, you'll need something to record your schedule on. Don't try to find the most expensive or cheapest option. Choose what you like. The main thing is that you feel comfortable using it.

An option for advanced people is electronic diaries. There are a lot of different kinds of programs that can be customized to your taste. Also, most of them have synchronization with a smartphone or tablet.

Key point: you should always keep your diary in front of your eyes and promptly make changes to it.

Before starting work

If you have not tried to organize your time before, then you will have to go through many difficulties. Therefore, immediately remember the phrase “The best is the enemy of the good” and try not to worry. When a person learns something, he does not do everything well right away, and this is a normal phenomenon.

You should always strive for the ideal, but along the way, not everything will work out correctly, and this is normal, since organizing your time is not so easy without knowing how to do it. So be persistent.

Decide on a life concept

In any business, it is important to realize your goals. To do this, in time management (the so-called branch of science on how to organize your time), it is customary to distinguish three types of goals. These are long term goals, medium term goals and short term goals. In general, the only difference is in the stage at which you decide to implement them.

That's why important rule- write down your goals. Be sure to do this on paper. This is the only way you can complete them. Why is this necessary? When you write down a goal, you accept it and materialize it. When you see a list of goals, you see your business plan. This is how you separate the wheat from the chaff, the unimportant from the main. After all, before deciding how best to organize your time, you need to decide why you need it.

Set clear deadlines for achieving goals. Why is this necessary? Blurred deadlines mean vague goals, resulting in an impossible achievement. And by clearly limiting yourself to a time frame, you take on certain obligations.

The Trick to Making a Goal Plan

For those who are just learning how to organize their time, it is difficult to separate important goals from unimportant ones. This is especially difficult in terms of long-term goals. Do a simple exercise: take blank sheets of paper and write down absolutely all your desires, from simple to incredible. Anything that comes to mind. Then put the lists aside and come back to them after a couple of days. Then, from what you have written, write down only what is meaningful to you. This will give you your list of long-term goals.

Features of medium-term goals

You need to have a three-year or five-year plan in front of you. In other words, something global. You need to divide it by a large number of small goals divided into monthly blocks. These are small steps towards your big achievements. It is important to take into account areas such as health, recreation, sports, education, and entertainment.

Always keep the resulting list before your eyes, as you can make adjustments to it over time.

How to organize your time correctly?

Once you buy a diary, get into the habit of writing in it every day. Get in the habit of planning your day the night before. This approach will allow you to save several hours. What are the advantages of this approach?

• The order of doing things.
• Drawing up a travel route.
• In a dream, the subconscious mind absorbs information better.
• A daily plan and long-term goals allow you to rank your tasks.
• Additional motivation.
• Visibility of active and completed goals.

In other words, planning every day is a useful thing. It also allows you to correctly This will allow you to immediately mark ineffective things.

Consider your biological cycles. For each person there are individual periods of activity and its decline. Therefore, it is logical to plan your affairs taking them into account. For example, labor-intensive activities with a high concentration of attention should be carried out during periods of activity. This will allow you to work efficiently.

Be sure to divide all your goals into categories. This makes it easier for you to highlight micro-goals within them and complete them. For example, what do you mostly do during the day? Let's say it's work, home, self-care, free time and dream. Create a list of goals based on these categories.

Ask for help? - Yes!

Many people find it strange to delegate their affairs to others. In fact, this needs to be done. As much as you might like, your time and your personal capabilities are limited, so feel free to delegate some of your responsibilities. Decide on goals and tasks, find those who can accomplish them, and delegate them. Discuss milestones and due dates. Don’t forget to reward the performers at the end of the task.

How to organize a child’s time and teach him this?

Modern parents note that children have become inactive. Give them free rein, they will sit at the computer all day long. In fact, today you can find two diametrically different concepts of behavior: completely neglect the children, do not let them take a break from school and classes. In this matter, it is important to maintain a golden mean.

How to organize a student’s time so that he has enough time for studies and hobbies, sections, clubs, etc.? Train him already primary school plan the day. Talk to your child about what he might have to do. For example, school, lunch, coming home, rest, preparation homework, help around the house and personal time. Don't put pressure on him, just help him with leading questions. At first, help your child follow the action plan. Over time, he will be completely independent in this regard.

Paradoxically, those children whose day is maximally occupied with school and clubs are the ones who know best how to manage their time. The point is that they know how much they need to do, and so they try. At first, you need to clearly control your child’s trips here or there, but over time you will no longer have this need.

How to organize your child's free time? - Remember that parents - best example for children. Therefore, if you know how to plan time, manage it and create effective lists of goals, then your child will easily adopt this system from you.

In any case, remember that learning effective time management takes a long time, as it should become your habit. And it takes a lot of time to form a habit. Don’t despair if you can’t do something or forget to write something in, everything comes with experience.

Another useful trick is to learn introspection. This way you can determine which things are ineffective during the day, and which ones are effective.

Often, the productivity of your work depends on the organization of your working time. If you're not getting anything done, the problem may not be that you're working slowly, but that you're not prioritizing correctly.

Principles of working time organization

First of all, proper organization of time lies in the ability to distinguish urgent from non-urgent and important from unimportant matters. It is based on these four criteria that you need to build your working day. The best option is this:

1. First of all, you need to do all the urgent and important things, things that don’t have time to wait.
2. Put in second priority all the things that are urgent but not important. Even though they are low in the hierarchy of importance, if you classify them as urgent, it means you need to get even with them as quickly as possible.
3. In third place are important but non-urgent matters. They should not be left until the very end of the working day, since at this time, as a rule, attention is already weakened, and there is a high probability of making a mistake.
4. In last, fourth place are unimportant and non-urgent matters. Usually these include various kinds of applied work: sorting papers, organizing folders, etc. They can be done at the end of the working day, when there is no energy left for work.

By the way, the organization of personal time may well follow the same principles - this way you will always have time for everything urgent and not get stuck on trifles.

Organization of space

Organization of time and space – important factor efficient work. Before you start your working day, ensure that you have free space and accessibility to all the documents and office supplies you need for work. You'll save time if you don't spend it searching for the items you need throughout the day. It is much more effective to spend 5 minutes on these issues at the beginning of the day.