Meeting deadlines without hassles!
Whether you are a student or are currently working, deadlines may be worrying you on a daily basis. According to the 2017 Work Market/KRC Research Workforce Productivity report found only 31 percent of upper-level managers feel their workplace is as productive as it should be. The report surveyed 200 U.S. business leaders on productivity and workplace management. So how can we help our managers find us productive? One key way is by meeting deadlines through the following steps.
- Understand the deliverable: It is important to know your work. Ask questions to clarify your doubts. Be clear on the expectations in terms of objectives, quality, timeline, impact and role. Research on similar projects to get new ideas. Google slightest problems that you may have regarding your work. Work smart in order to complete your tasks without hassles. Make sure that you are aware about the trends related to your work. It will make its execution easier!
- Make an execution plan: Once the tasks have been assigned to you make an execution plan or a simple to-do list for yourself. You can use tools like Google sheets to make an execution plan. On your execution plan list down the tasks assigned, their deadlines, next steps and status. Through this you’ll be able to monitor your work. Chalk out tasks for the month, week and if necessary daily too. You can use Google calendar or sticky notes to mark out important events and meeting dates. This will you keep track of your deadlines.
- Prioritize your work: Once you’ve identified the tasks, prioritize them according to their level of importance and urgency. Stephen Covey’s Prioritization Matrix will help you understand and prioritize. It has four quadrants of urgency and importance. Technology has made our lives easier! There are new applications introduced for various activities such as health, social networking, time-management, etc. Apps like RescueTime, Evernote, Toggl helps you monitor your time. It prevents wastage of time by scheduling your work and sending reminders.
- Seek help from peers: There might be situations where despite of being careful, an approaching deadline may be stressful. You can ask your team to support you on certain parts of the task. For example, if one of your colleagues is good at making presentations you can ask for quick tips. Team effort can take you places. For example, Apps such as SLACK brings team communication and collaboration in one place so that more work can be done!
That being said don’t be disheartened by approaching deadlines. Take a deep breath and follow your execution plan. Anyone with a vision and an action plan can overcome the fear of missing deadlines! Will and self constraint will always keep you going! If you complete your tasks before the due date, it will make you happy, satisfied and reduce work-related stress!
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