How can I manage my time better?

How can I manage my time better? I just never seem to have enough

Most of the information and training available on time management is irrelevant to those of us who work in the hospitality industry. The minute you start working, you're driven by the need to react to your team and your customers, whatever your plans might be for the day.

In fact, it's usually a catch-22 situation where you don't have enough time to do your job properly, but you still need to find time to change the situation for the better.

To start, forget making lists. The only procedure I've found that works is to analyse what you actually do each day. Take the time to keep a daily log of what you do on just one day, broken down into units of, say, 15 minutes.

Then find time to sit down with this list, identify the tasks you've done, and question each one. Was it really necessary? Should you be the person to do this, or could someone else do it better? If this is a recurring task, could you do it just once instead? Is one area of your responsibility taking up too much time? Is one person taking up too much of your time?

The problem is that in a reactive situation you tend to respond immediately, without really thinking about what you're going to do.

But you need to create the process (and time) to be able to do this. By analysing one day of your work life in detail, you'll come up with several answers to the above questions and this will free up some of your time.

Once you've established these initial changes, repeat the process about a month later, and your time management will continue to improve.

Charles Trevor-Roper
www.coachingtosuccess.biz