Time is a lawyer’s most precious commodity; you can’t buy it, bottle it or reproduce it, but you can save it.
There are various techniques for managing time but the main aim of them all is to enable you to work effectively, efficiently and with minimum stress. By taking control of your time, and creating techniques to deal with daily issues, you can become master of the clock.
The following tips are designed to help you focus your energies towards priorities, and give you the tools to deal with mundane tasks. Using them frequently will reinforce your skills and enable you to use your time effectively.
Managing paper
We all have a continuous flow of paper that comes through our office or home like a daily tidal wave. The key to not drowning in envelopes, letters and documents is being organised and scrupulous.
The wastepaper basket is likely to become very important so a large one is necessary. When deciding whether to keep a document ask yourself if it available somewhere else. If it is, bin it.
If you need to keep it then organise your files in a simple, methodical manner so things are easy to find. Have fewer folders, and fill them frequently, rather than having lots of folders with little in them.
Today’s technologies allow for secure paperless depositions. Use these where possible as this will save you hours of filing, shredding and debating about what to keep.
Managing calls
Attempting to coordinate with someone on the end of a phone can be tedious and time consuming. We have all called, left a message, missed the call back, then left another message, in what seems like a constant game of telephone tag.
To avoid this game, and make economical use of your call time use the following tips:
• Leave a date and time you are available to take the return call
• Jot down pointers before the call commences to ensure you stay focused and avoid another call back later
• Use your phone’s planner to send yourself a message regarding important times and meetings. This way you won’t miss anything and can commit to a length of time without distractions and clock watching
Managing procrastination
We all procrastinate. Coffee breaks, chatting with colleagues, or working on irrelevant tasks are all methods of distracting ourselves from the task in hand.
The key to overcoming this is just getting started. Don’t muse over when or how just put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard and begin. You can always edit later if you find you don’t like what you’ve done.
If this idea doesn’t sit well with the perfectionist inside of you, try this: Assemble all relevant materials for the task you need to complete and arrange it on your desk as if you’re ready to go. Then sit down and do nothing. Do nothing at all for seven minutes. By this end of this time period you will be straining with the effort of containing yourself and should be propelled into action.
These tips are designed you help you manage your time and make you more effective, but they work best when followed on a daily basis so they become part of your routine.
This will give you spare time each day where you aren’t thinking about what should be done or when, but rather moving from one task to another without delay or procrastination.
Did you know we specialise in training courses for legal consultants in Dubai, UAE?
