Be on time.

Be on time in coming to work everyday. Set your alarm at least 30 minutes earlier than usual. Take baby steps and make it your goal to be on time for a week first. If there were days that you were late, make it your goal to lessen the number of times you are tardy the following week. Keep on doing this until there isn’t a day in the week you are late for work.

Be on time in attending meetings. Mark ahead regular/recurring meetings so you wouldn’t forget. Block your calendar as soon as you find out that you have important meetings to attend.

Be on time in submitting reports or meeting deadlines. Break down your assignments or projects into manageable tasks weekly and daily so you can work on completing them little by little without too much stress and without cramming just before the deadline.

Being on time as a new year’s resolution may sound easy; but it actually isn’t, especially if you’ve developed the habit of showing up late or submitting reports late. So I suggest you break this resolution down into doable goals. You may start with what you think is the easiest for you to accomplish like being on time for meetings first. Then, as you go over one specific hurdle, move on to the next until you have broken the habit of being late and replaced it with the habit of being on time. Once you have successfully adopted this new habit, you will definitely be happier and more confident in your job. Who knows, you might even bag the best in attendance award!

Be more organized.

Organize your office wardrobe. This will help you report for work on time since you can quickly decide what to wear and where to get them from your closet.

Sort and organize your files – both printed files and digital. Organize your files in your computer and in your disks. When you do this, you save precious time that you can use working on your deliverables like your reports or projects instead of wasting your time trying to locate a file.

Organize your emails. Categorize your emails so that you can identify which ones you should read and answer first. Resist the temptation to read your emails as they arrive.

Organize your schedule. Take time to plan your day and your week. Use a planner. Make a list of things you need to do each day and each week.

Make checklists or Gantt charts for important events or projects. These would not only help you meet your deadlines but they would also help you remember and cover important details related to an event or project.

Use the 80/20 Rule. Ask yourself: What 20 per cent of the things I do should I spend more time on that will deliver 80 per cent of my desired results? Once you have identified these, adjust your schedule to prioritize doing these things. You in effect focus on the essential few and eliminate the trivial many.

Avoid time wasters.

Avoid gossip.

Schedule chit-chat or catching up with co-employees during break times. Use your coffee break or lunch break to talk with your officemates. If you want to bond with them longer, why not schedule bonding time after office hours?

Stop surfing the net aimlessly. Or if you are doing research using the internet, keep focused on your subject. Resist the urge to read all the interesting articles you come across with. Stick to those that are relevant to your research.

Stop using or accessing your social media sites during office hours. This will simply distract you from focusing your mind and energy on what you need to accomplish. So, don’t just minimize that window on your computer screen. Don’t open it at all.

Stop taking telephone calls that are not important. If you must answer the phone and you found out that the call is not something important and urgent, politely ask the caller to call again. Tell the caller that you are in the middle of important work and that you would appreciate if he/she would call you back when you are not busy.

Stop sending or replying to text messages unless these are emergencies. To help you stick to this resolution, put your cellphone on silent mode and keep it inside your drawer. That way, you don’t need to be disturbed every time it beeps. Be disciplined also not to check it every so often. Use your break time for these.

Avoiding time wasters is easier said than done, of course. It seems obvious that you should not be wasting your time on them; yet sometimes, you just can’t resist the pull to do these things. And then they rob you of precious opportunities to be more productive and to accomplish your tasks well and on time.

These are just a few of things that you can do to spend your time wisely in the work place. You might be able to think of other things that hinder you from giving your best.

So, have you decided on which resolution to choose and implement this new year? Whatever you choose, don’t be discouraged if you fail once or twice during the first week or month of implementing them. It is perfectly okay to start again and again until you get better and you overcome your hurdles. Keep on trying until these good practices become your new good habits. They are not easy to take on but are surely worth the challenge. In the end, both you and your employer win when you improve your productivity this year. Good luck!

Photo: “2012” by Dan Moyle, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved