Strong time management skills are fundamental to being productive at work. Notice that time management is considered a skill. This means that you can learn to manage the time better. But to successfully hone in on your time allocation, you need to know some tips for time management.

As a global translation agency, we know all about perfecting your time management strategy. We have over 5,000 translators in our network and clients from all corners of the planet, and we strive to deliver deliver our work on time with no exceptions. None of this would be possible if we didn’t know how to manage time effectively.

How to Manage your Time Effectively: 4 Top Tips

The fast that we work with a global network of clients as well as freelance translators puts us in the best possible position to help you improve your time management strategy. So, here are our four actionable tips for time management that you can implement today.

1. Use Advanced Project Management Systems

One of the best tips for time management is to use an advanced project management system to handle every piece of work. This intelligent software can manage workflows, processes, and principles for completing a project.

Project management systems can therefore improve your time management skills by aiding organisation. Everything is stored in a centralised location for easy access. Your time management skills will also improve with consistency, and project management systems provide a framework that can be used many times over.

Moreover, this software is fantastic when working on collaborative projects in which you need to manage the time effectively as a group, providing all team members with clarity about overall goals and individual expectations. This aids communication and reduces the number of back-and-forth emails and other avoidable hold-ups; thus is one of the best tips for time management.

2. Set Up Document Templates

If your business is anything like ours, you’ll send and receive many emails. However, constantly replying to emails can make it hard to manage the time and implement an effective time management strategy. Therefore, templating your emails is one of the best tips for time management skills.

Below are some email templates you might consider setting up to help you better manage the time:

• Response to general inquiries about your products or services
• Welcome emails for new subscribers or signups
• Template for invoices and/or payment reminders
• Thank you emails for choosing to work with your business

Once you’ve got these templates written, you can input the specific information into placeholders rather than writing out the entire email.

You can then use another of our tips for time management: automation. Rather than manually sending each email out, try scheduling them as automated responses whenever someone completes a certain action, for example, purchasing a product to subscribing to your newsletter.

3. Keep Replies Short and Concise

One of our favourite tips for time management skills is setting up email templates. However, some emails can’t have a generic, templated response. This generally means one of two things happens, both of which impair your ability to manage the time:

1. You spend much time typing out a response, cutting into the focus time you’ve set aside for being productive; OR
2. You don’t send a response until after you’ve finished your current task or meeting, which could delay others from continuing with the work.

The best thing to do to reply to emails without affecting your time management strategy is to find a way to respond quickly – even when you’re in a meeting, on a call, or enjoying your lunch break. Our top tips for time management of emails include:

• Keep your emails as short and to the point as possible, aiming for three sentences or less.
• Respond with statements rather than questions and be assertive.
• Use abbreviations and acronyms to speed up writing, where applicable.
• Get personal and request a call if it’s a complex issue – speaking face-to-face is a great way to manage the time better.

4. Outsource to Global Companies

The last of our tips for time management skills is to work with global companies when outsourcing work. Even if you have fantastic time management skills, some projects need working on around the clock. Businesses with employees and offices in multiple time zones ensure that there is always someone available to work on your project 24/7.

Depending on what you’re outsourcing, going global might also be essential. For example, reaching a native Chinese translator during UK working hours can be difficult, making it almost impossible to manage the time. On the other hand, working with global companies make it easier to stick to your time management strategy.

Now that you know to manage time, put these tips for time management into practice and see your productivity improve.