Multitasking Overload: How To Keep Up With Today's Fast Paced Workplace According to a research report conducted by Gallup, nearly two-thirds of working adults say they don't have enough time in the day to finish what they set out to do.
By Warsha Joshi •
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Overloaded at work? Struggling to juggle the growing tasks on your plate? Do you feel like you have big ideas for your business, but no one to actually help you implement them? You're not alone. In fact, you're in the majority. According to a research report conducted by Gallup, nearly two-thirds of working adults say they don't have enough time in the day to finish what they set out to do.
The too-short, frantic workday is not a recent phenomenon, but it's gotten much worse in recent years, thanks to the growing complexity of global organizations, an increasingly competitive marketplace, the pressures of economic uncertainty, and the rapid-fire, always-on nature of digital communication. And since adding more hours to the day isn't a feasible alternative, it will likely continue to get more hectic from here.
Traditional time management teaches us to start our workday with a list of things to do. But once you check your email, that list is already woefully outdated. Time management also teaches us to prioritize important tasks, but in a corporate world, everything is urgent and competes for the highest priority. If we could measure the time costs for senior managers, we will notice the increased costs involved versus savings.
As an entrepreneur, your most precious resource isn't money; it's your time and energy. What many seasoned entrepreneurs will know, and younger entrepreneurs will sometimes struggle to understand, is that sometimes you just can't do it all. Sometimes there just aren't enough hours in a day, or days in a week for you to get work done. What usually happens is that you either sacrifice personal time until any aspect of a work-life balance has gone out the window, or you end up spending too much time in your business, instead of working on your business. Either way, you end up burnt out or stalled.
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But there are steps to take to alleviate what can feel like an overwhelming uphill battle. Companies are beginning to approach automation at the level of activities, rather than occupation. Take for instance, the role of a consulting manager who plays a critical role in driving sales by tailoring corporate strategies to specific audience and markets. Today, this involves several time-consuming activities from general market strategy to reviewing data from the field to inform pricing decisions based on material costs for production. What if these activities can be automated with existing technology and virtual assistance that is able to complete the analysis more quickly and accurately? In the case of the consulting manager, this could mean more time to support clients, collaborate with managers in other functional areas, and focus on developing new strategies. Extreme as this case may seem, the perennial time-scarcity problem that underlies it has become more acute in recent years.
Delegating auxiliary functions of your business to a virtual executive assistant can maximize productivity. Virtual executive assistants can tackle a range of workplace tasks, such as scour emails for important information, online research, database management and analysis, travels bookings, new aggregation etc. Thanks to big data and artificial intelligence, assistants are better able to understand the way people really communicate and are beginning to anticipate their needs.
Knowing and understanding how to scale your business effectively is key to your productivity and your business's success. If it doesn't make sense to hire a full-time employee, it's probably worth looking into a virtual executive assistant for an extra hand on projects to drive business growth. Those extra pair of hands can provide entrepreneurs with additional time to focus on activities that matter most to the profitability of the business.
With just 24 hours in a day, and a five-day working week, entrepreneurs have the option to handle every mundane task in the business, earning 100% of the little profit made, or by working on the business, delegating auxiliary tasks to a virtual executive assistant, automating areas which technology can play a role, thus doubling profits month after month. With more time to focus on the core business functions, entrepreneurs can capitalize on business opportunities, while boosting productivity.
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