Most of the journalists understood the fact that in the early days of their careers, even having 24 hours is not going to be enough.
It’s not easy to become a journalist, no matter what type of journalism you are doing. You have to follow a lead, dig up the story, do the interviews with the sources, write the piece, edit and check the facts.
On top of that, you need to do everything at the same time. You must focus on time management, so here are some tips and tools.
Tips For Journalist To Manage Their Time In Right Way
As a journalist, you might find yourself chasing deadlines and doing it all at once.
This is because you are dealing with different stories, and numerous assignments causing you to be distracted and lose focus which consumes much more time than is needed.
Also, it’s a sign that you are not managing the time well, and if it continues you will end up missing much more deadlines and performance degrade too.
Here are some tips that you can consider using to improve your time management when you are in the journalism industry.
Create The To-Do List
The easy tip that you should be following is to create a to-do list on a daily and weekly basis.
Not only can it help you in saving a lot of time, but it also saves you from unnecessary hassle. When you have a different set of work and you are required to deal with multiple tasks, you might overlook some important or key elements especially when you are in a hurry.
Being a journalist means you are always in a rush, so it’s best to list all of the important tasks that you have in hand, along with what else you should do and connect with, and add every single thing to a list.
To avoid feeling overwhelmed, you are required to create a to-do list on a daily and weekly basis. This will give you a much more accurate and detailed to-do list for yourself to work on.
Focus On Prioritizing And Organizing Accordingly
Since you cannot start doing work on everything at once, so it’s important that you imperative for prioritize a task
Also when you are prioritizing the tasks, it makes it easy for you to have a clear picture of what you need to get done. Rank your tasks based on their complexities and individuals, this can help in understanding what is actually required to get the work done.
Another useful thing that you need to remember when you are making the schedule is also working on making the data from the deadline, this makes sure to do and make it much more doable.
Keep your things in the right way and organize everything so it can be simple for you to get things done much more easily.
There Is No Correct Way For Starting Writing
Don’t wait for the time to find the inspiration to start writing, so you should not waste the time going to start to write.
Focus on your writing and start, as soon as you find the momentum and let it build, this can help you in getting your tasks done much after, also do contact with the interview sources and start working as soon as you can.
Keep Yourself Focused On Tasks
Ensure that you will get the work done when you start, don’t let the piece of story wait for another time.
This will make it too hard to start, and it will waste time as well as resources.
Remind yourself regarding the story that is main, and also avoid varying to any off-topic.
Try to limit yourself, and the eternal interference as well as distraction, it includes instant messaging and social media.
Technology Is Your Best Friend
There are different apps that you can use. It’s available on the internet and it can help you boost productivity and increase efficiency. It’s best to make use of it as it’s going to be your best friend, especially in the journalism industry.
For example, if you are conducting the interview, you can do it using Skype. This app can allow you to do voice calls over the intent.
You can also use a call note for recording, saving, and even re-running the skype conversation at a later point instead of taking notes.
You can put it on dropbox, so you can work from anywhere and everywhere.
Multitask But With Smart Way
Very rare when the journalist has the luxury of working on one work only and story.
Your editor might ask to rework on the article on the same day when you have the important piece due.
There is no easy way and the journalist has to multitask to make sure they are taking care of everything.
So don’t get denoted with multiple assignments and deadlines, just keep some of the tips in mind and improve your time management.
Mind Map Article Or Story
To help in making sure that the creative juice keeps flowing, write down the ideas on a per.
You can mind map on how you want to be productive, also do the bad draft and let yourself in a flow where you are writing what comes to mind.
It’s easy to edit the bad draft instead of a blank page. So start writing on what story or article you are working on.
Consider Using The 15 Minute Rule
The rule is important especially when you are stuck in rut days. Well, the concept is coined by life coach and fellow journo Caroline Buchanan, it involves those tasks which take only 15 minutes and then walk away without feeling guilty.
Once your time goes, you can make coffee for yourself or swap to something different. You can start working on an article some time, this gives you enough push to start the work without procrastinating it.
Avoid Checking Emails Every Hour
Well, it’s not simple for the journalist to avoid checking the emails. However, it doesn’t mean you can do it every hour. It wastes much more time than you realize.
So make sure you limit the time; for example, oy can be only twice a day and fix the slot for it.
Make sure you devote the time to replying to the answers and checking the important emails.
Don’t Check Your Social Media In the Middle Of Work
It can be difficult, and while using Twitter can be useful for finding new ideas and sharing thoughts, it can be a major issue when it comes to poor time organization.
So rather than use social media every now and then, it’s better to complete the work and then check the social media.
Control The Procrastination
Juggling leads to procrastination since your mind is divided into millions of things. So you need to learn how to control procrastination and know what triggers you to do this.
Well, it’s impossible to avoid it completely but when you are aware of the habit and triggers, it becomes much easier to control.
Advice From Successful Journalist For Time Managing
Being a journalist is difficult, the job depends on the level of productivity you have.
Also, you need to be alert and dig down the data as well as spend time to make sure you cover all the angles.
And there is no doubt that journalists continuously complain of not having enough time.
Since it’s already mentioned that technology is your best friend, especially for journalists. There are successful journalists who recommended the apps and tools for boosting productivity and time management along with their advice.
It includes :
Go Old School
Well, the old way of making sure you are getting your work done is to start with creating a list.
However, it’s already in understanding that having notes ready to know about the tasks.
You can use the note apps, it’s easy to get, and you simply download them. Also, you can even use sticky notes. This can help you in prioritizing.
You can also consider the Panda Planner, its analog tool, and it can help in breaking goals as well as projects.
Also, you can consider the Google Calendar, this is important for managing your work along with family and life to remember all the important things.
Time Track Your Work
Even though you have salaried work, it’s important that you are focusing on tracking the time. Even when you are a freelancer, it’s important to follow the time tracking all of your activities.
There is no doubt that journalism is hard to maintain along with any sort of balance between work life, so you need to quantify how much time you are investing.
Revise The Basics
Another important piece of advice to mastering the to-do list is to break down the small tasks you require to do.
Also, you can have a detailed spreadsheet that documents the pitch, ideas, and publications or editor to reach out, Also add to this to those who are following up.
Take The Notes Always
There are many things that you need to do, and you are required to evolve the time management strategy.
So you should take the notes, and this can make sure you have all the important things with yourself,
If you can’t write the notes, they have an app that helps you in understanding and get it for you. Also, you can access it from anywhere and sync to different devices.
You can maintain the diary and keep it yourself to update with every detail.
Block The Time
Some of the best advice you can get is to block your time for the work you need to do.
There are different ways you can do that, also use tools for blocking the time for checking the message and emails.
This helps you in understanding what time is for what, and also helps in clearing your mind.
Have The Effective Communication
Since you are not working alone, you can get help from others, With the help of a to-do list of what sort of work you need to do.
This can help you in improving the effectiveness of communication such as Trello, airtable, etc,
Also, focus on boosting the communication in the team, and also improve the chances of better work.
More To Explore:
- Most Effective and Proven Time Management Tips, Techniques & Strategies
- A Guide To Time Management For Dummies
- Guide On How To Be Professional In Doing Time Management
- Ultimate Steps To Boost Your Professional Time Management Skills
- Beginner’s Guide For Time Management In 2023
“Vision, strategy, and inspiration – these three words describe me the best. I am the founder of “TheLeaderboy” dedicated to leadership and personal development. As a self-taught practitioner, I have been studying the principles of effective leadership for the past decade and my passion lies in sharing my insights with others. My mission is to empower individuals to become better leader