Your most valuable resource is simple, yet limited—time. Are you using it as well as you could be?
As an independent community pharmacist, you have many demands on your time, from filling scripts to marketing your business to ordering inventory. Investing your time wisely can improve your productivity and the success of your pharmacy.
Setting a schedule is hard to do when new projects constantly pop up. Use these tips to make a plan to better manage your time, and to put your time and effort to the best possible use.
1. Observe your patterns
Creating a realistic and productive schedule starts with observation. Spend a week recording all the tasks you do and how much time each one takes. Once you understand your patterns, you can use that knowledge to create a more realistic plan that includes everything that you want to get done in your day. Plus, observation will reveal if you’re spending more time than you realize on a certain task, or if you have more time to invest.
2. Create a schedule
Plan out your day. Be realistic about how much time you have, and be clear about what you want to accomplish. Then, dole out your time and schedule each daily task. Be as accurate as possible when allotting time for each job. If you aren’t, you risk over scheduling yourself and making your day even more stressful.
Share your schedule with your staff. If they know when you’re free, they can ask questions that aren’t urgent during that time. This will help you avoid interruptions and work more seamlessly with your pharmacy’s staff.
3. Plan on blank space
Even the most detailed schedules need unplanned time, or blank space. Every day, issues will pop up that you have to deal with. You can’t plan for these, but if you plan empty space for unexpected demands, you can address them as they come up without ruining your schedule for the rest of the day.
4. Track your time
Keep track of how well you keep to your schedule. You can adjust your schedule if you realize you’re spending three hours a day catching up on emails and calls, but you’ve only set aside one hour. You should either plan more time to deal with that type of work, or find a way to share that work and cut back on the amount of time it takes. Tracking your schedule will also help you move on to the next task when your allotted time is up.
5. Avoid interruptions
Interruptions and distractions mean wasted time. According to a survey conducted by Harris Poll, only 45 percent of time at work is spent on primary job duties. Minimize wasted time by avoiding distractions and sticking with a task once you start it. Resist the temptation to jump from task to task as issues pop up. If your schedule is well planned and accurate, you should be able to accomplish other jobs during their scheduled time, and address emerging tasks in the blank space you planned.
6. Free your time to invest in projects
As the owner, manager or pharmacist in charge of an independent community pharmacy, you help guide the pharmacy, set goals and help grow the business. It’s important to set aside time for long-term projects. (Check out this article to learn more about how to work on, not in, your business.)
If you notice your schedule is packed with duties that can be done by another employee, or even a robot, consider making an investment in personnel or in a technology upgrade to free up some of your time. Instead of small tasks, spend your time on projects that will make a meaningful difference in the business, like staff development and management, expanding your customer base and educating yourself on the latest industry trends.
7. Use your goals to guide your time
Invest your time in the goals you want to accomplish. Without effort and time devoted to your goals, they will never get accomplished. Setting aside a few hours each week to work on tasks that will help you achieve your pharmacy’s goals can make a big difference in your chances of actually accomplishing them.
This is usually the kind of work and decision making that you can’t delegate to others in your pharmacy. Your time becomes more valuable when you use it to work on jobs that only you can do.
