One of the keys to success as a financial modeling professional is being productive. If you are productive you achieve the overall goal of your work and that is to be successful and get the job done in a timely and efficient manner. Learning how to operate your day more productively can make you a more successful financial modeling professional.
The first thing you want to do, in order to make your day more productive, is have a clear picture of your job as a financial modeling professional. You need to thoroughly understand what your job is and what tasks must be attended to or accomplished each day regardless of special assignments, tasks, and daily fires that need to be put out. The best way to do this is to make a list of everything you do. You may want to keep a running list for a week or so to see what really takes up your day.
After you have a clear list of your financial modeling job and tasks, you will want to prioritize your list. This means that if you need to send a status report by a certain time every Monday you will want to have that as a top priority every Monday. Or if you have to have your time card in and review your teams’ time cards by a certain time every Friday, you will want to have that as a Friday priority. These would be tasks that would be more important on those days than maybe returning a phone call or checking in with a team member on a project.
Next you will want to figure out how your day should be set up. Having a plan for your day and week can be a great way to be organized and thus more productive. Give yourself a time frame for tasks. If you need 30 minutes in the morning to go through email, plan that into your day and set a timer if you need to. After 30 minutes move on to your next task; you can come back to emails later in the day after the other important priorities have been taken care of.
It is also important to have a place for everything and a system. If you have paperwork that needs to be reviewed or correspondence that needs to be addressed, you want a good place to put these things until it is time to address them. It is also a good idea to have a place for things that need to be filed. Designate a time in your schedule for filing, however, to ensure that the filing does not pile up.
Lastly, do not forget to allow time for personal de-stressing or break time. As a financial modeling professional, you are frequently on a tight schedule with deadlines, therefore it may seem difficult or even impossible to take a break, but planning in a 15 minute break to meditate, walk around the building, or stretch at your desk can keep you focused and on-track to achieving your goals. As a financial modeling professional, your day may be full of stress and issues that need to be addressed right away, so planning yourself a moment to recharge can keep you from wasting time and losing focus, which, in the end, will make you a more productive financial modeling professional.