Ways to Better Your Time-Management Skills
Even though there are 24 hours in a day, there is never enough time to get everything done that you need to. Unfortunately, you have to work with the limited time you have in order to figure out how to fit it all in. Instead of running around stressing out about needing more time, there are many practical ways to manage your time in order to make the most of the hours you have available.
Manage those Daily Interruptions
We often set out with good intentions to practice good time management and get everything done on our to-do list. However, we often forget to figure in the number one thing that sucks up all our time; constant interruptions!
Interruptions are one of the most considerable time thieves of your day. You may never have realized just how many minutes or hours have been taken up during your day by other people wanting your attention or situations that come up that can actually be dealt with at a later time. So here are some excellent tips to help you in preventing or better dealing with those time stealers:
Plan your day the night before or earlier
Planning ahead gives you time to think about what needs to get done so you can prioritize your tasks and projects. You can schedule the most important things during a time that you know you are the most productive and will hopefully encounter the least interruptions. Also, you will have already thought about and know what you have to start on first so you can get to it right away.
By having a plan to follow, it will help you to manage your time even if you choose to simply create a list of what you must accomplish that day.
Build time into your routine to account for interruptions that are inevitable
Why do this? Because you will never have a single day that’s not interrupted by something or someone. In fact, accounting for this can help keep you on track. The last thing you want when you are trying to be productive is to break your concentration, making it harder for you to get back in the flow. For instance, if you’re at work and someone pops into your office for “just a second of your time,” you’ll notice that it always turns into longer than you expected.
So to account for disruptions, you want to look at your day and figure out how much time you want to allocate to them. You can either add that extra time to the current task or decide on a lump of time and deduct from it as its used.
For example, when someone walks into your office during a time you have blocked for a particular task, you can say, “I’m working on something, so I can only spare five minutes.” At the end of five minutes, if the conversation is still going, you say, “I’m sorry, but my time is up and I have to get back to this.”
If you used a lump of let’s say 45 minutes for the day, you would subtract the 5. Once that time is gone you can let people know you will get back to them later.
In setting boundaries for your time, you will soon find that if you respect your time, other people will as well.
Don’t let technology steal your attention
When someone isn’t dropping by your or home or office, they often reach out to you through technology like text, email, or on social media. It’s great that we can connect so many different ways now, but answering people can quickly take too much time in your day. Then of course it’s easy to get sucked into scrolling through your feed or looking at apps when your intention was to just handle this one quick thing online.
If being on social media is how you connect with others, that’s great, but let it be a scheduled interruption. Or better yet, put it in your schedule as “time for yourself”. You could also include it into your planner to doing during downtimes, such as lunch and breaks. Then stick to that time just as if it were an appointment. In order to not go over your allotted time, you set the alarm on your smartphone so that you know when it’s time to get back to your schedule of tasks.
Speaking of technology, it is also a great idea to schedule phone calls. Phone conversations can easily go on longer than you thought, which is a huge time waster. However, if you plan your conversations before you make the call, you can decide how much time you have to give. This helps you stay in control of your time by paying attention to the clock and ending the call when needed.
“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
J. R. R. Tolkien
Learn to Prioritize Your Tasks
There are a zillion things that have to get done each day, but there’s only one you to get everything done. So it’s important that you prioritize what actually needs to get done, what gets moved to another day, and what gets delegated to others.
Try to begin your day by starting with the most important item on your list
There’s actually a psychological basis for why you should do the most important task first. Starting important tasks first and then finishing them gives you a sense of accomplishment. This creates the feel-good release of hormones such as dopamine, which increases your motivation and concentration. In addition, it increases alertness which makes you feel more energized, so you can tackle more items on your to-do list.
What can happen if you start with all the easy or fast tasks and postpone what’s most important, there’s a possibility that you may not get to it by the end of the day. The last thing you want is to increase your stress and anxiety because you have to get something done into the wee hours of the night when you’d rather be relaxing.
Make time for activities that will recharge you
Taking a break from work responsibilities and participating in hobbies or social events is a great stress reliever. It gives your mind a chance to be refresh so you can later take on important tasks with a fresh outlook. Doing things you enjoy can also increase your focus and productivity, which saves you time in the long run.
In addition, make sure that you work in time to exercise. Whether it’s participating in a sport, taking a daily walk, or hitting the gym, exercise is something that actually helps you with time management because it helps keeps your energy levels high.
Only say yes to opportunities that will help you reach your goals
Whether it’s obligations or hobbies, agree to the activities that will give you the most benefit personally and/or professionally. Plus over-extending yourself can hinder your ability to make everything fit into your schedule. If there’s something you’re interested in, but it doesn’t fit EASILY into your schedule, you should pass until more time opens up.
One suggestion is to create a list of activities you would like to be involved in and then alternate them in your schedule. For example, commit to a certain exercise class for 3 months and then switch to the gardening group you have been wanting to attend for the next 3 months. For shorter commitments, find out what the time commitment is and create a mock schedule to see if it will fit or leave you little free time.
Let Go of the Need to do Things Perfectly
For people that are perfectionist, the job has to be done flawlessly. Many high achievers can experience more stress in their day-to-day life than someone who is not a perfectionist. While it might feel like an accomplishment to do a task perfectly, when it comes to time management the trait of perfectionism can work against you.
Know that you can’t accomplish everything at once
Trying to multi-task is synonymous with doing several jobs poorly all at once. That can be very frustrating to someone with a tendency for perfection.
Remember, you don’t have to accomplish everything on the same day. Instead, concentrate on your priorities that have to be done first. Get each important task finished and then move on with the next.
Give each of your projects a time limit
Whether you’re a perfectionist or not, this is a good rule of thumb for anyone looking to better manage their time. Open-ended tasks with no clear finish line have a tendency to pile up. Start by looking at the whole picture of a project that has to be accomplished with the time you have, determine a deadline, and then break the things you have to do down into smaller tasks.
For example, if the project will take 40 hours to complete and you have two weeks to get it done, you know you have to work on it 20 hours per week or 5 hours per day. And take into account interruptions and other obstacles that will get in the way.
Look over your to-do list, for both home & office, and cut it down
Many people end up with poor time management because they have way too much on their to-do-list. That’s probably because achieving things makes us feel good. However, people often don’t accomplish everything because there’s not enough time.
To be successful at managing your time, you need to narrow down your daily list. If there’s time leftover and you can get something “extra” done, which feels better than a failure to complete everything.
Get Organized for Better Time Management
Everyone has areas of life where there’s a lack of organization. Whether it’s at home or the office, we misplace things and we can’t find things when we need them because we’re not organized.
But getting organized is a big help with time management. Declutter your home and office before you attempt to tackle staying organized and managing your time better.
Forget trying to create elaborate systems
Any system you use for organizing your life that takes a lot of time to keep up with is actually a waste of time. An organizational system should enhance your life, not detract from it.
You can use simple means such as an expandable folder to keep track of bills that need to be paid or projects that need to be completed. You can use a filing cabinet with hanging folders.
Don’t overcomplicate your organization system. Invest in simple solutions and watch how it transforms the way you manage your time and act in a more productive manner.
Group similar tasks together to save time
If you haven’t switched to electronic file keeping, then it can be easy to get overwhelmed and disorganized just by the volume of documents. Since you don’t want certain sensitive information stored online, you’ll want to keep that at home.
For example, when it comes to better home time management, if you have to run errands, group all of the errands that are within the same area together. Try to work it out so that you only have to deal with one errand day a month.
Do the banking, post office needs and any medication pickups on the same day. Driving can be a big leak in your time management success – and since you need to pay attention to driving, you can’t do much else except maybe listen to a podcast or something else you need to listen to.
Resist the urge to procrastinate
Procrastination is a big problem for a lot of people! We don’t like to do the things we don’t want to do. Plus it is especially hard to get motivated to do the hard jobs that seem boring. It’s as simple as that.
No one wants to do the big projects that are going to take us five hours when it is beautiful outside and we’d rather relax at the beach or spend time with friends. But the sooner you plan how & when to work on necessary projects the sooner they will be completed, so you can relax.
One great way to avoid procrastination for good is to make a promise to yourself to always do what you don’t want to do FIRST. Doing this also helps you learn discipline and delayed gratification. Once you get the most important tasks finished you know to have time for the things you really enjoy and want to do.
2 Comments
Navina
July 3, 2020 at 5:19 amAwesome Tips !!
Heather
July 3, 2020 at 12:36 pmGreat tips and advice! It’s always a challenge for me with two small kids at home.