We all have the same hours in a day, so make the best use of your waking hours with good time management skills. If you ever feel like you just can’t get in front of your day and you are always chasing your tail, you probably aren’t making great time management decisions.
Life doesn’t have to be an uphill battle. Every one of us has the capacity to make life balance out and still get things done. Time doesn’t care to know your gender, race, religious preference or your favorite sports team. Time is unbiased. Time is constant.
Below you’ll find the main attributes of good time management you’ll want to consider incorporating if you often feel that time is not on your side.
Prioritizing
Perhaps one of the most effective ways to employ better time management skills is in learning to prioritize. Only you can decide which tasks need to take priority over others. Since you can’t possibly be expected to get everything done all at once, rank your tasks in an order that makes sense. Things to consider when prioritizing are deadlines and the expected length of time to complete the task.
Scheduling
Calendars are an integral part of time management. Whether you select an online calendar or a calendar you can hold in your hand, like in a day planner, it’s a good way to steer clear of procrastination and excuses. Having a visual line-up of the day, week and month gives a better vantage point of how effectively you are using time, especially when deadlines are in play.
Tip: Schedule the more difficult tasks during the time of day when you feel the most energetic and productive.
To-Do Lists
This is a must! People who are successful at managing time well are list-makers. The to-do list serves as a visual reminder of all the tasks to be completed in a day. Mark everything off one at a time as you complete each item. This is visually satisfying, not to mention keeps you motivated to continue being productive.
If at the end of the day everything isn’t completed, carry those things over to the next day. The best time to create a to-do list is the night before, right before bed. Once you get that task out of your head and onto the list, you can forget about it until morning.
Intermissions
Listen, you can’t work straight through the day. Your mind, body and spirit will get exhausted. Burnout is real and avoidable. Take breaks and stand firm on a quitting time for the day. Working long hours without resting is deceptively productive in the beginning. But as you wear yourself out, the progress slows and you are left with a tired, aching body and mush for brains. You’ll find a better workflow comes with several planned intermissions throughout the day.
Delegating
Properly delegating takes a bit of skill. If you’ve got a time-consuming task that can be handled by an assistant, hand it off. If your significant other drives by the dry cleaners on the way home from work, hand off the ticket. Work smarter, not harder. Hoarding tasks isn’t an optimal use of time.
Setting Deadlines
Not everything will require a deadline, but it’s time to address those projects you’ve been putting off due to a lack of time and energy. If you’ve been wanting to clean out the storage shed, determine how much time you think it will take, allocate an hour or two a day for however many days you figured up and set that deadline. Don’t let unfinished projects weigh you down.
Being Organized
You can’t expect to be super productive if you are terribly disorganized. Spending time searching for files in heaps and piles on your desk is counter-productive. Be effective with your time by keeping your things neat and organized. A cluttered environment is distracting. It’s incredibly hard to maintain any type of focus when the area is in constant disarray.
While this list isn’t a comprehensive list of everything needed, it will give you a starting point on better time management. Using time wisely isn’t just for efficiency in completing the day’s work. Finding balance is equally important.
If we aren’t well-rested and have time to really enjoy life, what is this all for anyway? Time may not bend to your will, however, you can free up more time for the fun things by developing better time management strategies for your individual goals and lifestyle.
