15 Time Management Strategies and Tips You Need to Know
Managing your time wisely is a must, but let's be honest—it's not a very easy thing to do.
We all wish there were more hours in the day, but that's not going to happen anytime soon…at least not for a few billion years. Many of us feel like we don't have enough time, but the good news is there's plenty we can do about it.
Want to know how to manage time? Check out these great time management strategies.
1. Create a List of Daily Tasks
First, begin each day by jotting down a list of tasks you wish to complete.
If you want to learn how to manage time better, list-making is right up there at the top. Formulate a picture of what you want to accomplish before the end of the day, and then break that down into realistic milestones.
Check off each item as you go, and watch the completed tasks pile up.
2. Learn to Prioritize
Of course, writing a task-list in random order isn't going to cut it.
This is where prioritization comes in. Emphasize the more important tasks first, and relegate the less important to the back of the list.
Priority tasks are those that are more difficult to complete or come with a time limit. If necessary, disassemble these big tasks into smaller, incremental steps that are easier to complete.
3. Set Time Limits
As time management strategies go, this is big.
Leaving yourself an open-ended time period to complete a task is just asking for procrastination and time-wasting. Don't acquire this bad habit.
Set firm but realistic goals for each of your tasks. By now, you should know about how long it might take you to perform a specific task. Try to finish your work within the designated timeframe, and keep aiming for faster finish times.
4. Avoid Distractions
A major part of learning how to be better at time management is avoiding distractions.
Sometimes, distractions are unavoidable. But let's be honest—you could do a better job eliminating some very avoidable ones.
So use the "do not disturb" function on your phone or computer, don't go down the rabbit hole of reading junk articles on the internet, and turn off the TV. Distractions are your enemy—vanquish them!
5. Avoid Multitasking
This is related to the above. Time management at work is difficult, and sometimes it's tempting to try to do several things at once.
Sometimes, you don't have much of a choice. But try to pare down the multitasking as much as possible. Focus on one thing, do it well, and follow it through to completion. Then move to the next thing.
Trying to do everything at once will only leave you with nothing accomplished.
6. Time Management Apps Are Your Friend
This age of computers and digital devices comes with innumerable distractions.
But there are also plenty of newfangled applications to help you focus and manage your time. Organizational apps like Trello and Toggl, and time managers like RescueTime and Remember The Milk help you organize your tasks and boost your productivity.
7. Set Aside Time for Emails
Look, we all get caught up scrolling through the inbox, checking and responding to emails. Or we instantly respond to emails as they roll in.
But this is another distraction, and if you can help it, set aside a chunk of time during the day for answering emails. Turning off email notifications would also help out.
Either way, this is about prioritization (see #2). Designate certain times to check and respond to emails (in the morning, at lunchtime, and late afternoon), and ignore them the rest of the time (if you can).
8. Perform Weekly Time Audits
Auditing your performance every week will help you track your progress and better understand your time management.
Keep a record each day of how much time it takes you to complete your tasks. Then, at the end of the week, you can see how you've done. Look for those areas where you performed better than you thought, and find where you need some more work.
9. Change up Your Schedule
Sometimes you need to shake things up a bit.
If you find that you're still having trouble organizing your time, despite using various management tricks, you might consider a schedule change. Maybe you need to wake up earlier or focus on certain tasks in the morning and others in the afternoon.
Change your routine every once in a while, and see if that helps out. After all, everyone gets into a rut sometimes.
10. Always Have Backup Tasks
It's good to have a little ancillary list of low-priority, but still important tasks always on hand.
The reason is that sometimes unforeseen circumstances insert a hard break in your main task routine. A computer program stalls, the network is down, or the internet has a meltdown. Could be you're waiting on someone else in order to complete your task, and they're not cooperating with your schedule.
Whatever it is, it's always a good idea to have a few backup tasks that need to be done and that can fill up your wait-time.
11. Organize Your Space
Time management strategies are always helped by efficient space management strategies.
If your workspace is a sloppy mess, get in there and get organized. Put your desk in order, and remove all that clutter and those piles of papers that have been accumulating for at least a decade.
The same goes for your digital space. Take the time to organize all the files and apps on your computer, and put your inbox in order by using all those handy folders and other organizational features.
12. Use the Calendar!
A calendar is your friend. And it's also a great way to organize your tasks and manage your time.
If you prefer the old, physical kind of calendar, then go nuts. Schedule tasks with differently colored pens and markers, fill it with Post-It notes, and do whatever else you need to organize your time.
If you'd rather use the digital kind, avail yourself of all the many features. Set up reminders, devise schedules, and use alerts to keep you focused and on track.
13. Don't Try to Be a Perfectionist
Obsessive perfectionism is the nemesis of good time management.
If you suspect you're a perfectionist, figure out a way to moderate this behavior. If you're always trying to follow your tasks through to an unrealistic standard of perfection, you'll be spending hours on it.
Oftentimes, what's needed is for the work to be completed, not completed to the point of being a masterwork. Sometimes, good is good enough. Stop trying to be perfect.
14. Learn to Delegate
It can be a little unnerving to entrust one of your tasks to someone else. But if it's possible to delegate some work to a teammate, then by all means do it.
If you offload some of your tasks to others, this will lessen your workload and allow you to concentrate on the more important tasks of the day. Start with the less important tasks, and see how the teammate does. If they do a good job, you can begin to share more important tasks.
15. Nope Out When You Have To
There comes a time when you have to put your foot down and say "no" like you mean it.
If you're always taking on extra work from co-workers, or fielding their requests, you won't have time to complete your work. And what response will you have when asked why you didn't finish your tasks?
Create some boundaries, and maintain them. When your work is completed, then you can assist others. You can only do so much, and there are only so many hours in the day.
Bonus Time Management Strategies
So those are fifteen time management ideas to help you get the job done.
If you focus on them, you'll start to see results in managing your time. But let's look at a few bonus tips to further help you get organized:
Bonus Tip #1: Do the Most Important Tasks in the Morning
That's right. Get the most serious chores done right away, when you've got the energy and drive to tackle them. Leave the lesser stuff for the afternoon.
Bonus Tip #2: Don't Wait on Inspiration
Sometimes you're just not feeling it. You haven't got the divine "spark" instilled in your brain by the Nine Muses. Never mind—dive into the work and the motivation and inspiration will follow.
Bonus Tip #3: Do Less
Understand that you can't always get everything done in a single day. Look at your list of tasks, and decide which ones are really important. Focus on fewer tasks, and do them well.
Use These Time Management Tips to Meet Your Goals
We hope these time management strategies will help you better organize your time and achieve your daily goals. Remember, all it takes is determination and a little chutzpah.
Are you ready to explore the many ways you can succeed in life? Go ahead and book a discovery call with Michael Morrison.