You’re lucky.
Lucky that you’re driven. Lucky that you’re determined.
You’re lucky because if you’re reading this, you’re the type of person that wants more out of life.
And that’s exciting!
But one problem that you’re going to run into is how to manage all of those wonderful things. How to squeeze that extra design in, how to make time for that spin class.
It can be hard to get everything done.
Up for the challenge
Essential Time Management Strategies To Make Life More Effective
When you’re overwhelmed, you have a lot on your plate. You have a lot to do and a lot to achieve.
And just like when running, if you let one thing slip, the whole thing falls apart.
If you spend too much time at your desk, you’ll start to feel burnt out. If you start to feel burnt out, you’ll start to call in sick more often. And if you continue to do that, you’ll start to lose some of your responsibilities and things you care about.
Like running, it’s all connected.
Time management strategies – Prioritize
The first time management strategy that you should try is prioritization.
Prioritization is a skill that, when done properly, allows you to work on what is actually important (like your goals) as opposed to whatever is next on your list.
In order to effectively prioritize your tasks, you first need to understand the difference between tasks that are urgent, important, both, or neither. This is sometimes referred to as the Eisenhower Matrix.
Go through your to-do list and rank whether tasks are urgent or non-urgent, and then important or not important.
This will help you better understand what needs to be worked on first.
Once you know what needs to be worked on (and what doesn’t), you can remove the excess from your plate and work on only what matters.
Time management strategies – Plan ahead
In order to get the right stuff done, you need to look into the future.
No, you don’t need to be a psychic.
You do need to have a sense of time though.
Because when you don’t properly plan ahead, things can slip by without your paying attention.
Maybe you have too many meetings lined up. Or maybe you have way too many tasks on your agenda for the day. Or worse yet, maybe you’re working on things that aren’t moving you forward.
Do this simple activity and actually plan out your day.
Sit down, take note of everything you need to do, and create a plan for your time.
I know you’re busy. I know you have a lot going on and don’t want to spend time planning out how to spend your other blocks of time.
But planning is important. So give it a try. Even when you’re busy.
Time management strategies – Make time for calm
Stillness can be found in many forms, like:
Taking a walk
Eating a meal slowly
Becoming aware of your surroundings
Meditating
Time management strategies – Don’t entertain distraction
You have a lot going on. You’re busy. You don’t need to burn through whatever excess time you have by scrolling through Instagram on your phone.
Look, taking breaks throughout the day isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it’s great!
But a problem arises when those breaks start becoming more and more frequent. Maybe you find yourself spending extra time on YouTube. Or reading irrelevant HuffPost articles.
These little distractions end up taking huge chunks out of your day!
So delete your most distracting apps. Remove the bookmarks for your favorite sites. Do whatever you can to eliminate distraction so that you can focus on the work in front of you.
Time management strategies – Learn to say no
Saying yes is fun. It opens you up to new people, places, and experiences. It also opens you up to doing other peoples work for them.
Knowing when to say yes and when to say no is critical to better managing your time. After all, your time is a limited resource.
Once you use it up, it’s gone.
So this is one time management strategy that you need to learn to adopt.
Say no to things that don’t align with your goals. It may feel uncomfortable at first. However, it will get easier with practice. Especially as you begin to notice the benefits of controlling your time once again.
And if it helps, also recognize that saying no is not a sign of weakness but rather one of strength.
It tells the other person that you are strong and know exactly what you are looking to do, and more importantly what you are not.
Time management strategies – Delegate
If you want something done right, do it yourself.
That is a fine expression that may work in some circumstances, but when it comes to managing your time it’s not all that helpful.
What you need instead is to delegate.
Now, if you’re looking for time management strategies for work, this is a great one. Because while you may want to handle everything on your own, trusting others with responsibility is a great way to free up your time to work on more important things.
So when going through your to-do list, check to see if there’s anything that could be delegated out to someone else.
Time management strategies – Get started
This is one of my favorite time management strategies because it forces you to take action. To get out of your seat and start moving towards your goals.
Because if you don’t start, you’ll never finish.
And not starting a task (aka procrastinating) is one of the best ways to waste your time.
So instead of procrastinating, begin each day by tackling your hardest tasks first. Pick your most daunting, stressful task, and start your day with it.
That’s right.
Start your day with it so that you use the bulk of your motivation on this task before you start burning it on the easy stuff.
Time management strategies – Be proactive, not reactive
Being reactive is reacting to the past. Being proactive is anticipating, planning for, and acting with the future in mind.
Acting reactively forces you to handle tasks once they’ve already become a problem.
Acting proactively allows you to take care of tasks before they get out of control.
If you find yourself constantly putting out fires, you are likely being reactive – tackling the problem once it’s already started causing issues.
In the future, try to be more proactive. Address problems ahead of time so that you can spend less time managing chaos and more time working towards your goals.
It’s an easy tip that when done right can benefit you greatly.
Time management strategies – Reduce clutter
When my desk is disorganized, I can’t focus. And when I can’t focus, I can’t get anything done.
It’s not until everything gets put into the correct place that I can start to get real work done.
And you’re probably the same way too.
So don’t let clutter waste your time. Follow the time management strategy of organization and stop wasting time on things that aren’t important.
It’s one of those time management strategies that seems obvious, but not enough people actually do.
Again, if clutter clutters your mind (like it does mine), you’re better off spending a few minutes organizing your workspace.
Personally, I keep my desk as minimal as possible. Opting for Google Docs instead of paper.
Time management strategies – Don’t do too much
One of the final time management strategies is also one of the most important – don’t do too much. In other words, don’t spread yourself too thin. Instead, focus on what matters most.
Recognize that being busy does not mean being productive.
There are normally countless tasks that you could be doing at any given moment – they won’t necessarily add value to your life or help you achieve your goals though.
Much of it is probably unimportant busy work.
So get your priorities in order and determine how your time should be best spent. Remove unimportant items from your to-do list and work towards something that matters.