Effective time management is a skill that most successful people have. Everyone gets 24 hours a day, but what they do with it is what determines their quality of life.
Getting the right things done within the least amount of time will add value to your life and to that of your clients and loved ones. Proper management of time can also lead to more business deals and better relationships with your family and friends.
Keep reading for 5 great life hacks that can help you improve your time management skills.
1. Know Your Daily Priorities
The key to effective time management is to know what your desired outcomes are. This starts the day before. You should always end your days by reviewing your accomplishments and planning for the next day.
Try listing three main things that you would like to do the following day. These three goals should be items that will make a big difference in your life. You can stay organized with your tasks with this strategy.
When you start your day, go through your priorities, and establish which ones you must do by the end of the day. Start with those first.
Establish your priorities before you check your emails or make any calls. This helps you avoid other people or things derailing you by pushing their own urgent matters on you. Planning your work based on other people’s priorities will lead you to accomplish other people’s dreams while yours remain pending.
2. Eat The Frog
“Eat the frog” is a time management strategy that involves doing the hardest and most important tasks first. Your mind is clearer and you have more energy at the beginning of the day. So this is the best time to work on the harder tasks.
You can work on easier tasks at the end of the day when you have less energy. Doing this the opposite can lead to you not accomplishing your important tasks. This could be because you begin to lose energy or become distracted throughout the day.
Tasks that are unimportant and not urgent should be ignored in favor of urgent and important tasks. Unfortunately, we often find ourselves working on easy but unimportant tasks.
Some questions that you can ask yourself to ensure that you are prioritizing the right tasks are:
- What does my client need most from me?
- What will create the greatest problem if it does not get done today?
- What is the best thing I can do today to advance my relationships?
- What task can I do today that will make my future work easier?
3. Get Rid Of Procrastination
The biggest source of disruption to a time management plan is procrastination. And the biggest deterrent to procrastination is hard deadlines. Always have a deadline for any project that you are working on.
Set rewards and consequences for breaking the deadlines to keep yourself motivated. Deadlines provided by clients or bosses are easy to stick to as one can get fired if too many deadlines are missed.
For personal projects, stick to deadlines by using tricks such as promising to donate money to a charity you hate if you miss a deadline. You can also schedule presentations of your project with people that you respect. The thought of losing face by not meeting a deadline should be enough to stop you from procrastinating.
Human beings typically do well with rewards and punishments. If you do meet your deadlines, arrange to reward yourself. For example, you can watch a streamed movie on TV at the end of a good day or plan a vacation if you complete a huge project within the given time.
4. Stop Multitasking
Numerous researchers have proven that multitasking does not work. Working on two or more things at once will lead to impaired judgment. But concentrating on one task at a time will produce far superior results than trying to do many jobs at once.
Rather than trying to complete as many items on your to-do list as possible, rank them and work on one at a time. Start with the most important tasks first.
To reduce multitasking, use the time blocking scheduling technique. Allocate chunks of time to specific tasks and do not allow distractions. This is often referred to as time or task blocking.
The more uninterrupted time you get during the day, the more productive you will be. For example, you can have meetings from 9 am to 10 am.
Block off your calendar to work on a project from 10 am to noon. During this time, your colleagues and family should know not to interrupt you.
You should also put your phone on airplane mode and stop browsing so that you do not get distracted by calls or notifications. You can then set up another hour for responding to calls and emails and for chatting with your colleagues.
5. Learn Delegation
Another important time management tool is delegation. Many times, in our lives, we get overwhelmed by trying to do everything alone. In the end, we end up missing deadlines or producing poor results.
Meanwhile, our family, friends, or colleagues would have been happy to help. You can relieve stress with this simple, time-saving method.
To make proper use of delegation, identify tasks that other people can do. You must ensure that the person you are assigning the tasks to has the skill, willingness, and time to complete your job in the given time frame. Be clear about the task requirements and check back periodically with the person to make sure that he or she is on track.
Do not micromanage the task once you delegate it. Trust that your helpers will be able to complete the job in their own way. Also, get rid of the attitude that everything has to go your way.
There are many ways to satisfactorily deliver a project, so do not be hung up on the process.
Effective Time Management Will Change Your Life
Time is a finite resource that is even more valuable than money. Most billionaires are very careful with their time because they know how limited it is. Wasting time on meaningless activities is a grave mistake when you have more important things to accomplish.
Making proper use of your time daily can lead to huge positive changes in your life, sometimes within a few weeks. A year of proper time management could transform your life in a hugely positive way.
If you’re working on getting more organized and managing your time properly, check out our products for solutions.