Good time management is essential for coping with the pressures of modern life without experiencing too much stress. If you never have enough time to finish your tasks, better time management will help you regain control of your day.
Good time management doesn't mean you do more work. It means you focus on the tasks that matter and will make a difference. Whether it's in your job or your lifestyle as a whole, learning how to manage your time effectively will help you feel more relaxed, focused and in control.
Here are some tips on how to be a better time manager:
Create a daily plan. Plan your day before it unfolds. Do it in the morning or even better, the night before you sleep. The plan gives you a good overview of how the day will pan out. That way, you don't get caught off guard. Your job for the day is to stick to the plan as best as possible.
Peg a time limit to each task. Be clear that you need to finish X task by 10 am, Y task by 3 pm, and Z item by 5:30 pm. This prevents your work from dragging on and eating into time reserved for other activities.
Use a calendar. Having a calendar is the most fundamental step to managing your daily activities. If you use outlook or lotus notes, calendar come as part of your mailing software. Google Calendar is great. It's even better if you can sync it to your mobile phone and other hard wares you use – that way, you can access your schedule no matter where you are.
Use an organizer. The organizer helps you to be on top of everything in your life. It's your central tool to organize information, to-do lists, projects, and other miscellaneous items.
Know your deadlines. When do you need to finish your tasks? Mark the deadlines out clearly in your calendar and organizer so you know when you need to finish them.
Learn to say "No". Don't take on more than you can handle. For the distractions that come in when you're doing other things, give a firm no. Or defer it to a later period.
Target to be early. When you target to be on time, you'll either be on time or late. Most of the times you'll be late. However, if you target to be early, you'll most likely be on time. For appointments, strive to be early. For your deadlines, submit them earlier than required.
Time box your activities. This means restricting your work to X amount of time. Have a clock visibly placed before you. Sometimes we are so engrossed in our work that we lose track of time. Having a huge clock in front of you will keep you aware of the time at the moment.
Set reminders 15 minutes before. Most calendars have a reminder function. If you've an important meeting to attend, set that alarm 15 minutes before.
Focus. Are you multi-tasking so much that you're just not getting anything done? If so, focus on just one key task at one time. Close off all the applications you aren't using. Close off the tabs in your browser that are taking away your attention. Focus solely on what you're doing. You'll be more efficient that way.
Prioritize. Since you can't do everything, learn to prioritize the important and let go of the rest. Apply the 80/20 principle which is a key principle in prioritization.
Delegate. If there are things that can be better done by others or things that are not so important, consider delegating. This takes a load off and you can focus on the important tasks.
Eliminate your time wasters. What takes your time away your work? Facebook? Twitter? Email checking? Stop checking them so often. One thing you can do is make it hard to check them – remove them from your browser quick links / bookmarks and stuff them in a hard to access bookmarks folder. Replace your browser bookmarks with important work-related sites. While you'll still check FB/Twitter no doubt, you'll find it's a lower frequency than before.
Cut off when you need to. #1 reason why things overrun is because you don't cut off when you have to. Don't be afraid to intercept in meetings or draw a line to cut-off. Otherwise, there's never going to be an end and you'll just eat into the time for later.
Leave buffer time in-between. Don't pack everything closely together. Leave a 5-10 minute buffer time in between each task. This helps you wrap up the previous task and start off on the next one.
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