Do you ever catch yourself saying “I just don’t have the time”? I say it a hundred times a day! No joke. It seems as if year by year time is flying faster and faster. I mean, one minute it’s Monday and before you know it, it’s Sunday again. Do you want to manage your time like a productive boss? Keep on reading.
“Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.”
Harvey Mackay
In this article, you will learn the most effective strategies for better time management, brought to you by hours of research on the most effective, proven strategies recommended by the most successful people and websites of our time.
I won’t cover the most basic things such as waking up earlier, eliminating distractions, using a calendar or delegating tasks to others as many are aware of that already. We’ll look into other less common and more strategic ways to improve your time management.
Right, let’s become productive bosses!
Disclosure:
I am not a professional in any way, nor is this advice. It’s just information that I’ve found useful in helping me manage my time better. This post may contain affiliate links. If you choose to purchase through my links, I may receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you.
1. Track Where Your Time Is Being Spent
Have you ever thought, that you only take a certain amount of time on a task and only once you’ve timed yourself you’ve noticed how long you actually take?
If you are wondering why you haven’t got much time for anything, it would be wise to track where it’s all going. You may realise that actually, you take 30 minutes to shower instead of 15.
Once you realise where all your precious time is going, your awareness will lead you to solutions. You will be able to self-discipline yourself to only spend a certain amount of time on your various, different, everyday activities so you can have more time on quality tasks.
Manage your time like a productive boss 101.
Tip: To do this, you can download helpful apps, that will track it all for you. There are numerous different apps available, so you have plenty to choose from. I use the Toggl Track App it’s cheap, easy to use and helpful.
2. Implement Your Goals Into Your Daily Tasks
What do you value the most? What are your goals and what do you want to achieve this year? Professionally and personally.
Knowing your goals and what you should be working on is the first step in organising your time wisely. If you haven’t already, make sure to think about your goals for the year, write them down and create a plan for how you will go about achieving them. If you’ve already done that, well done! you are already on the right track. We’ll soon use those goals and plan to implement them in your daily planning and scheduling for more productivity.
“Knowing your goals will help you plan better and focus on the things that will help you achieve those goals, says Emma.” – NHS
3. Start Scheduling Your Week and Days Effectively
To manage your time like a productive boss you need to start planning your day-to-day life.
This is a step-by-step guide for scheduling your week and To-Do List efficiently for better time management:
1. Create action steps for your goals.
As mentioned above, you should spend most of your time working towards achieving your goals. You have a goal because you think achieving it, is worthwhile and valuable, therefore make space for it. Invest your time in YOU the most!
2. Use your goals and action steps in your weekly planning and scheduling.
Refer to your goal’s action steps and try to include them when planning out your week. Have a higher chance of achieving your goals by working around them every day. Your consistency and hard work will pay off!
3. Write down all the tasks you must complete in the week.
Now, there should be a balance here between work and personal life, make sure to include both. For e.g, plan out your week around what you have to complete for work and personal life at home. Once you have written down what needs doing for that day, you can always look back and refer to it as often as you need to, so you don’t risk the chance of forgetting to complete an important task.
Tip: Use apps to help you schedule your week. I usually scribble all my tasks down on the Week Plan 2022 App. Apps are easy to access, amendable and kept neat and tidy. They’re also very helpful because you are able to set a time limit or set reminders.
4. Try The ABC Method
“Time Management is the ability to choose the sequence of events” – Brian Tracy, No Excuses! The Power Of Self-Discipline In your Life.
In his book, No Excuses, motivational speaker and author Brain Tracy gave an ABC Method for setting priorities. His Method is to order your daily tasks by ABC, A being a very important task that you must complete, B being second most important with mild consequences if not completed and C being least important has little to no consequences if not completed. If you have many similar tasks you can order them as A1, A2, A3 or B1 etc. You can then see how important are some of your daily tasks and where you should spend the most time. I found it helpful and use it in my weekly planning.
5. Practice the 80-20 Rule.
“In the 80-20 rule, you prioritize the 20% of factors that will produce the best results.” – Investopedia
The Pareto or 80-20 rule encourages you to focus on the most valuable tasks you have on a day-to-day basis. Think about what your most important goals and action steps are and then use this rule to focus on and implement those tasks the most.
“No matter what your situation, it’s important to remember that there are only so many minutes in an hour, hours in a day, and days in a week. Pareto can help you to see this is a good thing; otherwise, you’d be a slave to a never-ending list of things to do.”
– Forbes
6. Use your Week Plan In your Daily To-Do lists.
Once you have planned out your week, use this plan to implement it into your daily To-Do lists. You will be a lot more organised. Remember to do your planning and scheduling where it is easiest to access. I find it best to do it on my phone. I downloaded a weekly scheduling app (Week Plan 2022) and a To-Do list app (Structured) that I take with me everywhere I go, I can easily access it and tick off wherever I am.
7. Make your To-Do list the night Before.
Planning ahead and writing your To-Do list the evening/night before will increase your productivity for the next day. The benefits are; Less stress in the morning, more time in the morning, starting work right away, having a better ability to judge what to include and a better work-life balance.
8. Set a time limit for each task.
In order to have better time management, this step is a must. You must use every hour you have in a day wisely.
I use to just write my to-do list without a time limit, thinking I will be productive. Only since I started setting a time limit for my tasks, I have realised how time goes faster than I actually thought. I spent hours and hours on a single task only to end up not having enough time to start another. I would let myself get carried by one, misjudging how much time I actually got left.
Setting a time limit is crucial! You will be able to see how many hours you can spend on one task in order to get all tasks done by the end of the day. You will also be more aware of time itself. You’ll recognise that you cannot procrastinate and ‘quickly’ do something else instead.
It will push you to put in your all while you still have time. It works wonders, you will be a lot more productive and manage your time because setting time limits creates a sense of urgency.
9. Focus on Quality, not Quantity.
Don’t be busy, be productive. Do not just set yourself invaluable tasks just to feel like you’re busy and doing something. Try not to overwhelm yourself with a long list of to-dos.
Focus on the most important tasks that have a high return on investment for your time.
Try to minimise the tasks that have little to no value what’s so ever. Tasks such as cleaning, doing the laundry or getting ready should be kept to a short period of time so that you can use your time in a better and wiser way.
10. Don’t Multitask.
While you are working on one task, do not divert your attention by doing something else in between. Research suggests that multitasking “reduces your efficiency and performance because your brain can only focus on one thing at a time” – Forbes. Make sure to put in 100% if you want to get 100% out. Focus on one at a time.
11. Take A Break.
There is numerous research out there that suggests that our mind can focus continuously for about 50-90 minutes. After that 90 minutes, we need at least 15 minutes break to recharge.
Make sure that you’re always alert and energized when completing your tasks. You want to do your best right? Then make sure to give your body and mind the best by giving them what it needs. You can do some stretches or breathing exercises or have a little snack.
Reward yourself by taking longer breaks whenever you can by treating yourself to a small getaway or holiday after completing major tasks, if you can.
4. Organise Your Place Of Work
First comes thought; then organization of that thought into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality.
– Napoleon Hil
It is fairly obvious that good organisation skills are vital for good time management. Being organised will decrease the likelihood of being drifted away into unnecessary tasks at the wrong time.
Organising your day by means of To-Do’s is a great way to get things done. However, we already talked about that. By being organised here I mean, organising your environment in order for you to be the most productive as you can and use your time efficiently.
If you haven’t already, make sure to organise your place of work as well as you can, for easy use and to avoid any stress of misplacements. “A relatively neat and orderly office space clears the way for higher productivity and less wasted time.” – Lifehack.
There are numerous articles and videos out there that can guide you on how to organise your workplace or desk. If you’d like, the Lifehack blog link above will guide you through it.
5. Be Productive While Waiting Or Travelling
I mean, we all dislike wasting our time by waiting for long periods of time. It makes us feel as if we are not being productive and start to feel guilty for it even if it’s not exactly our fault. When we feel we have little to no control over something, we start to feel angry and upset. Sometimes, we cannot control waiting, but we can control what we do meanwhile.
Therefore, start using that time wisely. Listen to an Audio Book while you travelling to work or are stuck in traffic. Read a book on Kindle while you’re on the bus or waiting somewhere. I even listen to Audible while in the shower or when cleaning.
Reading is beneficial for all of us, you can never feel unproductive or guilty while reading, therefore manage your time like a productive boss by reading while waiting!
6. Get Motivated
Every day when I wake up and get ready for the day, I listen to Tedx Talks or motivational speeches. It encourages me to spend the rest of my day wisely. Inspires me to do my best that day. Reminds me to manage my time like a productive boss.
If you are feeling demotivated and don’t have the willpower to keep pushing through, get inspiration by listening to motivational speeches and start to feel powerful again.
Are you usually demotivated? Does even getting out of bed seems hard enough? Click here to read my latest post on how to overcome that. You’re welcome.
“Success usually comes to those who are too busy looking for it.”
– Henry David Thoreau
7. Tweak, Change and Experiment
Our lives keep evolving, things change continuously. For example, You may work full-time for a time being and then as things change and you suddenly work only part-time.
As your life changes throughout the months and years, don’t be afraid to tweak and change your methods.
Be adaptable. Time management is also about continuous tweaking. One method of scheduling may work for you for a time period but then later in life, it may not be so anymore.
So, experiment, and see which ways of scheduling and prioritising work for you now and as you go through life for better time management. Always seek out new ways of doing things, and you may find your ‘life changer’.
I hope you found this article helpful. Now, go and manage your time like a productive Boss.
with love,
Nikol
xoxo
