Improve your time management with these tops 16 tips
Having effective time management skills are skills that help improve your work productivity but also your home-life productivity. Here are 16 time management tips to help improve your time management skills and be more productive in life.
Top 16 time management tips to improve productivity
1. Complete most important tasks first
This is the golden rule of time management. Each day, identify the two or three tasks that are the most crucial to complete, and do those first. Once you’re done, the day has already
been a success. You can move on to other things, or you can let them wait until tomorrow. You’ve finished the essential.
2. Learn to say “no”
Making a lot of time commitments can teach us how to juggle various engagements and manage our time. This can be a great thing. However, you can easily take it too far. At some point, you need to learn to decline opportunities. Your objective should be to take on only those commitments that you know you have time for and that you truly care about.
3. Sleep at least 7-8 hours
Some people think sacrificing sleep is a good way to increase productivity and wring a couple extra hours out of the day. This is not the case. Most people need 7-8 hours of sleep
for their bodies and minds to function optimally. You know if you’re getting enough. Listen to your body, and don’t underestimate the value of sleep.
4. Devote your entire focus to the task at hand
Close out all other browser windows. Put your phone away, out of sight and on silent. Find a quiet place to work, or listen to some music if that helps you. Concentrate on this one task. Nothing else should exist. Immerse yourself in it.
5. Get an early start
Nearly all of us are plagued by the impulse to procrastinate. It seems so easy, and you always manage to get it done eventually, so why not? Don’t be tempted – it’s so much nicer
and less stressful to get an earlier start on something. It isn’t that difficult either, if you just decide firmly to do it.
6. Set a time limit in which to complete task
Instead of just sitting down to work on a project and thinking, “I’m going to be here until this is done,” try thinking, “I’m going to work on this for three hours”. The time constraint
will push you to focus and be more efficient, even if you end up having to go back and add a bit more later.
7. Leave a buffer-time between tasks
When we rush from task to task, it’s difficult to appreciate what we’re doing and to stay focused and motivated. Allowing ourselves down-time between tasks can be a breath of fresh air for our brains.
8. Don’t think of the totality of your to-do list
One of the fastest ways to overwhelm yourself is to think about your massive to-do list. Realise that no amount of thought will make it any shorter. At this point in time, all you can do is focus on the one task before you. This one, single, solitary task. One step at a time.
Would you like to develop your time management skills further?
9. Exercise and eat healthily
Numerous studies have linked a healthy lifestyle with work productivity. Similar to getting enough sleep, exercising and eating healthily boost energy levels, clear your mind, and allow
you to focus more easily.
10. Do less
Basically, do less is another way of saying do the things that really matter. Slow down, notice what needs to be done, and concentrate on those things. Do less things that create more value, rather than more things that are mostly empty.
11. Create organising systems
Being organized saves time, and you don’t have to be the most ultra-organised person in the world either. Systems aren’t complicated to implement. Create a filing system for
documents. Make sure all items have a place to be stored. Unsubscribe from e-mail lists if you don’t want to receive their content.
12. Lock yourself in
No distractions, no excuses. Sometimes, the only way to get something done is under ‘lock and key’, alone in a room.
13. Commit to your plan to do something
Be resolute, be committed, be professional about it, and follow through. A firm will to accomplish what you decide to accomplish will take you anywhere.
14. Batch related tasks together
Different tasks demand different types of thinking, so it makes sense to allow your mind to continue to flow with its current zone rather than switching unnecessarily to something
that’s going to require you to re-orient.
15. Find time for stillness
In our go, go, go world, too many people don’t find time to just be still. Yet, it’s extraordinary what a stillness practice can do. Action and inaction should both play key roles in our lives.
Discovering time in your life for silence and non-motion reduces anxiety and shows you that there is no need to constantly rush. It also makes it easier to find your work pleasurable.
16. Eliminate the non-essential
Our lives are full of excess. When we can identify that excess and remove it, we become more and more in touch with what is significant and what deserves our time.
Effective time management skills can be a trick of the trade, however, our time management tips should allow you to live a more productive work-life and more enjoyable home-life.