How to manage your time better.

Time management is considered to be one of the most important aspects of productivity, tackling task lists, understanding priorities and battling procrastination can seem like daunting tasks when we’re faced with so much to do and so little time to do it.

Failing to manage time can lead to consequences that go beyond not being able to do the job set out to do, it can also bleed through to your personal life.

When a task is particularly challenging or we have too much to do without a relevant deadline, procrastination becomes prevalent, further delaying our ability to get things done. Tasks will carry over for weeks or even months without getting done. This can affect our ability to feel productive, often leading to feelings of failure and futility, further adding stress to our lives.

Our eating and sleeping patterns become unhealthy, especially when we have a multitude of tasks to do. When we feel that we have too little time to do the tasks set out for us we will set aside the fundamental habits that keep us happy and healthy, delaying our usual routines to get tasks done.

Our overall quality of work diminishes as a result. The consequences of not effectively managing our time can certainly have a domino-affect, so we have compiled a few guidelines to better manage time.

Don’t change your routine.

Some people work better in the morning, and some work better at night. Schedule your tasks around what works for you, don’t schedule your routine around your tasks.

Prioritize.

Not sure where to start? Sometimes the most challenging, urgent and largest projects seem the most daunting, but do them first. Getting the largest tasks out of the way first don’t just aid in productivity, but in work quality too.

The multitasking myth.

Multitasking simply doesn’t work. Doing two projects at once will require you to split your energy between them, meaning each project will only receive half the attention. When we give the full extent of our energy to one task at a time, it will be done properly.

E-mails and Social Media.

According to statistics, the average worker checks emails a total of 30 hours a week, and the average person spends approximately 4-6 hours on their smartphone a day. Limiting the time we spend checking emails and social media helps us concentrate on our tasks at hand without distraction. Limiting our time to certain periods in the for inbox check-ins can be advantageous to our productivity.

Saying no and delegating.

When we understand the tasks we need to do, and have set them out accordingly according to our task-list, it can be daunting when additional tasks are assigned, leading to work anxiety and burnout. Refusing additional tasks assertively is important if you already have a multitude of tasks to do. Delegating tasks to others can also be advantageous, as they may have different insights to the task at hand.

Need to up your time management skills? Our Effective Time Management course will help you implement the above techniques and more. Sign up for notifications to our course calendar. Contact us for more information on our services.