For somebody that is new to time management, it can be difficult to figure out where to start. The best path forward for how to make your life more productive is often unclear. Improving your time management is one of the best ways that you can make your life more relaxing and planned out. Continue reading to learn more about strategies for time management!
Using these strategies for time management will make your day-to-day life more fulfilling and more efficient. If you can start implementing them today, I guarantee you will see improvements almost immediately!
After reading through this post, the you will understand some new strategies for time management. You will never use your time in the same way as before.
This post is all about strategies for time management and why you need them today!
What is time management?
Time management refers to the idea of being intentional with your time. It is all about being focused on planning out your time and executing the things that you plan. The idea is that by having good time management, you will be able to get more done in a more efficient, less stressful way.
One example of effective time management is the use of a calendar. I know that using a calendar sounds simple, but it is actually something that very few people do. By using a calendar regularly, you will find yourself being more on top of your daily, weekly, and monthly activities. The best part is, using a calendar can be incredibly easy.
All you need to do is write down one or two activities for each day as they come up and you will be on top of things. Also, make sure to include the big activities that are coming up so you can keep an eye on your long-term plans. I guarantee that your time management will improve just with this one simple change!
Why is time management important?
Time management is important because it can completely change your life if implemented properly. By using these strategies for time management, you can go from being an unproductive person to being a task-completion machine.
Time management affects your entire day, from sun up to sun down, and affects each activity you do. For example, at work, your time management will control how much you can get done and how well you perform each task. At home, your time management will affect whether or not you have time for the gym, how early you go to sleep, and how much you can get done on a given weekend.
Therefore, it is important to consider time management in everything you do and to improve your time management whenever you can. Check out the article below for more on the importance of time management!
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Strategies for Time Management
Time management can be a challenging thing to put into practice, but these strategies will help you get started on the right foot. These tips are easy enough to implement today, but game-changing enough to help you for the rest of your life. If you give them a fair try, I’m sure you will be impressed! Continue reading for 3 strategies for time management that you need today!
1. Stop Procrastinating
Procrastination is the biggest time management killer out there. If you are procrastinating you will struggle to get anything of importance done. Why is that? Well, if you are procrastinating, you are just shoving the task at hand into the future, but not shoving it very far. If you get to the point of procrastination, typically that means that you have a deadline coming up very soon. Procrastination usually also leads to a poor final product, since you had to rush to get it done in the first place. Your interest was most likely also not there, which contributes to that poor result.
There is also a serious difference between procrastination and rescheduling:
- If you are rescheduling: Typically means that you are pushing an activity and you have plenty of time to come back to it. That activity is usually replaced with more pressing activities that must be completed sooner. Rescheduling is very acceptable.
- If you are procrastinating: Typically you are just putting something off more and more just before it is due. Usually, when you are procrastinating you are not getting anything else done either. That one task is hanging over your head, and you are dreading getting it done. This will inevitably lead you to not get much else done. You know you must get that one thing done, but the dread keeping you from it will also keep you from other activities.
If you are procrastinating heavily today, getting out of that habit is one of the best strategies for time management. If you can make that change, you will find yourself with more time and a less stressful schedule. Implementing this strategy will take some major self discipline. Check out why self discipline is so important at the link below!
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2. Save the Hard Tasks for When You Feel the Best
One of the best strategies for time management that you can easily implement today is as simple as reorganizing the order in which you complete your day. My suggestion is to shuffle your day around so that you tackle your bigger daily tasks when you feel your best. Similarly, you should complete the easy stuff when you are tired or unmotivated.
For example, let’s say you need to complete all of your meal prepping for the week on a Sunday:
- You could try to start it at 7 AM, but you usually feel groggy at that hour.
- You could start at 12 PM after your workout and lunch.
- You could start at 5 PM after dinner and squeeze it in before bed.
Any of these options can work, but typically you want to try to do things at your peak. I doubt you will peak early in the morning or just before bed, so try to tackle that annoying, long task right in the middle of the day! If you are already tired or unmotivated, it will make doing anything extra hard!
Basically, you need to implement this strategy to start to feel better about getting challenging tasks done. If you complete those tasks at your peak energy, you will associate them with more positive thoughts and you will be in a better mood in the future. Just make sure you don’t continue waiting for your peak and end up procrastinating!
3. Schedule Effectively
The next strategy is to schedule effectively. With effective scheduling, you will find yourself maximizing your time and wasting very little. You will have a better plan, and therefore will get more done every day!
3a. “Chunking” your time
The crux of effective scheduling is looking at your day as a series of chunks. These chunks change depending on if it is a work day, a school day, a day off, or just a weekend, but the principle is the same.
To chunk your time, look at the day as a series of one-hour chunks. Each chunk needs to be filled in with something, but nothing more granular than an hour at a time. Some activities may be longer than an hour, and that is okay! Just start by breaking down your schedule in this way as you plan it out.
The benefit of scheduling your time in chunks is that you can plan very easily. Instead of just dropping a bunch of activities on a day and saying, “well, hopefully I can get all of these done” chunking your time will allow you to schedule your day more clearly.
3b. Save some time for yourself!
Managing your time in chunks will also let you see where you have free time. Sometimes it might be smart to fill that free time with more activities, but if you are all caught up you should use that time for you. If you are always in go-go-go mode, you will actually become less productive because you will burn yourself out. Part of scheduling effectively is knowing when to back off and take a break. You need time for yourself too!
3c. Capitalize on “lost” time
Another part of scheduling effectively is knowing how to capitalize on the time you expected to lose. What does that mean? Well, time you expect to lose is made up by activities that do not allow for typical multitasking. For example, driving to work, going to the grocery store, cleaning the house, etc. While you cannot drive to work and make your breakfast at the same time, you can do other things!
- If you are driving to work, listen to a podcast to learn something new!
- If you are at the grocery store, call a friend to catch up as you search the aisles!
- If you are cleaning the house, think through your week so you can fill out your calendar!
All of these things are examples of how to capitalize on the time you expected to lose! This is one of my favorite strategies for time management. If you implement these changes today, your time management will become much better!
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Hopefully, you understand a little bit more about the strategies for time management now! Implementing these strategies today is the first step towards greatly improved time management. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to send them to us at ourteam@wellroundedyou.com. Thanks for reading!
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