How to manage your time like a pro.
You have probably heard that time is an important and non-renewable currency.
The Late Steve Jobs is said to have said this:
“It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.”
Time is a key measurement in our progress and future prospects. It speaks to the quality and quantity of things we do.
Our ability to manage our time effectively is one of the biggest gifts we can give our present and future selves.
Growing up, it always felt like there was never enough time in the day to do all the things I wanted to do. Of course, it took me a while to realise that the problem was not the number of hours since we all had the same number of hours and some people seemed to achieve herculean tasks.
I knew it was more about how I used my time.
A simple inventory of my time management showed that I spent more time on low value tasks and usually allocated little time to the more important and high value tasks. The ones that move the needle on my goals and dreams. Over time, I learnt to take better stock of my time, and I am so glad I did.
Today, I run a business while also developing some hobbies and side opportunities. I wouldn’t have been able to do these things without getting better with my time.
Read on if you would like to implement a better framework to manage your time.
Five strategies to Manage Your Time this Year.
1. Plan out your day.
Planning is an integral part of time management. We are bound to inefficiencies and time wastes when we fail to plan out our day, week, or month.
A good plan presents a roadmap of what we want to do and when we will do it.
The first thing to determine before you draw up your plan is your ‘why’. Knowing what you hope to achieve and why you want to.
This may seem complicated but it’s not.
For instance, I want to write weekly blog posts and newsletter and my why is to grow a personal development blog for women over 30.
My plan will include the time to research posts, write the posts, and prepare my email newsletter. I will also need to put a timelines for each task.
Your plan can be daily, weekly, or monthly. You could also have all three.
I personally use a weekly plan, with tasks for each day of the week. This gives me a bird’s eye view of what I want to achieve in each week.
It’s important that you’re realistic about what you can do and ensure your plan is specific and actionable.
You can use a digital or paper planner for this purpose. I have used Passion Planner in the past and currently have the Living Well Planner which is great too (the living well planner also has sections for your finances, which are not available in the Passion planner).
Remember that you can also plan out each day the night before. You can check out this post for an effective night routine that prepares you for the next day.
2. Use Realistic Timelines.
Do you often find that you underestimate how much some tasks take, and overestimate others?
For instance, I often find that I overestimate things like cooking and cleaning and underestimate how long it takes me to write or complete a project.
Before setting timelines, you should have a good estimate on how long such tasks are likely to take. Do a trial run of your most common tasks and time yourself, you can then use this as a benchmark for future tasks.
But this is not all, here are a few other things to consider when setting timelines:
- Your goals – your goals can help you determine how much time you need. For instance, a goal to write a book will require more time than a goal to write a 2,000-word article.
- Nature of your work or projects – there are tasks that will have different components that cannot be completed in a day or week, in such cases, it makes sense to create a breakdown of these components and when you intend to work on them.
- Your preferences – are you a big picture kind of person or prefer to focus on one day at a time?
3. Prioritise Your Tasks.
“Never leave ‘till tomorrow which you can do today.”
Benjamin Franklin
It’s one thing to list out the activities you want to accomplish in a day or week, but even better if you can prioritize based on importance or time required. We can use the Eisenhower matrix, popularized by Stephen Covey in his book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
The matrix divides our tasks into four possible boxes.
- Tasks that are urgent and important
- Tasks that are not urgent but important
- Tasks that are urgent but not important
- Tasks that are not urgent and not important
Being able to assign our tasks into these four boxes will help us determine the things we need to work on, and perhaps tasks that we have no business with.
4. Manage Your Attention.
One problem our generation is facing is not a lack of time but a lack of attention as we have so many things vying for our attention. You can probably relate.
At any given time, there are hundreds of things we could be doing – from surfing social media channels, websites, movies, music, work, studies, and the list goes on. There’s always something else we could be doing and it’s important that we find ways to limit the distractions that drain our attention.
Managing your attention will help you finish tasks faster and at better quality (we are less likely to make mistakes when we are focused). Investing in the right productivity tools can also help you improve and speed up your work output.
5. Be Self-aware – Work within Your Energy Levels.
A few years ago, I came across the concept of energy dips, this is like the afternoon dip.
Most of us experience a dip in our energy levels at certain times of the day. For some, this dip happens in the early to late afternoons, this is particularly heightened after lunch. I used to feel bad about my productivity at this time until I learned about the afternoon dip.
Now, I recognise that I’m better off scheduling intellectually stimulating tasks in the morning and later in the evening, giving me time to do more administrative tasks or other activities in the afternoon.
How about you? Have you noticed a similar dip?
Yours could also be in the evenings.
Morning people often find it hard to stay productive in the evenings and the same often holds for night people in the mornings.
One the one hand, our energy levels may very well be because of our body makeup/patterns(chronotype), while it may be for other reasons. If it’s the latter, there are some things we can do to increase and maintain our energy levels such as:
- Eat better – this is always a good tip. You may need to eat lighter and more nutrient dense meals. Avoid sugary or high carb meals during lunch as this may lead to blood sugar spikes and dips.
- Exercise – this can be as simple as going on a brisk walk in between tasks to get your blood pumping and make you feel refreshed.
- Change tasks – there are some tasks that are just life-sucking. Lol. You could switch to another task, if possible.
- Take a nap – perhaps your body just needs a quick rest to get it back in working order.
While some studies advocate the need to wake up very early and have a consistent and productive morning routine, some others are not as strict about wake-up times and its connection to productivity.
In effect, it still comes down to one thing – that you find what works for you.
Without being pedantic, I also want to remind you to never forget that your spiritual and emotional health feeds into your productivity. Feed your heart and mind with the right things and watch these bloom into a happier and more productive life.
Start Managing Your Time Today
I hope you’ve found the above time management tips helpful.
As I mentioned in the last point, we can accomplish more than we can ever dream or imagine when we take a holistic view of our capabilities – physical, spiritual, emotional, and biological.
Don’t try to implement all the strategies at once, start off with one or two of the strategies and add more as you get a hang of the current processes.
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