10 time management tips

    Boost your productivity with 10 essential time management tips. Learn how to set goals, prioritize tasks, avoid distractions, and effectively plan your workday for better results and a balanced schedule.
    • April 30, 2021
    • 5 minute read
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    A few words about these time management tips

    Time is limited and its passage is irreversible. For these two reasons, we must use it wisely. Efficient and consistent application of these time management tips will help us have enough time to do everything you want. And yes, one of the most important time management tip is exactly this:

    1. Be consistent

    Consider the fact that once past you cannot recover the lost time and therefore every second count and should not be wasted. If you apply these time management tips only for a period, you will get results for that period. But once you stop, the effects will also be gone.

    Why these time management tips work

    The time management tips considered, are basic things that must be considered regardless of the time management strategy we choose to use. They are some general rules that help us act properly to succeed in doing everything we set out to do within the set time frame. Also are directly related to the basics of effective time management:

    • setting goals
    • prioritization
    • planning
    • organization
    • avoiding downtime

    Which are these time management tips

    For easier follow-up of these time management tips, here are grouped into the main core categories presented above.

    Setting goals

    The most important thing in time management is setting the goals and objectives to be achieved. Otherwise, without knowing exactly where we want to go, we will not even know where to start. Here are some time management tips related to setting goals.

    2. Choose bold but achievable goals.

    It is even advisable to set goals that are challenging, but no matter how bold they are, they must still be realistic. You need to know that they can be reached for sure, otherwise, you risk lacking motivation, and this is one of the most important factors that mobilize you.

    3. Set the time frame in which you want to accomplish them.

    You need a deadline because it has been proven that otherwise you may be affected by Parkinson’s law. It says that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”. In other words, if you have not set a finish line, you may never reach it.

    4. Break down your goals into intermediate objectives that lead to their fulfillment

    Big bold goals involve taking intermediate steps. Determine which they are so you can streamline your planning. Achieving these intermediate objectives will also be a very good motivational factor that will mobilize you to move forward.
    In addition to our time management tips, we suggest checking out a very effective method of setting SMART Goals & SMART Objectives

    Prioritization

    It is advisable to work in a certain order, not to do things at random. By doing things that do not necessarily influence the path to our goals, it is possible that when we start doing something that really matters, we will no longer have the time or energy to accomplish them. Next one in our list of time management tips is:

    5. Prioritize all your actions

    Establish from the very beginning the order in which you will perform the steps towards your goals. Keep in mind how they influence the achievement of the goals you have set for yourself. Not all actions are equally important or urgent.
    We supplement the time management tips with the proposal to check the Eisenhower matrix, a simple but efficient decision-making tool that allows you to categorize your activities according to their importance and urgency.

    Planning

    Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.

    Alan Lakein

    Considering the importance of planning in achieving goals, we enunciate another one of our time management tips

    6. Plan all your actions in advance

    Prepare your To-do list for next week the previous weekend and for the next day the evening before. For each planned activity you must include the time interval in which it must be performed. Be careful to not overload your schedule.
    In addition to our time management tips, we recommend checking the Kanban method, a visual presentation of the planned activities and how the execution of tasks evolves

    Organization

    It is essential that here should be organizations of labor. This is an era of organization. Capital organizes and therefore labor must organize.

    Theodore Roosevelt

    We include in our list of time management tips the following:

    7. Create the necessary work environment

    Make sure, as much as possible, that you have a suitable environment for what you are going to do. It is important to have the necessary conditions to carry out your activities.

    8. Use auxiliary tools

    Use any additional tools that you think can help you run your activity efficiently. Our suggestion is to use PlanArty Time Management Solution. It includes all the necessary features, from planning to time tracking and excel export for reports like Detailed breakdown for the Estimates, Project Planning, and Detailed timesheet for billing. All the better as all this is organized in a continuous workflow of optimized solutions

    Avoiding downtime

    9. Avoid procrastination and distractions while working

    Repeated delays and unnecessary interruptions will always be an obstacle to the timely fulfillment of your goals. Take the necessary measures and avoid them. The following methods are very effective in this regard, check them and if you consider it appropriate apply the one you think suits you best.

    • Getting things done (GTD)
    • Eat that frog
    • The Pomodoro technique

    10. Take care of your health

    Last but not least in our list of time management tips is at least as important as all the others. If you do not feel well or you are tired you will not be able to perform to the maximum of your abilities. Therefore, make sure that you take proper care of your health. Also, take breaks when you need to, and sleep properly. Use this Sleep calculator to find out how many hours of sleep are recommended and in what time frame, including your afternoon nap.

    Effects of these time management tips

    These time management tips will help you significantly improve your time management skills. Thus, by consistent application, among other things, you will be able to

    • accurately estimate time duration for future planning
    • spend more time on high-priority tasks and avoid unnecessary interruptions
    • easily readjust plans to improve progress rate
    • respect your deadlines and improve the quality of your work
    • make the right decisions much easier

    Mariana is an Economist with a degree in Marketing and International Economic Affairs. And, because she is passionate about it, she also specialized in human resources management.

    Her interest in time management began in her college years. Then, thanks to careful planning and the fact that she strictly adhered to her schedule, she managed to complete her studies and, at the same time, work to support herself and also spend time with family and friends.

    Later her time management skills have proven very useful in successfully coordinating the administrative and human resources departments of the companies she has worked with.

    Following her experiences, she clearly understood that rigorous planning is one of the key factors for effective time management and the basic tool is the To-do list. Over time she has researched, studied, and tested various techniques, methods, and methodologies that applied to our To-do list help us to remarkably increase our efficiency and productivity. As a result, she published the To-do list compendium, a paper that concisely presents (with examples and diagrams) 12 planning techniques and prioritization strategies. The purpose is to make it easier for the reader to choose a time management system that suits his specific needs and situation.

    Delighted by the positive influence that efficient time management has on both personal productivity and business results, Mariana continues to research and study continuously everything that appears new in this field.

    She's also keeping us all up to date, by constantly writing on PlanArty's Blog.

    Stay tuned and certainly will be easier for you to constantly develop your time management skills and always keep your productivity high.

    Contact: mariana@planarty.com

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