How To Improve Time Management Skills: 17 Practical Strategies
This article has everything you need to know about how to improve time management skills.
What is time management? Time management is the process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, particularly to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity.
So it is especially an art of planning and to effectively manage time for max productivity. Basically it’s an art to master time well obviously you won’t become doctor strange after reading this nor gain some kind of superpower abilities but you can learn some important tips to become a more productive person, because becoming a productive person is the first step to become a successful person.
How To Improve Time Management Skills:
1. Start Early
“The early morning has gold in its mouth,” said Benjamin Franklin. Well getting up early has many advantages it will directly result in increased productivity and also in most of the cases the speed of doing your work increases by 47.5% of your normal speed.
When a person gets up early he is usually more energetic and takes lesser time to do his work. Also most of the famous people start there day from 5:30 am like Bill gates, Sunder Pichai, Cristiano Ronaldo and plenty of others too.
Mental fitness
One very significant benefit of waking of early is reduced stress level. When you rise early, it eliminates the need to rush in the morning. You can then start your day on an optimistic note and such positivity often stays with you throughout the day.
Bigger scores
A research conducted by Texas University has identified that students who were early risers scored better grades than those who were late to rise. Their GPAs were higher than the latter. One can link it to an enhanced productivity and quality of sleep.
Now how to do it?
The alarm should be in your room but not by your side cause you’ll be tempted to hit snooze but it should be on the other side of the room
When the alarm rings and you’re tempted to snooze it just ask yourself that there’s reason that you set this alarm most of the times it will provide you with the kick to get you out of the bed.
Keep water by your side so when the alarm rings and you can’t get off your bed just drink lots of water you’ll be refreshed and also in 15-20 mins you’ll have to go to the bathroom leaving you with no choice
And last STAY MOTIVATED.
2.Set goals
Now after a good start what to do next. First set goals for your day and the short goals should be the goals which will help you to attain your bigger goal. The goals should be firstly categorized into mainly 2 groups: MOST IMPORTANT and IMPORTANT
First your most vital goals should be completed and then head over to important goals. By doing this you can easily complete a major part of your work. Always try to never go to bed before completing your goals.
How to stay motivated to complete goals? Always praise yourself like you have achieved wonders and attach a reward with your goals like after completing your work you can watch mobile for 30 min or any other things. This will help you to stay motivated.
Celebrate small victories
Don’t feel disheartened if you aren’t able to complete your goals well every day can’t be perfect but by doing this it is going to be near perfect.
3. Say “no”
You need to learn this important habit. Making plenty of time commitments can teach us how to juggle diverse engagements and manage our time. This can be an awesome 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.
Then you seriously need to say no to distractions like mobiles, porn, it wastes plenty of your time. SO LEARN TO SAY NO.
This can only be achieved if you have a robust mindset. There aren’t any shortcuts for this.
4. Sleep at least 7-8 hours
Some people think sacrificing sleep is a great way to hack 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.
So now to attain this you need to go to bed early as getting up early is important as explained above. Be ready to finish all your tasks before 9:30 pm and then going to bed till 10:00 pm leaving you with 8 hours sleep and getting up at 6. So plan accordingly.
5. Focus on your tasks
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 (I enjoy listening to classical or ambient music while working sometimes).
Concentrate on this one task. Nothing else should exist. Immerse yourself in it.
6. Time limits for tasks
Just get in a habit to assign time for each tasks it will help you to complete all your tasks and helping to attain them by the end of the day .
7. Stop procrastinating
Procrastination is not only the thief of time; it’s the thief of life. You must develop the time management habit of moving quickly when something needs to be done. You must develop a reputation for speed and dependability.
As a general rule, small tasks should be done instantly, as soon as they appear. This habit of taking action quickly (1) will enable you to get through a gigantic amount of work in a day. It will earn you a reputation for being the kind of person to give jobs to when someone needs them done quickly.
8. Think on paper
Take a piece of paper and write down everything you plan to do. Include everything, even your plans to eat a healthy lunch and workout, prepare dinner for you and your family, every detail.
Then organize the piece of paper by asking yourself: “If I could only do one thing on this list today, which one thing would it be?”
And if I could only do two things which would be the second and the third? And then when you start very first thing in the morning, start off with number one, and discipline yourself to work only on number one until it’s complete. Then move on to number two.
9. Know your tasks the night before
The final way for you to ensure you have a productive next day is to make this list of goals and tasks the night before.
Your ability to make good plans before you act is a measure of your overall competence. The better plan you have, the easier it’s for you to overcome procrastination, to get started and then to keep going.
By writing down your goals before you go to sleep, you’ll consider the things you need to do and mentally prepare yourself to do them before you even wake up the next morning.
When you plan each day in advance, organize your list by precedence, and stick to your plan, the work will go faster and smoother than ever before. You will feel more powerful and competent. You will get more done, faster than you thought possible. Eventually, you’ll become unstoppable.
10. Make a To-Do List
When you consider how helpful planning can be in increasing your productivity and performance, it’s astonishing how few people practice it every single day. And planning is actually quite easy to do. All you need is a piece of paper and a pen.
The most sophisticated technology, time management apps are based on the same principle. Making a list is probably the greatest time management tools you can develop.
Always work from a list. When something new comes up, add it to the list before you do it. You can increase your productivity and output by 25% or more from the first day that you begin working consistently from a list.
Make out your list the night before, at the end of the workday. Move everything that you haven’t yet accomplished onto your list for the coming day and then add everything that you must do the next day.
When you make out your list the evening or the night before, your unconscious mind works on your list all night long while you sleep. Often you’ll wake up with great ideas and insights that you can use to get your job done faster and better than you had initially thought.
The more time you take to make written lists of everything you must do, in advance, the more effective and efficient you’ll be.
11. Add a “Done List” to your To-Do List
Sometimes, unforeseen tasks just pop up during the day. Jot them down in a separate list next to your to-dos for some extra satisfaction at the end of the day.
On Sunday, revisit your accomplishments from the previous week and congratulate yourself on your successes. This review period will increase your confidence and help you create the next week’s schedule.
12. Don’t wait for inspiration – do it now
Some artists wait for inspiration to strike. Some writers sit around, waiting for writer’s block to subside. Businesspeople don’t attend to serious tasks if they aren’t in a perfect work environment.
With mindfulness, you don’t must feel like getting something done to do it. Notice the thoughts and feelings that arise while you work from an outside perspective. Don’t let them govern your actions.
13. Schedule breaks between tasks
The human brain can only focus for about 90 minutes.
Schedule a break at least every 90 minutes to avoid burnout and maintain high productivity throughout your day. NOT MORE THAN 45 MINS.
14. Make the most of waiting times
It happens to everybody: we wait in lines, waiting rooms, airport terminals, train stations, etc.
Answer emails on your phone, catch up on missed phone calls, stretch/exercise, relax or meditate.
Carry a book/Kindle with you and read. Listen to podcasts on your phone.
Don’t let unforeseen queues catch you unprepared.
15. Train the other side of your brain
Engage in hobbies to engage the parts of your brain that you don’t use at work. You’ll solve problems faster and have more creativity at your disposal.
Spending time outside of your comfort zone leads to success. If you’re a lawyer, learn to dance. If you’re a pianist, practice martial arts. If you’re a software developer, go out and socialize.
16. Exercise often
Sports help you handle everyday stressors (2).
Researchers have shown that short and intense exercise sessions can be as beneficial as longer ones.
Set some time aside for short workouts – at least every other day.
17. Persevering
Inevitably, things won’t all the time run smoothly as you progress towards your goals. When things aren’t working out, you need to persevere and find out how to take a positive attitude towards frustration and failure.
Mistakes are a critical part of any creative process and every is a lesson leading you towards the right solution. Fear of making or admitting mistakes is a major handicap to taking effective action. It is alleged that the people who have achieved the most have made the most mistakes! Try to remember that satisfaction comes as much from pursuing goals as from achieving them.
Work at effective strategies to deal with pressure – these can vary from taking exercise, to relaxation techniques such as Yoga, to simply sharing problems with friends. Being assertive can even help here, for example, politely saying no to the demands of others when you’re pushed for time. Sharing tasks and problems with others will spread the burden and will bring a fresh perspective to them.
Thank you for reading this article about how to improve time management skills and I actually hope that you take action my advice. I wish you good luck and that I hope its contents have been a good help to you.
