Let's be realistic here; even the best time management experts are looking to improve their skills. Why is time management so important? Because time is the most valuable asset, saving time or using time wisely will benefit us, and we can spend it on essential activities. Spend time with loved ones, build your own business or spend time doing the thing which makes you happy.
What is Time Management?
It is a process of planning and exercising conscious control of time spent on specific activities. It is one of the essential skills for personal development. If you can master or improve it, you will progress in other areas because you will have more time.
It is not that hard to improve; we need to develop some discipline to focus on what's important to us.
How do I Organize my Time Better?
Do you have a goal? Long Term goal. If not, you need to have one; there is no real motivation to save time. For what?
Suppose you have a long-term goal. Congratulation. You are one step closer to achieving it.
How do you organize your time better?
Work on tasks related to your goals
Make a to-do list - this is the must-do activity if you want to speed up your progress, do not get distracted, and do not waste time procrastinating.
Set priorities - to your tasks related to your goals.
Practice 4 D'S
DDDD | What are the 4 types of Time Management?
The Eisenhower Matrix / The Eisenhower box
This one is a handy tool for saving time and is simple and effective.
Urgent + Important (Do)
Not Urgent + Important (Delay or Plan)
Urgent + Non Important (Delegate)
Not Urgent + Not Important (Delete)
Before performing any task, make a decision based on the above. Do you need to do it, or you can delegate it or delete it.
I would focus on the second box, where all the magic happens.
What is Effective Time Management?
Effective time management is about allocating the right time for the right activity. In other words, if you manage to complete all the tasks you said you would do and it's all related to your goals, you do not waste any time on unimportant activities.
How will you improve your time management?
If you want your time management to improve long-term, you need to develop discipline. Without discipline, it's hard to develop long-lasting habits—simple tasks like making a to-do list every morning are not easy if you don't make a habit.
To make it easier, you need to believe in its reason. Why do you want to improve your time management? If you genuinely think it will save you more time, make you more productive, and be more successful and happier, you will improve it in no time.
There is one key ingredient to success, and developing it will make your life much easier in the long run.
Discipline is key.
Here are a few examples once you are ready to learn a new skill.
Time Management Skills
Once you develop these skills, they will benefit you in any business you will be involved in.
Problem-solving - Not the easiest out of all, but very rewarding.
Goal Setting - Practising and completing the small goals will make you better at goal setting. Start small.
Decision Making - Learning to make a quick decision will save you some time.
Delegation - If you are in some management position, mastering this skill is 100% will get you promoted. The more you delegate, the more time you can learn something else.
Prioritization - Focus on what's important, do not allow time-wasting activities to dominate your life.
Time Management Techniques
Pick 1-2, or try a few and see which one works for you. Most of these techniques are well-known and used by millions of people daily.
SMART goals are prevalent in any time management program.
Specific - goal must be clear and specific
Measurable - you should be able to measure it
Achievable - it must be reasonable and possible. Without doing anything, it would be impossible to say I wanted to become a billionaire by next week. But if I say I want to make 1 million in 5 years, it is 100% possible if I have a correct strategy and follow it.
Relevant - your goal should be relevant to your long-term plan.
Time-based - be specific with a time, you need to set a time, or you will procrastinate.
Pomodoro - How to implement this technique.
- Step 1. Choose a task
- Step 2. Set a timer for 25 minutes
- Step 3. Work on the task until the timer beeps
- Step 4. Take a short break (5 minutes)
- Step 5. Repeat the cycle four times and take a more extended break after it
Pareto Principle - 80/20 - focus on high-value tasks. They are responsible for 80% of the outcome. Interesting theory and technique.
Time blocking - you schedule out every part of your day. Break down the day and allocate tasks for a specific time.
Prioritization - arrange functions in order of priority. Focus on what's important, and do not waste time on activities which are not necessary.
Kanban Board - a great technique where you can see tasks and progress on the board. I use Trello for some of my projects.
1-3-5 Rule - You cannot accomplish everything in one day; with this technique, you are focusing only on:
1 - Big / Hard, 3 - Medium, and five small daily tasks. Simple but effective.
Do It Now - if it takes less than 3 minutes, do it now. Do not waste your time planning.
Eat that Frog - Do the essential task in the morning. Start working on your challenging task first thing.
Inbox Zero - Get your inbox to zero emails every day, but spend the agreed time on when you will be doing it; I implemented this technique, which is fantastic.
Why is Time Management so Important?
As I see it, time is the most valuable asset; we cannot afford to waste it; we must master it to achieve something.
Life will go on until it stops. The truth is - we don't know when it will happen, and nobody knows.
What is the purpose of life? That question has been asked for thousands of years, and I am sure there are a million different answers to this question.
Maybe the purpose is to find a purpose? Constant improvement will keep us busy and always engaged in some meaningful activities.
We do not want regrets in the end. We want to be proud of everything we achieved because we dedicate 100% to our goals and work hard to become the best version of ourselves.
Improving our Time Management will give us more time to spend on things which make us happier.
Time Management Books
Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
The 4-Hour Work Week
The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Success by Achieving More with Less
Conclusion
There are many ways to improve the quality of our life, and time management will help make it happen quicker.
Do not underestimate the power of planning and goal setting. We need to have a purpose; if we don't, chances are we will waste our time on activities which are not necessary.
Start with why, have a desire, make a plan and start working on it.
And don't forget to have fun and enjoy every single moment.
Thank you for your time, and I hope you found this article helpful; if you have any questions about it, please leave a comment below or feel free to reach out to me on the contact us page.
Have a great day
Quite an interesting article and I learned a few tips on how to manage my time. Time management applies to everyone no matter what you do. Proper use of one’s time can yield great results. A friend of mine who works from home has been battling with not being able to meet up with set goals. I noticed her problem was mainly indiscipline, and not setting daily tasks in order of priority. She is always carried away on social media and found herself spending so much time on the internet. She needs to see this article.
Thanks for sharing
Thank you, Bethel. Discipline is key to success. It is easy to get distracted these days, especially on social media.
That’s something I have been trying to manage is my time. Sometimes my computer gives me fits in the morning hours and my afternoon is booked up. Then my wife gets home and I have to put off the morning task till the next day. Some days it seems like a never ending cycle. Thanks for all the tips to help with managing my time.
You are very welcome, Terry, and I hope this helps.
Have a fantastic day.
I really enjoyed this article on time management. Although, since my time is my own, I am not able to delegate anything that, the other principles of good time management are very important. My biggest difficulty now is prioritization. There are so many things to be done that it is difficult to put one above the other. I think that for me this is where good planning comes in. I tend to do the things that are the most difficult first. I don’t think the need for time management ever goes away. We need good time management for different reasons at different times in our lives. But, the general principles that you have written about are good not matter the reason for time management.
Thank you, Anastazja.
It’s a fact that when we lose time we cannot get it back again, so many people are using their time unwisely but I believe also that one of the keys to time management is organization. I believe that once you can master that half of the battle has been won. Now I know that with time management we should be flexible because unexpected things can arise at times as well. Thanks so much for sharing.
Thank you very much for your feedback. Much appreciated. I agree that organisational skills are essential and make life much easier if mastered.
Have a fantastic day!
I agree that time management is essential for maximum effectiveness and efficiency. There are only so many hours in the day, and also there is only so much time during the day when we operate at peak performance. The times of the day when we are most effective vary with each specific individual. The Eisenhower Matrix is a very valuable tool in setting our priorities. The Pareto Principle validates the importance of this. You have provided excellent advice as well as recommending some great books as well.
Thank you for your feedback; I much appreciate it.
Have a fantastic day.