Managing time isn’t something that is feasible, regardless of what the TED talks you listen to during your free time tell you.
Time is ever flowing, it never stops and is out of your control. It’s simply impossible to manage something that you have no control over, thus your focus should be on managing YOURSELF.
Managing time is a byproduct of managing yourself, and the following 5 tips will assist you in doing so:
1) Identify time wasters
Social media scrolling, surfing the web, personal calls, texting…to name a few are some variables that can easily soak up time that could have otherwise been allocated to getting your tasks complete. Being able to identify these activities are step one…step two would be limiting or ceasing the activities which is easy in a perfect world! Since the world is NOT perfect, a good tactic for handling these time takers would be to allocate time for doing these “tasks”. Waiting till lunch or while you walk to the cooler, right before you go to the bathroom…these small breaks will help keep you from getting burned out throughout the day! 😉
2) Make Goals
You can’t expect to get where you want If you don’t know HOW to get there. You should have goals set for not only your business life, but your personal life as well. These goals if planned correctly should inform you of what it is you want, how you intend to get there, and when you expect it to be done (giving you priority)… for more information on making goals take a look at my SMART goals Article.
3) Make a list
The day (week, month) is finite, and knowing this should encourage you to make a list of things you NEED to accomplish as well as some additional items that aren’t as time sensitive. What this will do is let you focus on the things that matter first, and once those tasks are complete you can then begin to work on things that you may need to accomplish in the coming days/weeks/months.
4) Don’t Multitask
Doing multiple things at once have been shown to impair your mental capacity comparable to someone impaired by the influence of alcohol. Referring to the third bullet point, your tasks should be in order of priority, and giving undivided attention to each task will ensure you are producing quality work. A perfect example is to imagine someone washing dishes, suddenly stopping, then running over to vacuum the carpet then stopping then going back to the dishes. IT JUST DOESN’T MAKE SENSE!
5) Make time for E-mail!
E-mails warranted or not, come in by the masses every day. As soon as the outlook notification pops up on the corner of the screen, attention is usually pulled away from whatever it is you’re doing and sucked into one of the many scenarios that could have prompted an email to be sent your way. The only solution I have found successful is closing outlook and having time throughout the day to view and respond to all emails. Personally, I check my email at 7:40am, 12:00pm, and 4:50pm respectively.
Hope these points have been insightful, or helpful in some way, and if they are remember to use the 72 Hour rule (implementation within 72 hours will help make it part of your habits). Feel free to comment any exta tips that work for you on managing time and if it did help you let me know how!
