“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”
— Stephen Covey
There never seems to be enough time in the day… until you take control of it. This article provides an overview of proven time management strategies that can help you stop procrastinating and start using your time to the fullest.
What is time management?
Time management is a skill that involves planning and prioritizing your daily tasks so you can use your time more effectively, complete important projects, and meet deadlines. Effective time management also requires that you be conscious and selective of how you spend your time so that you can successfully balance your personal, professional, and educational obligations.
You may already be familiar with common time management techniques such as making to-do lists, prioritizing your most important projects, creating schedules for routine tasks and breaks, and tracking your progress. Still, you can take your efficiency and productivity to the next level by employing time management strategies that help you avoid distractions and focus on the task at hand.
The effects of poor time management
When you don’t manage your time in an efficient way, it can negatively affect many aspects of your life. Poor time management typically involves procrastination, which can stem from anxiety and an inability to prioritize. When you put assignments or projects off until the last minute, you’re more likely to produce lower-quality work—and miss deadlines—negatively impacting your grades and your career.
Feeling overwhelmed often leads to comprised performance, stress, and burnout which can strain personal and professional relationships. If you don’t change your time management habits, it can be easy to get stuck in a negative cycle that affects your confidence, well-being, and ability to thrive.
The advantages of effective time management
Effective time management strategies can increase your chances of success in whatever endeavor you pursue.
The many benefits of strong time management skills include:
- Increased productivity: When you can prioritize, plan, and manage your time well, you inherently work more efficiently, which leads to greater productivity and improved performance.
- Better work-life-education balance: Living a balanced life means that you can excel in all areas, spend less time on meaningless busy work, and foster your physical and mental well-being.
- Improved focus: By scheduling your time in an effective manner, you can clarify your goals, eliminate distractions, and focus your attention on your most essential activities.
- Higher quality of work: When you have solid time management habits, you have more room to ensure that you complete your projects correctly and are meeting and exceeding expectations. In a professional setting, this improved performance can lead to career advancement or new job opportunities.
- Less anxiety and stress: By consistently meeting deadlines and performing at a high level, you can increase your confidence while decreasing your worry and stress.
Time management strategies
Time management strategies are approaches you can use to more successfully manage your time. Because everyone is different, you may have to try out a variety of techniques before finding one that works for you.
Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro Technique was invented by Francesco Cirillo, who used a kitchen timer to parse his work into 25-minute intervals and short breaks. If you have issues with multitasking, missed deadlines, and burnout, this method could be a good fit.
The five steps to the Pomodoro Technique are:
- Start a 25-miute timer on your phone or computer.
- Work on one specific task until your alarm sounds.
- Take a five-minute break.
- Take a longer 25-30-minute break after you complete the 4th pomodoro.
- Repeat as needed until you finish your project.
The benefits of the Pomodoro Technique include improving your single-tasking skills, becoming better at tracking your productivity, and getting habituated to taking regular breaks to help you re-focus.
Eat the Frog
This time management strategy was by developed by Brian Tracey and is inspired by the quote often misattributed to Mark Twain that says if you eat a live frog first thing in the morning, nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.
As the name suggests, the method involves starting the day by tackling the most difficult or least appealing task on your agenda. In doing so, all other projects you work on afterward will feel easy in comparison.
Eat the Frog is a good option if you struggle with prioritization, procrastination, and effective planning. The most difficult part of the process will likely be ranking your projects by priority and knowing when to delegate as needed. But this will get easier with time.
When you complete your most important task first thing in the morning, it can give you a sense of accomplishment, provide motivation, and set a productive tone for the rest of your day.
Time blocking
This time management strategy involves becoming more aware of how you spend your time during the day to help improve efficiency and productivity.
To get started with this technique, plan to:
- Divide each 24-hour day into small blocks of time.
- Estimate the amount of time required to complete each of your daily tasks and assign them to time blocks in a planner or calendar app.
- Schedule in breaks between the start and end of each task.
- Work your way through your daily schedule.
- If certain tasks take more or less time than anticipated, adjust your schedule accordingly.
Time blocking is an excellent strategy if you often get sidetracked by distractions, forget to take breaks, or juggle multiple projects at once. If you’re willing to put in the effort to create detailed daily schedules (and stick to them), you can see major improvements in your performance.
Kanban technique
Are you a visual person who often collaborates with multiple team members at work or school? In that case, you may want to explore the Kanban technique.
This time management strategy was implemented in the 1960s by Taiichi Ono to help improve productivity and efficacy in the manufacturing process at Toyota Automotive.
To get started, you’ll need project management software, a whiteboard, or sticky notes. Then divide your project into four phases and create columns for each. The phases include:
- Backlog: Brainstorm, define, and prioritize your tasks here.
- To do: List tasks that you and your team are planning to work on.
- In progress: Include projects that are currently being worked on.
- Done: Reserve for all completed tasks.
Kanban boards enhance transparency and efficiency by allowing you to create small, manageable tasks and easily track progress as projects move through different phases.
Getting Things Done (GTG)
This popular time management strategy is outlined in David Allen’s book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. The goal of the GTG method is to clear your head of all your tasks, projects, and obligations so you can focus on taking concrete steps to complete them.
The five steps of the GTG technique are:
- Capture: Take note of all the tasks that come to mind.
- Clarify: Decide which tasks are actionable and which ones can be put on hold or discarded.
- Organize: Put each task in categories such as personal projects, work tasks, school assignments, or emails to send.
- Reflect: Review tasks to clarify the next steps and time constraints for completion.
- Engage: Once you’ve performed the first four steps, you’re ready to start working.
The advantage of the GTG method is that it helps you plan, prioritize, and eliminate projects that aren’t feasible. If you frequently feel overwhelmed by your responsibilities, this strategy will help you create practical to-do lists for every facet of your life.
Rapid planning method (RPM)
The Rapid Planning Method, or RPM, was developed by motivational speaker Tony Robbins to help people visualize their success and make it come to fruition.
This process involves thinking thoughtfully to pinpoint your long-term goals (including their purpose) and then taking concrete steps in the short-term to get you where you want to be. In addition to standing for Rapid Planning Method, RPM also means:
- Results-oriented
- Purpose-driven
- Massive Action Plan
The RPM method is an especially helpful option if you want to set meaningful SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) goals and create an action plan to meet them.
Pickle Jar theory
The Pickle Jar time management technique is ideal if you’re a visual learner who wants to work on setting priorities, avoiding distractions, and improving your delegation skills.
Start by imagining a pickle jar that is filled with sand at the bottom, pebbles in the middle, and rocks on top. These three components represent different aspects of your daily schedule.
The sand comprises unwelcome distractions such as phone calls, emails, or social media notifications that disrupt you from your tasks at hand. The pebbles represent responsibilities that aren’t urgent or that you can delegate. And the rocks are the most important projects that you should complete first.
To implement this technique, categorize your daily responsibilities into these three areas, then focus on the rocks, put the pebbles on pause, and avoid the sand.
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