With only so many hours in a day, it’s no surprise that busy professionals are often on the lookout for better ways to manage their time. With the typical 40+-hour workweek being challenged by ideas of working smarter, not harder (or longer), time-management skills are taking the forefront. When you know how to manage your time well, you’re in control. Whether your time-management skills are in need of an overhaul, or you’re simply looking for a few tips to improve, read on for some strategies to maximize your time:
Define your goals
If you want to boost your time-management skills, start by looking at the big picture. While we tend to look for simple hacks or quick fixes to better utilize our time, sometimes taking a step back is the most effective strategy. When you take the time to reflect on your goals, both long- and short-term, you help to clarify your direction. Are you striving for a promotion? Would you like to improve your networking skills? Do you want to build your brand? When we define the direction we want to move in, we establish a framework for managing our time. With that foundation in place, you’ll be able to better determine where to focus your energy, and you’ll give yourself a powerful source of motivation to make the most of your time.
Prioritize your actions
Managing your time well means knowing which task needs your attention now, how long to spend on them, and when to move on to the next. Don’t just rely on memory and mental notes to keep you organized. Instead, systematically organize your to-do list, labeling each item according to its priority. Which tasks are non-negotiable for the day, meaning they’re urgent and important enough to make the top of your list? Which tasks are less important and have a looser timeframe, but still shouldn’t be indefinitely procrastinated? Implementing a clear system to prioritize your to-dos will keep you from wasting time transitioning between tasks, help you to know when you can take on more work and when you’re maxed out, and allow you to work through your tasks in the most efficient way possible.
Plan your day
Time-blocking is a great strategy to give yourself a visual overview of your day. It’s a simple action that can yield powerful results if you plan realistically and commit to following your schedule. Designate chunks of time for different activities, allowing for some transition time and unexpected interruptions. Without a clear plan, it’s easy to get off track, give into distractions, and wonder where the day went. When you have an easy-to-follow schedule, you won’t waste time between tasks and won’t over work in one area at the expense of others. Instead, you’ll feel more balanced and in control of your days. When you combine this planning ahead with the above tip of prioritizing, you’ll set yourself up for maximum success.
Log your time
Commit to even one week of logging your time in small increments throughout the day for increased accountability and valuable insights into how you use (and lose) time. When you reflect back on your log, you’ll see where time is being wasted and where it could be better utilized. For example, you might identify that your 30-minute commute is a great time to listen to an informative podcast. You might notice an afternoon drop in energy that could be combated with a short break to recharge. When you practice logging your time regularly, your days will become more streamlined as you spot places for improvement.
Identify your distractions
This one may seem like the most obvious. Of course, distractions are probably the biggest threat to great time-management practices. Unfortunately, simply saying that you’ll avoid them likely isn’t enough to weed them out. Logging your time is a great way to catch even the subtlest distractions, but simply reflecting on your day can usually help you see where distractions are coming from. When you identify them specifically as distractions, you hold yourself more accountable for not engaging in them and for setting clear boundaries around your time.
Though any one of these tips can give your time-management skills a boost, combining them will get you the best results. When you know your goals, you can better prioritize your tasks. When your tasks are clearly prioritized, you can better create your schedule. With a solid plan for the day, you can track where you’re most efficient and where you’re losing time. Finally, when you have a sense of how you’re spending your time, you can identify and eliminate the distractions that get in your way. Give these tips a try to start taking control of your time and maximizing every day.