Master Your Time: 5 Daily Scheduling Methods to Bring More Focus to Your Day

The reality is, most days there are only a few essential things that must be done. Yes, there are a thousand voices clamoring for our attention, but most of those voices aren't crucial. The notifications blowing up your phone and the emails filling your inbox can all wait. If you can complete the 1-3 essential tasks, everything else becomes secondary or even unnecessary.

Find the best calendar app for the job: Beyond Google Calendar and Apple Calendar: The Best Calendar Apps to Manage Your Schedule

The MIT method is all about focusing on what's essential. Rather than writing out a massive to do list and trying to get it all done, determine the 1-3 tasks that are absolutely essential and then relentlessly focus on those tasks during the day. It's not that you never do more than three tasks in a day, but that you don't do anything else until you've completed the three essential tasks.

Find the best calendar app for the job: Beyond Google Calendar and Apple Calendar: The Best Calendar Apps to Manage Your Schedule

The MIT method is all about focusing on what's essential. Rather than writing out a massive to do list and trying to get it all done, determine the 1-3 tasks that are absolutely essential and then relentlessly focus on those tasks during the day. It's not that you never do more than three tasks in a day, but that you don't do anything else until you've completed the three essential tasks.

By focusing obsessively on your most important tasks, every day is productive. You never have a day where you waste time on meaningless tasks. Productivity expert James Clear puts it this way :

Recommended task management apps :

The Pomodoro Technique is all about working in short, massively productive, intensely focused bursts, and then giving yourself a brief break. It's incredibly simple, in that all it requires is a timer, and it allows you to break down a large task into manageable intervals.

Here's how it works:

By focusing obsessively on your most important tasks, every day is productive. You never have a day where you waste time on meaningless tasks. Productivity expert James Clear puts it this way :

Recommended task management apps :

The Pomodoro Technique is all about working in short, massively productive, intensely focused bursts, and then giving yourself a brief break. It's incredibly simple, in that all it requires is a timer, and it allows you to break down a large task into manageable intervals.

Here's how it works:

• Choose a task
• Set your timer for 25 minutes
• Work on the task until the timer ends
• Take a short break (around 5 minutes)
• Every 4 Pomodoro sessions, take a longer break (15-30 minutes)

This technique allows you to accomplish a significant amount over the course of the day while still taking adequate breaks. The relatively short time of each session also allows you to intensely focus without becoming mentally fatigued.

Some people absolutely swear by the Pomodoro Technique. Paul Klipp, president of Lunar Logic's Polish branch, says this about using Pomodoro :

• Choose a task
• Set your timer for 25 minutes
• Work on the task until the timer ends
• Take a short break (around 5 minutes)
• Every 4 Pomodoro sessions, take a longer break (15-30 minutes)

This technique allows you to accomplish a significant amount over the course of the day while still taking adequate breaks. The relatively short time of each session also allows you to intensely focus without becoming mentally fatigued.

Some people absolutely swear by the Pomodoro Technique. Paul Klipp, president of Lunar Logic's Polish branch, says this about using Pomodoro :

• Choose a task
• Set your timer for 25 minutes
• Work on the task until the timer ends
• Take a short break (around 5 minutes)
• Every 4 Pomodoro sessions, take a longer break (15-30 minutes)

This technique allows you to accomplish a significant amount over the course of the day while still taking adequate breaks. The relatively short time of each session also allows you to intensely focus without becoming mentally fatigued.

Some people absolutely swear by the Pomodoro Technique. Paul Klipp, president of Lunar Logic's Polish branch, says this about using Pomodoro :

However, as Klipp noted above, it's possible to accomplish a significant amount in only a few sessions.

Recommended Pomodoro apps :

The human body operates on cycles called " ultradian rhythms ." During each of these cycles, there is a peak when we are most energized and a trough when we are exhausted.

With the 90-minute focus technique, you take full advantage of the energy peaks and troughs that occur throughout your day: Work 90 minutes and then rest for 20-30 minutes. In discussing peak performance in a 1993 study , Anders Ericcson pointed out that those rest periods between intense work sessions is essential for improvement.