Tips for Time Management & Curated Ideas

As long as you interpret time management as a tool to connect your desired outcomes and the time available to you, free time may turn out to be much, much more productive than what you were doing before.

• You learn to take your time and make calm, measured decisions rather than last minute, panicked choices.
• You also learn assertiveness as you delegate and say no to commitments, and patience as you manage your goals.

In order for any time-management method to be successful, you have to take into account people’s individual behaviors at work. There is no one-size-fits-all method for time management.

1. Add as much as you can into the system. You can email yourself things to do, or put them in your calendar, or take quick notes, or take a picture.
2. Process it all as fast as you can. Anything you don't need to deal with right now, either mark it done or snooze it for later. 

It’s easy to spend time organizing a to-do list and forget to do the things in the list to avoid that:

1. Pick an app that will automatically sync information on multiple platforms so you have flexibility without the work it would take to update manually.
2. Use an app ecosystem that allows easy integration of calendars, to do lists and email for maximum efficiency.

Write out your to-do list the day before:

• You'll free your time to dive right into your to-do list in the morning - one of the most productive times of day.
• It can help you spot obstacles ahead of time and prepare accordingly.
• Knowing what you have going on well in advance could help you relax and sleep better the night before.

Before going to bed, spend 5 minutes writing your to-do list for the next day. These tasks should help you move towards your professional and personal goals.

You’ll be better prepared mentally for the challenges ahead before waking up and there won’t be any room for procrastination in the morning. As a result, you’ll work faster and smoother than ever before.

1. Write down all your tasks.
2. Identify what’s urgent and what’s important. After each task, mark them with “U” for Urgent and “I” for Important. 
3. Assess value: look at your “I” tasks and identify the high-value drivers of your work. You want to find which tasks have priority over others and how many people are impacted by your work
4. Estimate time to complete each task. Order them from most effort to least effort.

Track your time to have real data on your work and uncover insights on how you can improve your productivity.

After a couple of weeks, you’ll start noticing patterns and knowing where and how your time is leaking. By being aware of how exactly you are using your time, you can devise a plan to attack your leaks and how to get rid of them.

1. If it can be done in two minutes, just do it. Don’t add it to your to-do list, put it aside for later, or delegate to someone else. Just do it.
2. If it takes more than two minutes, start it. Once you start acting on small tasks, you can keep the ball rolling. Simply working on it for two minutes will help you break the first barrier of procrastination.

• Learn a new skill, either for your professional or personal life
• Read books or articles you saved to for later
• Organize your computer, folders, calendar or work
• Plan your week, tomorrow, or the rest of your day
• Listen to a podcast
• Learn a language
• Take a walk and think and let your mind wander
• Take a productive pause to clear your mind.

The 80 20 rule states that “80% of the output or results will come from 20% of the input or action”. In other words, the little things are the ones that account for the majority of the results.

Use the 80/20 rule in your life and work to prioritize the input that brings the majority of the output.

• Transfer money to your savings account every time you receive a paycheck
• Choose all your outfits for your week on Sunday and hang them in the closet in order
• Subscribe to a weekly fresh delivery of organic vegetables and fruits to your home
• Standardize the typical daily meals you like the most, saving time in cooking and grocery shopping
• Prepare your sports bag every night and put it in your car. If you prefer running the morning, leave your running shoes near the bed
• Automate all electronic gadgets to go into sleep mode at a certain hour

Schedule tasks, working from your calendar instead of the to-do list. When an event is consistently scheduled on your calendar, it’s much more likely to transform into an unconscious habit

Using your calendar forces you to rethink your work from tasks to time units. That small change increases the likelihood of getting things done.

And if your job isn’t ideal for focusing on one thing per day, you can dedicate your morning to one focus area, your early afternoon to another, and late afternoon to another.

This way, instead of being overly restrictive about finishing a task in that time period, you have the flexibility to do any work that moves you forward in that particular focus area.

Think about how many times you wasted time worrying about something that’s completely unrelated to what you’re working on.

A wandering mind is not always a happy mind. The ability to think about what is not happening is a cognitive achievement that comes at an emotional cost.

At the beginning of every week, write a two-by-two matrix on a blank sheet of paper.

One side of the matrix says "urgent" and "not urgent".  The other side of the matrix says "important" and "not important." 

Then, write all the things you want to do that week.

These are the most pressing tasks we'll likely get to this week.  When we do fire-fighting, it's all relating to stuff in this quadrant.

These are the things that matter in the long-term but will offer no concrete benefits right now or even this year. They are things we know we need to get to but probably will push off. 

Time is our precious resource. It is perishable, it is irreplaceable, and it cannot be saved. It can only be reallocated from activities of lower value to activities of higher value.

Time management refers to how you schedule and organize your time for different activities.

Your “frog” is your most important task, the one you are most likely to procrastinate on if you don’t do something about it.

If you have two important tasks, start your day with the biggest, hardest, and most important task first. Focus on completing it before you go to the next one.

• Develop a sense of urgency: the habit of moving fast when an opportunity presents itself to you.
• Stop procrastinating: develop the time management habit of moving quickly when something needs to be done.
• Work in real-time: do your work as soon as it comes up.

• Think on paper: Always write down what you intend to do.
• Avoid distractions: They make getting off track entirely too easy.
• Make your list of written tasks the night before: The better plan you have, the easier it is for you to get started.

• Answer all of your emails at the same time
• Keep your emails short and sweet
• Create email folders
• Check your email twice a day.

• Not allowing enough time to complete your task: Add sufficient cushion time to complete every step of the project. 
• Assuming that everything will work out all right: Assume that you are going to have problems and schedule sufficient time and resources to solve those problems.
• Rushing at the end: You almost invariably will make mistakes and do poor quality work that you'll have to go back and correct later. 
• Trying to do several things at once: You end up doing nothing well. 

• "A” items are most important: the things that you must do.
• "B” items only have minor consequences: tasks that you should do, but they only have mild consequences.
• “C” tasks have no consequences: they have no effect at all on your work life.
• “D” for delegate: the things that you can delegate to someone else.
• “E” for eliminate: the things you should eliminate altogether.

For you to develop sufficient desire to develop time management and organizational skills, you must be intensely motivated by the benefits you feel you will enjoy.

You must want the results badly enough to overcome the natural inertia that keeps you doing things the same old way.

Productivity does not come from sitting idle at the office for hours.

Employees who are able to manage their time well and have a great work-life balance are more productive and should be valued over a person spending a lot of time in office but achieving little.

1. Avoid unnecessary meetings, as many meetings could be some form of excuse for the organizer to look busy and productive.
2. Have clearly-defined productivity goals, instead of filling up calendars to have an illusion of productivity, while being busy just for the sake of it.
3. Many repetitive tasks can be delegated, automated or even avoided.
4. The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, tells us that 80 percent of our success will come from 20 percent of our efforts.
5. Protect your time and practice mindful time-blocking to take care of important tasks.

Perfectionists strive to deliver high-quality work, but their high standards cause stress, burnout and anxiety in the long run.

Time management tips:

• Get comfortable with imperfection. Ask yourself: "Am I being productive? Can I get more results with a handful of imperfect tasks?"
• Reflect on your progress on a weekly, bi-weekly and monthly basis.
• Ask for perspective and support. Show your work to your supervisor to learn if you are doing good and the current quality of work is sufficient.

It happens to the best us when our minds are wandering, making us unable to concentrate.

Time management tips:

• Use peak performance time. Use the most productive parts of the day to do the most demanding tasks.
• Take breaks - they refresh your mind, replenish mental resources, restore motivation and reduce decision fatigue.
• Limit your social media time. Social media and search engines narrow our attention span and our ability to focus.
• Practice single-tasking. Try using task timers.

A never-ending circle of tasks may feel devastating, cause stress, depression and burnout. 

Time management tips:

• Eat the frog. Do the most important or challenging task first thing in the morning.  
• Try Ivy Lee Method. Create six-item lists for each day sorted by priority. Complete items one by one and move unfinished tasks to the top of the next day's list.  
• Narrow down your list of tasks. Prioritize activities that will deliver the best returns.

Without vision, you can't create the results you want and feel joy and excitement to keep on going.

Time management tips:

• Get a bird’s eye view. Think of how your tasks at hand contribute to your personal or professional goals. Maintain your focus on the end result.
• Identify time wasters. Notice activities that don't move you forward and turn your focus to the things that matter.
• Create a contingency plan. Be ready for the worst-case scenarios.

Develop strategical thinking and set short-term goals to achieve extraordinary results.

Time management tips:

• Develop awareness. Think about how your time and efforts you invested today will contribute to your tomorrow’s reality and bring you closer to your goals.
• Use 7-minute rule. Spend 7 minutes in the morning to plan your day and 7 minutes before you go to sleep to review your day and prepare a plan for tomorrow.
• Review your progress. Use tables, charts and reports to see how you are doing.

Time tracking reveals unexpected trends and insights and ecourages a more strategic approach to time management. 

Time management tips:

• Pick a time tracking tool: a timesheet app, a desktop time tracker, a mobile app, a browser extension or a stopwatch timer.
• Track even the smallest tasks like phone calls, meetings, coffee breaks, distraction time.
• Review your performance regularly with charts and reports. 

Review not only your daily and weekly performance but look into monthly and half-year reports to get a birds-eye view of your efforts.

Time management tips:

• Avoid sunk cost fallacy — investing too much time into ineffective tasks. Question the efficiency of ongoing tasks. 
• Review your schedule regularly. Review daily schedule to plan your workload. 
• Build a personal development plan. Document your goals, plans, skills to master. Review your progress regularly to make sure you stay on track.

Persistent exposure to stress can put your health and performance at risk.

Time management tips:

• Identify your stressors. Practice journaling, search for patterns and look into ways to cope with stress.
• Develop healthy responses to stress: exercise, yoga, meditations, hobbies, favorite activities, quality sleep.
• Set boundaries. Stick to your working hours and leave work at work. 

Attention management - the ability to recognize your brain state and consciously shift yourself into the state that will serve you best at the moment.

Time management tips:

• Control your environment. Communicate to others that you try to stay focused. 
• Review your attention-stealing habits. Background TV noise, checking out phone notification - identify and eliminate these. 
• Exercise and meditate to improve memory, concentration, and mental sharpness, reduce mind wandering, boost focus and memory

We all have 24 hours in a day and limited energy capacities as human beings.

Time management tips:

• Outsource. Weigh the opportunity costs, take some load off your shoulders and focus on hign-impact activities.
• Automate your routines as much as possible.
• Delegate a part of your workload to other team members to teach them new skills and grow a reliable assistant.

Most of us tend to underestimate how long projects and tasks will take us to finish. 

Time management tips:

• Calculate your fudge ratio. Build a list of tasks, estimate and track time against them. Then add up your total time spent, divide it by the total estimated time and multiply the result by 100%.
• Assume the worst-case scenario. Include possible interruptions and roadblocks into your estimates.
• Have someone else estimate for you: we make more accurate estimations for others. 

Busy time doesn’t bring you closer to your goals, making you feel anxious and unsettled - maximize the productive time.

Time management tips:

• Apply the Pareto principle. Focus on 20% tasks of the highest value that give 80% of results.
• Consider the 4Ds technique. When a new interruption shows up, delete, delegate, defer or do it now.
• Try the 1–3–5 strategy. Commit to 1 big task, 3 medium and 5 small tasks every day.
• Set agile results: Focus on 3 key results to achieve over a week, month or year.

Without mastering hard and soft skills, no amount of time management advice can make you grow faster and achieve more.

Time management tips:

• Hone your professional skills. Review your skills regularly, think of how you could improve them, what additional skills you could benefit from.
• Know your tools. Learn shotcuts and make use of tiny features. 
• Improve your soft skills. Be more conscious about how you deal with feedback, communicate, learn new things, adapt to changes, work through conflicts.

Emails, notifications, social media, paper clutter, low-priority tasks - learn how to manage these effectively. 

Time management tips:

• Define your boundaries. Make time for phone calls and emails, use chat statuses to communicate when you are available, and, most importantly, schedule time for demanding tasks.
• Learn to say no. Avoid participating in team chit-chats and postpone low-priority tasks.
• Schedule work time, self-care activities, guilt-free time. 

Habits are routines that you do with little or no conscious thought, also meaning little energy investments.

Time management tips:

• Build the habit loop. Choose a trigger, execute the routine and do something enjoyable afterward. Let’s say at 10 a.m. you have a standup meeting (trigger). Next, you disable notifications, put your headphones on and attack the most demanding task (routine). After that you go for lunch at around 2 p.m. or whenever you are done. 

* check Atomic Habits by James Clear

Regardless of our occupations, many aspects of our jobs are repetitive and open to automation.

Time management tips:

• Improve routine tasks. Review your routine activities regularly and brainstorm ideas of how you could tackle them even more effectively.
• Automate management routines with time and project management tools. 
• Use automation tools. Automate routines in your web apps with tools like Zapier and IFTTT. 

Big projects look overwhelming and often lead to stress and procrastination.

Time management tips:

• Break it down. Whenever you start a new task, break it down into steps that you can complete in 20–30 minutes, even if they look trivial.
• Develop a logical sequence. Complete tasks in order, one by one, to feel the progress.
• Review your progress regularly. Break your tasks into an easy-to-follow steps. Or use task boards like Kanban to visualize your progress.

Our average working memory capacity is limited to three to five items. Anything that exceeds these limits has a high chance of falling out of our brains.

Time management tips:

• Use external storage: organizers, notes, task apps and software to unload your mind and come back to these tasks when needed.
• Use collaboration software to brainstorm and discuss ideas with your team.
• Simplify everyday choices. Reduce the number of everyday choices not to waste your energy on trivial decisions.

Time management tips:

• Follow the Goal-Setting Theory: set specific, difficult and challenging goals.
• Review future plans. Even if you aren’t excited about your current project, a long-term perspective may provide you with motivation to keep on going.
• Trick your brain. Whenever we accomplish a task, our brains release dopamine, which is connected to feelings of pleasure and motivation. Break down your tasks into small goals to keep yourself motivated during long-term projects.

On the one hand, an increasingly digitalized lifestyle shortens our attention span and concentration abilities that can be compared to those of a goldfish. 

On the other hand, modern tools can save you hours if used wisely.

Time management tips:

• Use technology to plan your day. Consider online calendars and scheduling apps for personal time management purposes.
• Try time trackers to get new productivity insights.
• Consider project management tools to manage team performance.  

• Get some perspective. Develop a vision of what and where you want to be in a few years. 
• Develop an action plan. Break down you vision into manageable steps that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound.
• Take action. Use time management software to upload your plan and record your time.
• Reflect on your progress. Review your performance regularly to to get new insights.
• Ask for feedback. Turn to your boss and ask for their feedback. Be ready to take criticism.

Improving your time management can be done in three simple steps.

Review - review how you spend your time now for at least a week. Any more than 5 minutes spent on an activity should be recorded.

Remove - remove or reduce any periods of unproductive time. This may be hours lost scrolling on social media or getting drawn into boxset marathons.

Replace - replace that unproductive time with focused blocks of activity to achieve your goals.

Some of the best time management techniques are simple and straightforward, others a little bit complex, but all of them can actually be easily implemented into daily practice.

We decided to provide you with:

• a detailed description of the 10 most useful time management techniques, but if you don’t find any of them the right fit for you,
• we added a comprehensive list of all other time management techniques we found out there with a short description and a link to more information, if available.

Based on our research, testing and opinions of productivity experts, here are the best time management techniques you need to know:

1. SMART Goals
2. The Eisenhower Matrix / The Eisenhower box
3. Kanban Board
4. Do Deep Work / Avoid Half-Work or Shallow Work
5. The Pomodoro Technique
6. 7 Minute Life
7. ABCDE
8. Do it now
9. Pareto Analysis, 20/80
10. Rapid planning method‍

Now let's dive deep into each one of them.

Set goals that are achievable and measurable. Use the SMART method when setting goals. In essence, make sure the goals you set are S pecific, M easurable, A ttainable, R elevant, and T imely.

Prioritize tasks based on importance and urgency. For example, look at your daily tasks and determine which are:

• Important and urgent: Do these tasks right away.
• Important but not urgent: Decide when to do these tasks.
• Urgent but not important: Delegate these tasks if possible.
• Not urgent and not important: Set these aside to do later.

When doing a lot of tasks without a break, it is harder to stay focused and motivated. Allow some downtime between tasks to clear your head and refresh yourself. Consider grabbing a brief nap, going for a short walk, or meditating.

Utilize your calendar for more long-term time management. Write down the deadlines for projects, or for tasks that are part of completing the overall project. Think about which days might be best to dedicate to specific tasks. For example, you might need to plan a meeting to discuss cash flow on a day when you know the company CFO is available.

It is important to remove excess activities or tasks. Determine what is significant and what deserves your time. Removing non-essential tasks/activities frees up more of your time to be spent on genuinely important things.

Make sure you start every day with a clear idea of what you need to do – what needs to get done THAT DAY. Consider making it a habit to, at the end of each workday, go ahead and write out your “to-do” list for the next workday. That way you can hit the ground running the next morning.

• Time management productivity is a means of evaluating and assessing what people do with their time.
• In a hybrid, remote, or even in the office, time management productivity is generally assessed using time tracking software.
• The way time management productivity is tracked using these tools usually straightforward.

Time management is not rocket science. Frankly, anyone can learn this art with a little practice and learning. So here are a few steps that tell you how to become a time management expert:

1. Plan
2. Prioritize
3. Don't multitask
4. Cut off distractions
5. Use a time tracking software
6. Schedule your break time
7. Find your most productive hours
8. Accept your limitations

Effective time management skills can have a positive impact on your work and life in general. When you learn to take control of your time on a daily basis, you improve your ability to get things done and make better decisions.

1. Deep work technique- the one thing technique.

2. Biological prime time technique.

3. Pomodoro v/s pomerian.

4. Time boxing | Time batching | Time blocking.

5. Time logging.

6. Checking- manifesto.

7. Themened day method.

The ability to manage your time effectively is important. Good time management leads to improved efficiency and productivity, less stress, and more success in life. Here are some benefits of managing time effectively:

Time blocking is a method of time management where you block out time on your calendar to do focused work.

Let me give you an example from my system. I write a blog post, a podcast script, and plan, and record two to three YouTube videos each week. I can only make sure I have time for these tasks if I block time out on my calendar for doing them. So, I have a two-hour time block on my calendar for writing my blog post on a Monday morning. I also have a two-hour block on a Tuesday morning for writing my podcast script and a three-hour block on a Friday morning for recording my YouTube videos.

Setting goals is important because it help you know what to do with your time. Like if you set a goal to start a Youtube channel in a within a month you can slowly prep for it. 

Time is a finite resource and like your capital, inventory or profits, the success of your business depends on managing it well. As an entrepreneur, time management would aid you in delivering work on time, upscaling your business, and ensuring that you live your life while you pursue your goals.

In today’s world where being a workaholic is glorified, most entrepreneurs seem to overlook the fact that energy, like time, is limited, and there’s only so much of yourself that can go around in a day. If you have ever made time to do something, but you were too tired to do it when the time came, “you missed the first step“. Time management and Energy management go hand in hand,

Here are 6 tips to help ensure that you have the energy to do your work when the time comes.

1. Get more sleep
2. Get organized
3. Delegate
4. Stay hydrated
5. Eat breakfast and eat nutritiously
6. Exercise more

At the end of each month look at everything you have been doing, see how they have influenced your objectives, what you need to change and what stays the same.

Ask yourself:

• Where did you spend the most time?
• Was your quality bolstered?
• What unanticipated events affected your plans?
• Did you stick to the time limits?
• Was your planning overall effective?

Time management is a crucial skill that can help you get more done in less time and lead a more productive and fulfilling life.

There are many tools and techniques that can help you manage your time more effectively, and in this post, we'll look at some of the best options available.

• Use to-do list
• Scheduling with a calendar
• Implementing Pomodoro Technique
• Use a time tracker.

There are several types of time management tools and applications. The ideal option for you will depend on your demands and unique circumstances.

When searching for a time management tool, take into account the following:

1. Where do you work.
2. How do you work.
3. Ease of use.
4. Budget.

The first step in time management is to recognize that you are in control of your own time. You might have a boss or parents telling you what to do, but fundamentally, you can choose to do whatever you want with that time. If you don't have time to do something, it's just not a priority.

Set a daily highlight, which is the one thing you need to get done that day. This deceptively simple tip will help you focus on what's truly important and avoid getting bogged down in a long to-do list.

Time blocking involves scheduling blocks of time for specific tasks. This method can help you stay focused and avoid distractions.

Time management is a crucial skill for becoming more productive and achieving your goals. By owning your time, prioritizing your tasks, and using effective time management techniques, you can make the most of your time and achieve your goals with greater efficiency.

Productivity these days revolves around two main topics we discussed many times on The Challenge.

• Time management defines how well you can stick to your schedule and respect your commitments. If you are good at it, you will focus on one task at a time and keep your procrastination under control.
• Prioritization defines how well you can pick the task that gives you higher outputs. There are many ways you can reach the same goal. And picking the fastest and least stressful way is something you can work on.

By combining these two topics, you can reach higher productivity and avoid toxic behaviors.