7 Secrets to Improving Time Management

Time management is all about setting goals and finding ways to meet them.

Published On: September 16, 20214 min readCategories: Blog

Time management is often cited as one of the most difficult skills to master. It can be difficult to know where, when, and how to start managing time effectively and efficiently. Time management is all about setting goals and finding ways to meet them.

Here, we’ll cover 7 secrets for improving time management. From setting daily or weekly goals to using a calendar or checklist to prioritize projects, we’ll take a look at the best tips and tricks for managing your time better than ever before!

1. Set daily and weekly goals

The most effective way to achieve goals is to map out what you need to accomplish each day and/or each week. By writing down your tasks in a planner or set calendar reminders, you’ll be able to prioritize your work, set a specific goal, and achieve it with ease. Organize your tasks by priority and severity. Make a to-do list to help track your progress on your most important work. Each day is a new day, but you may have a set schedule or daily routine. If you haven’t re-engineered your schedule recently, it may be time for a change.

2. Organize tasks by priority and severity

Look at completing high-priority tasks first. Analyze your tasks to discover how you perform them. Use a log of completed tasks to track how you’re doing. Look at your to-do list and determine what activities are the most important ones. Use task management tools to delegate tasks and track your progress.

3. Block out time in your schedule

Chances are that sometime throughout the day there are disruptions from your daily tasks – whether that’s people coming to your desk, emails coming through, or new tasks being assigned to you. These distractions can cause interruptions in your flow and productivity. If you’re in the middle of a large task or project, blocking out a set time in your schedule to only focus on that particular task will help keep you focused on the task at hand. 

A man in a jean jacket relaxing with his feet up on a desk, looking at his mobile phone

4. Take breaks

While taking breaks sounds less productive, it is actually a great way to increase productivity and prevent stress. Clearing your head for a couple of minutes every few hours is a great way to give your brain a fresh start. With all this said, do not take too many or too long breaks.

5. Learn your patterns for productivity

We’ve all been there. It’s in the middle of the day and you are entering the afternoon work slump. Anything and everything distracts you from your tasks and your productivity level is at an all-time low. Understanding when you are the most productive is crucial to effective time management.  Everyone works differently and because of this, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all way to improve someone’s time management skills. It’s important for you to assess what works best for you. What time of day do you achieve the most amount of productivity? Schedule the important, high-priority tasks during those periods of high productivity and schedule easier, low-priority tasks when you are less productive.

6. Avoid taking on too much

Multitasking may hinder you more than help you. Our brains only have the capacity to focus on one thing at a time. If you try doing too much at one time, it can actually prevent you from accomplishing your goals. Taking on too much can create stress, create an overload of information, and disrupt your concentration. Instead, complete one task at a time.

7. Cut out bad distractions

If you are anything like me, working from home or in a busy open-concept office offers a lot of distractions throughout the day. While taking a break here and there is a good and very encouraging thing to do, getting distracted often will throw off your schedule and decrease efficiency. So how do you avoid the things that distract you? First, you need to find out what distracts you the most – is it your co-workers? Is it your pets? Once you find out what pulls you away from your work, it’s easier to determine how to cut these distractions from your day. If your distraction is co-workers and the hustle and bustle of the office, book a meeting room or put on headphones so that the distractions are less prominent.

Make sure you Master Your Time

Ultimately Time Management is all about setting effective goals and finding ways to meet them. To effectively Manage your time make sure your goals are flexible, and tailored to your individual personality. You only have two choices; either you run your day, or it runs you.