Time management Tips to Increase Your Productivity

Time management is essential to succeed in almost everything. Sometimes it may seem that there aren't enough hours in the day to get everything you need to do, but if you want to get more done than others in a shorter period of time, you must improve your time management.

Time management:

Time management refers to how you set appointments and organize your time for different activities. There are several different tools and techniques to help you get more done in less time. In this article, we will review some time management tips that will help you organize and manage your day efficiently.

The importance of time management:

Time is your most valuable resource, and it is the most precious thing you have, since you may lose and waste it, without being able to reserve it or get it back, but you can manage it and get the most out of it when you focus on the important activities, rather than the unimportant ones. Each task requires a certain amount of time, and by taking a moment to think about your time before you spend it will improve your management of it and increase your productivity immediately.

If you think that time management is nothing but a tool, like a calculator or a smartphone, or that it is something to increase your productivity to make more money, then you are dead wrong. Time management is not an activity or a secondary skill, but rather it's the primary skill upon which everything else in life depends on.

“You should consider time management as a means that could take you from wherever you are today to wherever you would like to be in the future”. 

-Motivational speaker, Brian Tracy. 

1. Eating the frog:

The author “Mark Twain” once said, “If the first thing you do in the morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the rest of the day knowing the worst is behind you". Eating the frog is the biggest and most important task of your day, and it is the one you will probably postpone if you don’t take quick action on it. And if it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first. This means that you should start with the hardest task first, then move on to the other tasks.

2. Working on the hardest task:

The key to achieving high levels of time management, performance, and productivity is to develop a lifetime habit of dealing with your main task first thing in the morning, and you should develop this routine before you do anything else, and without spending a lot of time thinking about it

Successful and effective people are those who start right away with their main tasks and then discipline themselves to work steadily and focused until they get those tasks done.

“Failure to implement” is one of the biggest problems in companies today, and many people confuse the concepts of activity and achievement. They talk constantly, hold endless meetings, and make great plans, but in the end, no one gets the job done or gets the desired results.

3. Don’t look for fast solutions:

Practice is the key to master any skill. Fortunately, your mind is like a muscle, as it gets stronger and more skilled the more you exercise it. With practice, you can learn any behavior or develop any habit that you consider desirable or necessary. So, identify the task that you hate to do every day, and after choosing it, develop the habit of getting up every morning, and doing that task first.

How to manage time efficiently:

To earn more money, you must learn how to manage time effectively. There are two main valuable sources in the business world, the first is “time”, and the second is “knowledge”, and ‘time” is the currency of these days, so use these three time-management techniques to put yourself on the right track towards success:

1. Reinforce the sense of urgency:

Speed is the most important measurement of time and the best feature you can reinforce in terms of time management is “the sense of urgency”. This means acting fast when you get the chance, speed is necessary for success, and all successful people not only work hard, but also they work fast.

2. Stop procrastinating:

Procrastination is not just a waste of time, but of life as well. You must develop the habit of time management to take immediate action when something needs to be done, and you must build a reputation in terms of speed and responsibility.

You should do small tasks as soon as they pop up. Taking quick action will enable you to complete an enormous amount of work in one day, which will in turn gain you the reputation of being a reliable person when it comes to doing the work quickly.

3. Work on the tasks immediately:

Whenever possible, work on the task as soon as it comes. Focus and get to work because you could waste a lot of time choosing the task and thinking about it before starting, then leaving it and getting back to it constantly.

General time management skills:

Preparing in the evening before will have a huge impact on your success.

Here are 3 general time management skills that anyone can acquire that will help you get more done:

1. Write down what you are thinking:

Write down on a piece of paper what you intend to do and make sure to include everything in detail, even your plans for lunch, your workout routine, and making lunch for you and your family. Then, organize what you have written by asking yourself “if I can do only one thing on this list today, what would it be? If I could do two things on this list, what would they be?” and so on. In the morning, start with what you have chosen first, and make sure to work on it until it's done before starting with the second task.

2. Avoid distractions:

Checking your email in the morning distracts you; It starts with just one email, and without you realizing it's been several hours into your day and you still haven't started on your first task. So, keep your phone away to avoid being distracted from your important task.

3. Make a to-do list the night before:

The last method to guarantee a productive day is setting a list of tasks and goals for the next day. Your ability to make good plans before working is a measurement of your overall competence. The better your plan is, the easier for you to overcome procrastination, starting, and completing the work.

By writing down your goals for the next day before going to bed, you will think about the things that need to be done, so you are preparing yourself mentally to do them the next day. When you plan each day ahead, organize your list based on priorities, and stick to your plan, you will notice that the work is going smoothly and faster; thus, you will feel more powerful and efficient, and you will get more work done than you thought was possible.

Time management: to-do lists

1. Write down a daily to-do list:

When you think about the benefits of planning in increasing your productivity and performance, you would be surprised that only a few people practice it every day. Planning is very easy, and all you need is a pen and paper. Even the most complex time management apps rely on the same principle where making a to-do list is considered one of the best time management tools that you can develop.

2. Turning making a to-do list into a habit:

Always work according to a list, and when something new comes up, add it to the list before doing it. You will improve your productivity by 25% from the first day by doing so.

So, write your to-do list at the end of each work day, and move everything you didn’t manage to do to the next day’s list, then add what you need to do the next day. When you make a to-do list in the evening or in the previous night, you will think subconsciously about your task list throughout the night, so you will most likely wake up with great ideas that you can use to get your tasks done faster and better than what you thought was possible first. The more time you spend in writing task lists of what you have to do beforehand, the more effective and efficient you will be.

3. Types of to-do lists:

There are different types that you need for different purposes.

1. You should create a master list on which you write everything you can think of, and want to do at some point in the future. Here you write down every idea that comes to you, or every new task or responsibility, and you can then sort the items later.
2. You should have a monthly to-do list that you prepare for the upcoming month which contains elements you have moved from your previous list. 
3. You must have a weekly to-do list. You plan your entire week in advance, and you create this list during the week.
4. Move items from your monthly and weekly lists to your daily list, which includes the specific activities you'll execute each day.

Crossing out completed tasks:

During the day, cross out every task after you finish it, as this will give you a visible sense of achievement and generate a feeling of success and progress. Seeing that you are making progress in completing your list, motivates you, charges you with energy, and gives you a feeling of self-respect. Steady notable progress pushes you forward and helps you overcome procrastination. 

Time management tools in the workplace:

One of the best time management tips is working on a tidy desk and in a well-organized environment. Exactly like a good chef cleans their kitchen before cooking and after it, you should organize your workspace before you start doing your work.

1. Organizing your desktop:

Categorize all of your files into the appropriate folders, whether they are papers or online. Keep your desktop in order and keep in mind that if you can’t see your desktop’s wallpaper, then you have too many files and you must remove some of them.

Many people think that they can be more productive in a messy environment, so you see that their desk is chaotic, but each study conducted with these people showed that when they have to organize their work environment so that they have only one task in front of them, their productivity instantly doubles.

2. Organizing your desk:

Be tidy and well organized. Ensure that office supplies are stored in their proper places and within easy reach because you will see that nothing negatively affects efficiency and effectiveness more than starting to work and having to stop, then restarting for lack of advance preparation or unavailability of the appropriate supplies.

It has been found that people who work with desks full of items spend an enormous amount of each work day searching for the materials they need amidst the chaos around them. Psychologically speaking, seeing a desk full of stuff will subconsciously remind you that you are not organized and will distract you constantly because your attention will move from one element to another all the time.

Time management in terms of email:

Keep your inbox organized. If you don’t need an email, delete it and set a time to answer all of your emails all at once. Don’t reply once you receive them. Some people are enslaved by their emails, a notification distracts them every time a new message arrives and they interrupt whatever they're doing immediately to check their inbox. So, they leave the task they are doing and get back to it after they reply to the email; as a result, they lose their productivity and momentum.

1. Replying to your emails all at once:

When you want to reply to emails, gather all of them to reply all at once, but don’t reply as soon as you receive them. Do all of your similar tasks in the same way instead of doing some of them now and leaving others for later.

This means gathering all of the tasks that are similar to each other and doing them at the same time as there is a “learning curve” in everything you do and when you complete a chain of similar or identical tasks subsequently, the learning curve will enable you to reduce the time required to complete each task by 80% by the time you finish the 5th task.

2. Writing short, pleasant emails:

You should assertively decide not to let your inbox control your life, instead, Set yourself up to use your email as a business tool. Make your replies fast and straight to the point. If your replies are quick, you will save more time to receive more emails and this makes it easier to read all of your correspondences.

3. Establishing email folders:

If you are using various emails from one account, specify a logo for each one of them, so you can distinguish between your personal emails and work-related emails; thus, you can postpone personal emails for later without having to read them immediately, and this will leave you some space to deal with more important tasks.

4. Checking your emails twice a day:

Checking your email twice a day or less is enough. It’s better not to open it on the weekends and spend more time with your friends, and family, besides doing personal commitments.

So, check it once in the morning after working for a few hours and answer any new emails you may have received. This will enable you to focus on the things that you must finish today. Then, check it again later at noon then leave it until the next day and focus on other tasks you need to complete.

Some of the most productive people use auto-reply for their emails, where the reply is simply “I check my email only twice a day because of my busy schedule. If you send me an email, I will contact you as soon as possible. If this is an emergency call this number ….”

Managing your time better:

There are three things people spend their time on which are conversation, thoughts, and actions. The way you manage your time in each category will determine your success in life, no amount of money or resources could make up for the wasted time.

Learning how to manage your time better is very important to live a satisfying life and succeed in your career, so start to evaluate the way you spend your time by keeping a log of what takes more of your time and attention in your daily life because defining the tasks that require a lot of time is the first step to increase your productivity.

Investing in your time better:

Time goes by too fast or too slow depending on what you are doing. You may be busy all day, but that doesn’t necessarily guarantee productivity, but by managing your time wisely, you will reduce the time wasted and improve your productivity.

So, write a list of the most important tasks and specify the time for each one of them. Sticking to the time specified will give you a clear goal, preserving your energy and productivity. Making time for breaks is very necessary because working more than you can endure will subside your enthusiasm and reduce your productivity. So, get rid of the unnecessary time-consuming tasks and look for shortcuts to do the important tasks in your day that are not at the top of your list of priorities.

Having a clear goal, organized time for work and making time for breaks will make you happier and help you manage your time more wisely.

In conclusion:

In this part, we talked about the concept of the hardest and most important task, techniques for managing time effectively, basic time management skills, to-do lists, managing time in the office and while using email, and how to better manage your time. In part 2, we will continue by talking about 4 things you must avoid in time management, techniques for setting priorities, and 4 tips to manage your time while achieving a balance between your career and personal life.