15 Time Management Strategies to Boost Your Focus and Mood
Money may come and go, but time? Without time management strategies to support you, time will always slip through your fingers before you even realize it's gone. Time management strategies will help you get control of your time and design productive, feel-good days that leave you feeling uplifted and ready for more.
Managing time isn’t only about squeezing more activities into your day though. Understanding the strategies in this article will help you develop a healthier work-life balance too. Regardless of your motivation, you'll see that when you find the right strategy to improve your time management, you'll get to boost your productivity and have a more harmonious workflow while you'll also reduce your stress levels! Eager to know how? Read on for more!
Time management strategies will help you get control of your time and design productive, feel-good days that leave you feeling uplifted and ready for more.
The 15 Most Effective Time Management Strategies Everyone Needs to Know
So how can we actually get down to it and manage our time more efficiently? Keep reading for a list of the most effective, Simplish-approved tips, tools and approaches to help you get on top of your calendar.
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Editor’s note: While tried and true methods are great (we’re big fans of GTD, bullet journaling and not-to-do-lists), we know that there’s no single best way that works for everybody. We encourage you to adjust our recommendations to your own needs.
1. Make a Plan
Although it might sound quite obvious, the first step to better time management is to plan everything that you want or need to accomplish on a given day. Start by making a list of all the usual tasks you have in one day. Making a to-do list might not be a groundbreaking technique, but it can be a huge game-changer because it gives you a clearer overview of how you spend your time on a daily basis.
This is one method to start planning from scratch:
Start by creating the tasks
Set start and due dates
Track time spent on each task
Create a plan and always remember to manually cross all the activities you accomplish
If you’re overwhelmed with tasks, then ditch the to-do list for a not-to-do list, and work backwards from there to help you focus on only the tasks that are most important.
As technology is making huge steps forward, it makes sense to use it wisely to ease up your life. So, one of the smartest things you can do is to leverage technology to manage your time in a smarter and stress-free way. There are millions of apps and software that can help you save hours and hours of work each day!
On the other hand, though, it can be hard for you to know which ones are really made for you so here's a list of apps you can download on your phone or computer based on the following categories:
Task Managers – Simplish
Habit Developers – Fabulous
Time Trackers – Toggl Track
Time Savers – StayFocusd
3. Organize Your Priorities
Another strategy that is crucial to efficient time management is to know what to prioritize. When you make a list of all the activities you do in one day, it's very common to feel a little lost because you don't really know what to prioritize. So the next step you should focus on, once you have created a to-do list, is to organize your task in order of priority. This way you'll get to use your time more productively and focus on the day’s most important tasks without feeling torn because you don't know what to focus on.
Try to start this way:
Group your tasks based on three levels of importance: high, medium, or low.
Rank every item on your list on a scale of 1-10, and then assign them to each category.
4. Stop Procrastinating and Eat That Frog!
Do you ever find yourself relentlessly snoozing that alarm, postponing that task, and then suddenly feeling overwhelmed with things to do? Procrastinating is part of human nature because you tend to postpone only the most unpleasant things. But then the typical scenario is that you then end up doing too much at the same time. A great strategy that can help you stop procrastinating, is the so-called "eat the frog" method:
So take the unpleasant tasks as the “big frogs”, focus on those first so that you can then enjoy the most pleasant ones!
5. Minimize Distractions to Stay Focused
Everyone gets distracted. Regardless of your attention span, getting distracted is incredibly easy. Especially considering all the distractions you more or less unknowingly surround yourself with: email, social media, co-workers, kids, or just random thoughts.
Although you might not have power over all of the distractions you face in a day, you can manage the things that are under your control.
So, a good tip would be to identify the things that usually distract you and think of a solution that can help you minimize that distraction.
For example, if your distractions are:
Social Media: Try turning off your phone, select "flight mode" or impose screen time limits to regularly monitor your digital wellness
Email: Carve out some time to reply to all your emails so you can turn off notifications for emails while you're focusing on a different task
Friends and Coworkers: Avoid small talk and try to stay focused on what you have to do.
6. Work with (Not Against) Your Natural Energy Curve
Are you more of a morning person, a night owl, or a bit in between? The answer to this question will give you a clue to your most productive time of day. Scheduling your day’s most challenging tasks for your peak productivity time can truly transform your time management. It’s all about working with your natural energy curve to achieve effortless results.
So for example, if you know you're a morning person and have no trouble waking up early, it makes sense to plan most of your tasks for the earlier parts of the day. Whereas if you think you fall under the category of the "night owl" you'll surely be able to achieve a higher level of productivity in the afternoon.
7. Use a Timer
Although it might sound slightly old-fashioned, using a timer is actually one of the most effective time management techniques. Setting a timer can be an easy and productive way to remind you of taking breaks, focus on your tasks, and set time limits. Especially while working, timing out portions of your day for taking some breaks is essential to a better work-life balance. Yes because it allows you to clear your mind before getting back to the same one or moving on to the next one.
Because it's so easy to get caught up in something and lose track of time, but when you use a timer you no longer run this risk. Obviously, if the idea of having a loud and obnoxious timer ringing every now and then annoys you, don’t worry, there are numerous digital options that can send you a gentle reminder.
Try for example apps like Toggl’s well-regarded timer or the so-called Pomodoro Technique’s tomato timer.
8. Divide Big Projects into Bite-Sized Pieces
One of the most common reasons why you might struggle to manage your time while working on big projects is that they might look kind of intimidating. And so what happens is that you keep postponing because you're scared of managing a big workload. Another time management strategy that can help you overcome this issue is to break large projects into smaller, more manageable ones.
Start small, focus on the little tasks and you'll see that little by little, piece by piece, you’ll make progress and accomplish your project in a snap. This method is also known as the “snowball technique": start by breaking down all your task into smaller segments, complete preparatory tasks, and eventually complete the larger task.
And if you decide to adopt this method, try to make sure you're also building a reward system for completed tasks so as to help you stay motivated.
9. Don’t Be Afraid to Say "No"
Saying "no” is commonly perceived as rude. So you say “yes” to as many tasks as possible, and you say yes to last-minute calls and meetings. No wonder you're feeling like you never really have time for yourself! Saying "no" isn't actually bad, but it can help you carve out time for the things that really matter to you. So remember that saying "no" is necessary sometimes because it can help you define and respect your boundaries.
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10. Delegate Tasks to Others
You don’t have to do everything yourself. Yes, being able to count on yourself is incredibly empowering and rewarding but sometimes all you need is just a helping hand. Delegating a task is not the end of the world - in fact, creating a systematic approach to handing off tasks is essential to making progress as a group that you would never be able to achieve alone. Effective delegation is crucial if you're a manager or a team leader, as the workload can quickly stack up on your shoulders if your team doesn’t have your back.
So if you want to avoid this, you should be also willing to seek out help and learn how to sort out tasks among your coworkers. If you don’t have anyone that can help share your burden, it might be time to outsource or hire a freelance contractor.
11. Do Less (and Feel Good About It)!
One of the most common mistakes that chronically overwhelmed people make is to constantly overestimate the number of things they can do. When you do this, you’re likely headed right down that familiar "stress" path and it's no surprise that you'll end up feeling overwhelmed and dissatisfied. Even when you accomplish most of your goals, the natural consequence of stacking your plate full is to feel frustrated when you just can’t do everything you signed up for. This is such a common problem, that there’s actually a prioritization technique that helps you focus on 20% of your to-do list and put the rest on hold. So as you work on your time management skills, remember the mantra: if you want to accomplish more - do less. Keep your feet on the ground, practice compassion towards yourself, and enjoy a short and sweet to-do list.
12. Try Tony Robbins' Rapid Planning Method
Tony Robbins, the ultra-famous business coach, personally developed the Rapid Planning Method (RPM), a result-oriented strategy that can help take action on the achievement of your goals. This method helps you to define the desired outcome before determining the steps that will get you there.
There are three distinct steps that you ought to take to step into the RPM’s management technique:
Results-Focused (R): What do I really want?
Purpose-Driven (P): Why does it matter to me?
Massive Action Plan (M): How will I achieve it?
13. If You Want to Go Agro, Try Elon Musks’ 5-Minute Rule
Ahh, Elon.
The case in point of everything that’s wrong and everything that’s right with Big Tech. Whatever your opinion about Elon Musk, you can’t deny that this dude gets things done. The famous billionaire founder and CEO has a simple rule that helps him run multiple billion dollar companies and somehow still have time to Tweet angrily at anyone who disagrees with him: it’s the "5-minute rule". Using this technique, you simply divide your day into 5 minute blocks with hyper-focused goals for each block. This technique leaves no room for random time wasters and forces you to divide your day into action-oriented chunks to get things done.
14. Batch Similar Tasks Together
Tackling different types of tasks in a short period of time is highly demanding for your brain. Popularly known as multitasking (or more accurately, as switchtasking), the American Psychological Association recognizes that jumping from task to task takes a toll on productivity.
Whether you work with teams, a partner, alone or some combination of the three, it makes sense to batch like-tasks together to reduce the strain on your cognitive load.
Batching your work into similar types of tasks helps you to get in the flow completing similar tasks and reduce the brainpower wasted by switching to and from tasks when you try to do everything at once.
15. Take Time to Recharge
At some point, you should also know when it's time to simply unplug, unwind and take a break. Remember that you're not a robot, and recharging our "internal" batteries is crucial not only to our productivity but also to our mental and physical health. When you’re exhausted, your performance levels will progressively decrease, and getting the work done will be possible, but its quality will be heavily affected. On top of that, when you do so, your stress levels will instead increase. So, make sure you always squeeze some time into your schedule to just decompress and get the rest your body and mind need.
Give yourself permission to rest - whenever you feel like it. Especially if you're working remotely, defining your downtime can be a little tricky, but it's of the utmost importance. Remember that self-care is not a waste of time but it's actually essential, so always ensure you carve out some time to just rest and savor the taste of sweet nothing.