Wealth

Time management: how do you learn to manage your time?

Life sometimes sets a very high tempo, and a lot of things pile up on us. And although everyone has the same amount of time in a day, not everyone uses it to their advantage. Someone has time to do sports, work, and devote time to self-development and loved ones. And someone can work all day and be surprised to find out that he didn’t do anything important.

 

We really do want to have time for everything. Demand breeds supply: there are a lot of books on personal effectiveness, productivity courses and coaching with success and motivation training. And then there are the time-management systems.

 

What is time management?

Time management is a way to manage time, which improves the efficiency of its use.

 

There are many different systems of time management: some approaches are used to load the staff and calculate working hours, others are used for personal needs. Time management helps not only to have time to do work tasks, but also to have enough time for leisure, sports and socializing with loved ones.

 

When time management is useless

Time management is important for those who have the ability to allocate time on their own. If you work to a precise schedule that can not change in any way, you can plan except for the weekend. But there are other situations in which time management is useless.

 

Time management is not a magic pill that will help to manage everything. Because really, time management is not about getting everything done. It’s about keeping up with the important things and giving up on the unimportant.

 

Time management is not a means of motivation. Time management won’t make you more productive and motivation won’t skyrocket if you’re deeply disgusted by what you’re doing. Most importantly, make sure you really want to do these things. Perhaps you need to change your professional field rather than trying to do more and better.

 

Time management does not guarantee success. Some coaches convince you that if you just learn their techniques, you will immediately become rich, solve your family problems, or start playing sports. But it doesn’t work that way. Time management is just a tool, useless without your effort. It’s like buying a pen that a great writer used to write down ideas, and hoping that those ideas will now come to you.

 

Time management techniques are not universal, they do not suit everyone. Any author’s technique is just the experience of its creator. But we are individual, so not all methods and not always can be applied. If the method doesn’t work, then don’t force yourself, just look for another one. Better yet, observe yourself. You know yourself better than anyone else and how you’re more comfortable working. Some people are productive in the morning, others in the evening or even at night.

 

Time management doesn’t force you to overpower yourself. Getting up at 5 a.m. or sleeping four hours at a time and feeling sick is not time management. Also, don’t beat yourself up if you don’t get tasks done efficiently right away. Allow yourself to make mistakes. If some ways don’t work, try others. It is possible.

How to manage time

In time management, there are different techniques and tools. They help at different stages: planning, prioritizing, evaluating the result.

 

Plan: set goals and objectives

Planning is an important part of time management and improving efficiency. You can either plan in the evening the next day or at the beginning of the day. When planning, it is important to separate goals and objectives. The goal is general and global. Goals are broken down into small and specific tasks. For example, the goal is to turn in quarterly reports. Break it down into smaller specific tasks: gather 3 months of data, put it together in a table, create graphs of trends, make a presentation.

 

Make lists of tasks for the day and for longer periods – a week or a month. For each task, you need to define a deadline by which it must be completed. You can use paper or electronic planners for this purpose. A day planner, a whiteboard with stickers, or planning apps like Trello or Wunderlist will work.

 

Prioritize

You can write down dozens of tasks. You need to prioritize them, and some may even be abandoned altogether.

 

There are two popular ways to prioritize: the ABC method and the Eisenhower matrix.

 

ABC method

Take a list of tasks and assign each a level of priority with the letters A, B, C (some resort to the letters D and E as well).

 

    A – important and urgent tasks, the highest priority in execution. These are the things which, if not done or postponed, may have unpleasant or serious consequences. For example, fix the bug that caused the site to stop working, especially if the delay causes the business to lose money.

    B – important but non-urgent tasks, or those whose failure will not lead to serious consequences. Example – to implement a development that will help increase sales. This is important, but if you move it a bit, it is unlikely that something irreparable will happen.

    C – tasks that would be nice to do: spend the evening with friends or arrange a dinner for the wife.

 

Level D includes tasks that could be delegated to subordinates, and Level E includes tasks that should be abandoned altogether.

 

The Eisenhower Matrix

The method is named after its creator, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower. He had a great many tasks, so he prioritized them by categorizing them:

 

    urgent, important;

    important, non-urgent;

    urgent, not urgent;

    unimportant, non-urgent.

 

The sheet is divided into four squares, in which the tasks are inscribed.

 

Eisenhower matrix: 4 squares with different urgency and importance. Some paper planners come already lined into these squares.

 

Do the urgent and important ones first. They are of direct importance to you and the future, they cannot be delegated to someone else. Important but non-urgent ones you can safely and comfortably perform yourself or delegate to subordinates and cooperate with them in the course of their implementation. Try to delegate the urgent and unimportant ones to others. Non-urgent and unimportant tasks should be abandoned altogether.

 

It’s best to prioritize tasks as soon as you enter them into the planner, so nothing unnecessary gets into it.

Complete the tasks

Scheduling and prioritizing tasks is only half the battle. Now you need to get them done. Moreover, things usually do not go according to plan: new tasks are piling up, we procrastinate, do not take into account some nuances, which eventually move the deadline for the task, and along with this move the subsequent tasks. It is impossible to provide for everything, but some things can still be taken into account to reduce the disruption to a minimum.

 

Don’t try to solve several tasks at the same time

The brain is not a multitasking computer. We’re not speeding up the process if we’re trying to do everything at once, but we’re splitting up between tasks. We get distracted, we miss important things, we slow down, we get stressed, we constantly switch between tasks and get into them all over again each time.

 

Remove things that keep you from concentrating on the task

Close social networks and messengers, turn off the sound on your phone, clean up your workplace. If you work at home, choose a time and place when you will not be distracted by family members. Otherwise you will dissipate your attention or become procrastinator.

 

Don’t rush to do new tasks right away

Prioritize them first. If you throw in a new task, you won’t have time to do the planned ones – and among them there may be important ones. As a rule, nothing will happen if you agree with your colleagues that you will do the new task tomorrow. There aren’t many tasks you need to rush to do right away.

 

Learn to say no

Not all tasks and projects are worth taking on at all. Sometimes they try to dump things on us that we shouldn’t be doing in the first place. Sometimes it just doesn’t make sense to take on a new project if you don’t have time for it and you don’t want to give up others. Even if your best friend begs you tearfully. Everyone has the right to “no,” remember that.

 

Work the way you feel most comfortable

We are all very different. We have different temperaments, we have different life events, we are active at different times and in different ways. For example, if you find it difficult to concentrate on a task for a long time, try the “Tomato” technique. It is named after the kitchen timer in the form of a tomato, which counts down 25 minutes. Start the timer for 25 minutes and do only work for that time. Then take a 5 or 10 minute break.

 

And if you have the opportunity to change your work schedule to suit you – do not turn it down.

 

Evaluate the result

Completed the task – analyze what was good and what was not. Perhaps some time management tools do not suit you. Technique “Tomato” will not make you productive if you are more comfortable to work an hour and a half or two hours, and then take a good break.

 

Pay attention to what interfered with the task: tired, distracted by mail, or singing along to your favorite performer. Next time, try to eliminate the irritants.

 

Rest

An important part of time management is rest. Plan short breaks during the day, determine the time after which you will not engage in work. Try to rest fully on weekends and do not take work home. No one can be productive 24/7. We need to rest and replenish resources. Incorporate exercise, time with loved ones and adequate sleep into your schedule.

 

Also keep in mind that you’ll need more time to recover after the rush.

 

Don’t forget what’s important

Besides work tasks, projects and careers, there’s so much more to life that’s amazing and beautiful. Is it really necessary to take on an eighth project for a prestigious company or earn money for the newest car if it deprives you of time with your kids and loved ones? Don’t forget that not everything is measured by money and success. Plan so that you don’t regret missing out on something very important to you.