Are you a person who finds it difficult to stay focused and to stay on task? Easily distracted? Are you regularly late for important events or do you turn in projects after the deadline? If so, you may need to improve your time management. The good news is that there are several time management tips to help you see success, and a few of these tips are outlined below.
I believe in a Work-Life Balance which is a concept including proper prioritizing between “work” (career and ambition) and “lifestyle” (health, pleasure, leisure, family and spiritual development).
Know what you really want to do with your life. What kind of person do you want to be? Who would you be proud to be? To accomplish any of these things, let’s start with structure.
One of the first things that you will want to do is create time management goals for yourself. These goals can be for personal objectives or your career. No matter what goals you choose to set for yourself, it is important that these goals work to provide you motivation. I suggest starting with your 30-day goals and break it down into the work week.
From there block out time each week for the important things in your life.
Specific Time Blocks
- Workouts
- Creative and Free time
- Family time
- Training / Educational time
- Work time (including emails)
Or walking the dog, and don’t forget to block time for your appointments, including travel time to those appointments if applicable.
Another way to improve your time management is to determine where you have the most problems.
What exactly is it that causes you to waste time?
Chances are you already know. If not, do a little test. Walk through a normal day and record what times you get distracted the most and what you are doing at those times. Do you find yourself wasting time when socializing with friends, using the internet, or watching television? If so, reduce, completely eliminate those distractions or even better, create specific time blocks for those items.
Time Management Tools
It is also important to note that there are several time management tools available for your use as well. Especially with today’s technology and all of those “apps” out there. These tools should not be relied on daily but used to help you establish a routine. As for what time management tools you can use, you may be surprised with all your options. To do lists, daily planners and alarm clocks are all great ideas and so are applications that can be used on your computer and phone.
Here are a few electronic tools I use:
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- One Note – All your notes, lists, on all your devices, all up to date. OneNote is a digital notebook for capturing, storing, and sharing all kinds of information.
- Google Keep – Keep offers a variety of tools for taking notes, including text, lists, images, and audio.
- Dubsado – An all-in-one CRM and accounting software – With my Affiliate Link – Get 20% of an annual subscription or first month. This does take a little time to set up, but once it is, it is a time saver.
- ClickUp – #1 rated project manager/productivity software is making your projects productive with a beautifully designed and intuitive platform.
As previously stated, a to-do list is a time management tool that you can benefit from using. As helpful as all of these lists and applications can be, it is important to prioritize and stay organized. In fact, poor organization is the leading cause of wasted time. You will want to list your items in order of importance and urgency.
These time management tips should be able to help you see success and better manage your time on your own. With that said, it is important to remember that sometimes help is needed. The last thing that you want to do is be overloaded, whether it be at work or at home.
If you have very little experience with managing your time, it might be wise to do a little research. Otherwise, you can talk with an experienced time management professional. They’ll help you learn time management skills. The reason you would go outside the business is that studies have shown that many businesses both small and large often struggle with time management.
If you need to outsource some of your work to a coworker or to hire the services of a professional, go ahead and do so. That’s important to remember! It’s okay to have assistance from time to time because we tend to complete our responsibilities on our own.
By taking the above-mentioned time management tips to help you see success into consideration, you will be able to better improve the use of your time.
I would love to help you with your business. Let’s connect.
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