As promised, here I am with 19 time management tips for you. But before I share them, I would like to remind you that time management is more about being consistent in your efforts than choosing the right tool or being highly motivated.
Many of you feel that you must have the perfect framework in place before you can embark on a new journey, including practicing time management.
You couldn’t be more wrong.
My own experience tells me that trying to set up an elegant framework and setting down rules before you take even a small first step is a sure shot way of ensuring that you never get around to managing your time.
Because you will never have that perfect framework in place and hence you will never be able to start.
And this is true of anything new that you wish to start, whether as huge as starting a new business or as small as purchasing a domain name.
The best way to start something new is to take the first step before you can convince yourself that you need to work more on the plan or the framework. Deliberations are not good for everything, every time. Sometimes you just need to take a plunge before overthinking, especially when you are trying to make behavioral changes. And adopting time management practices requires a change in your everyday behavior.
It is something similar to an MVP – minimum viable product. If there is one small step you can take to start working towards your time management, do that and then keep building on that first step.
My logic behind sharing with you so many time management tips is that you should be able to choose at least one (remember MVP) that you can start implementing immediately, without having to prepare much. And if you are able to identify that single tip, my request as well as advice to you is to start immediately. Even if it is something as trivial or small as tracking your time. Because it will tell you how you are spending your time and hence how you can spend it in a better way.
It is like building a house. To build a strong house you need strong foundations. And to build a strong foundation on which the whole building can stand safely, you need to lay that first foundation stone.
1. Track your time
Tracking time will help you understand how you are spending the day and identify areas where you can improve. By improvement I mean time periods that you can spend on more important tasks or more efficiently. It’s all about having data. When you have the data to show how you are spending time, many things awill become obvious just by looking at it.
For example, when I started tracking time for the different steps of writing an article, like researching, outlining, writing, editing, etc., I realised that I was spending a disproportionate amount of time on researching.
Even though I started on the path of time management at the beginning of my career, time tracking is new to me – just 2-3 years old. In 2017, five years after I started free freelancing, I was suddenly flush with projects that I had always wanted to do. When I did project estimation, the projects seemed doable simultaneously. But, within a week of starting, I realised that theory and practical were diametrically opposite. The day when I did my book project, I was not able to proceed on my tutorials project. The day I could do my tutorials project, the blogging project took a backseat and deadlines needed to be pushed. One week into it and I realise I needed to do something drastic to ensure that I did not have to drop any of the projects. I had done my time estimates liberally, so there had to be something else that was wrong.
The book and tutorials were my dream projects, so I couldn’t let them go. Blogging was for a topic that provided the right amount of variety to my writing and I didn’t want to get bored of writing just about technology and computer science.
I realised I needed to do something different, and possibly drastic, to ensure that I continued with all the projects and submitted deliverables on time.
I started tracking my time and noticed I was spending way too much time in research for both tutorials and the blogs. The book project was a time sink and taking much more time than anticipated, which I came to realise just within a couple of days. But here also, I was taking lots of time in fitting the screenshots and images within the chapters.
Once I identified the problem areas, I started working towards finding a solution. I forced myself to spend an allocated amount of time on research. I discussed with my book editor if I could attach the high-resolution images and put a placeholder for them in the chapter. It turned out they did not have any problem with that and I saved on couple of hours every chapter.
2. What is your most important task?
There will always be many important tasks to be accomplished on any given day. But you should be able to identify the most important task that must be completed on a given day under any circumstance. For example, I publish a newsletter on LinkedIn every Wednesday. I have divided it into smaller steps like this:
- Outline and research on Monday
- Writing the first draft on Tuesday
- Editing, images and publishing on Wednesday.
These are the three non-negotiables for these three days. I aim to complete them first thing in the morning before attacking my other tasks.
And by first thing in the morning, I do not mean getting up at five in the morning to do it. By first thing in the morning, I mean when you are ready to begin your work day you should complete these one or two most important tasks first.
Some people get the most important task out of their way actually first thing in the morning, the moment they get up, while others do it comfortably at 9 or 10, whenever they start their work. Do whatever suits you. For instance, I do the writing on Tuesday just after finishing my morning chores, but outlining, editing, etc. get done when I start my work day around 10 or 11.
3. Always know what you are supposed to do next
Knowing what you are supposed to do next is an effective way to not waste your time. Many people are inherently against this because they assume you are always under stress to complete the next task. What they fail to understand is that knowing what you are supposed to do next motivates you not to procrastinate or waste time on your current task.
When I say that you must know what you are supposed to do next, I include leisure time in it. If you are supposed to take a break after you complete this task, ensure that you take that break and not spill the current one into your leisure time. Otherwise, you will not be able to do the subsequent tasks with 100% energy. You incorporated that break into your schedule for some reason, so stick to it.
4. You can’t do everything in one go
Remember, Rome was not built in a day. Break down every big task into smaller tasks that can be done on different days. This will give you enough breathing time to do things properly. But don’t space them out so much that you find it difficult to maintain continuity.
5. Do you keep Pareto’s principle in mind?
Pareto’s principle says that you achieve 80% of your results from 20% of your effort. Now combine that with Parkinson’s law, which states that work expands to fill the time provided to it. What conclusion do you reach? If you are honest to yourself, you should realise that unless you are mindful of what you are doing you will end up wasting 80% of your time.
I know that I am being harsh there but there is no other way out. I know that I spend too much time researching. Because when I like any topic, I keep reading about it whether it will help me in writing the article at hand or not. That’s why I need to be aware of how much time I am sinking into the unproductive work. These days I usually set a timer before I start researching.
What this essentially means is that before starting a task, you must know what are the most important parts that will give the maximum results. When you get them out of the way, you can concentrate on the rest 80% or let them be.
6. Important vs urgent tasks – do what is important, not what is urgent
This one is my favourite. Before you start tackling a task you must know whether it is important or urgent.
Any task that takes you closer to your goals is an important task whereas any task that must be completed within a specified time frame, irrespective of whether it helps you move closer to your dream or not, is an urgent task. For example, if you are planning to start your own side hustle, any task related to that side hustle is an important task. On the other hand, any task that must be completed immediately because there is a deadline to be met is an urgent work.
Usually most of us keep completing the urgent tasks and postponing the important ones, which continues to push our dreams further rather than bringing them nearer – a frustrating scenario. It’s time for you to decide whether you want to keep firefighting or allocate some time for fulfilling your dreams.
And I will let you on a secret. If you take away 30 or 45 minutes from your 24 hours, hell is not going to break lose. You will still be completing the other tasks equally well, may be even more efficiently. Remember Parkinson’s Law and Pareto’s Principle (wink, wink).
7. Can you get up a bit earlier? Start with 15 minutes.
I said just now that first thing in the morning never means 5 AM, if you are not a morning person. But still, I would ask you to consider if you can get up a bit earlier. Not an hour or two but maybe 10 or 15 minutes?
When you are able to get up earlier, ensure that you complete one of the tasks lined up for the day during that time. If nothing else, you can start writing or journaling, which you had always been meaning to do.
15 minutes is an excellent time span to start something new without disturbing anything else while still accomplishing something meaningful in just a week or two.
Don’t believe me?
When I was writing my last book during the first wave of pandemic, I started with writing 15 minutes every evening, when my kids were watching the TV. Soon that 15 minutes spilled into 25 to 30 minutes regularly, with no one noticing I was spending more time at my desk, and I ended up completing a first draft in one month.
If there is something that is important for you but you keep deferring it endlessly, starting with it in those 15 minutes in the morning would be excellent. Two reasons. One, morning time is usually quiet time and you will be able to focus better. Two, 15 minutes every day add up to 1 hour 45 minutes in a week and 7 hours 30 minutes in a 30-day month. I do not need to tell you how much you are capable of accomplishing in that time.
8. Focus on one thing for some time
When you are doing a task, focus on it completely. Turn off all distractions from your surroundings or people or devices around you. You will be able to complete a better-quality work in a shorter span of time.
I usually write on my iPad these days. When I am writing, whether it’s on my writing desk or my bed (I share the writing desk with my younger daughter and hence have to opt for my bed when she has to use the desk as well) I have only my iPad with me. And the notebook where I have taken notes. No mobiles or laptops. I don’t even go on the Internet to check some facts; that comes later during the editing phase, if needed.
If I want to listen to some music, I keep the phone in the furthest corner of the room and put on a playlist that is long enough for the stipulated time.
9. Don’t pack your hours back-to-back
This is the most important thing you can do to ensure you complete all scheduled tasks during the day without feeling burnt out. However much you might have planned the time taken for a task, life and office happen and you might end up requiring more time. When you have buffer time between two tasks, you have wriggle room to allocate 10 to 15 minutes extra to a task you could not complete. If you have packed your schedule back-to-back, either all the subsequent tasks will be delayed or you will be forced to find time to complete the current one on some other day.
Moral of the story – Keep buffer time between two tasks. Life happens. Always.
Once you get into the habit of scheduling your day, you will be able to allocate the right amount of buffer time.
10. Single tasking vs multitasking – what’s your style
The jury is still out on whether you should multitask or single task. My suggestion is to zero-in on one of these and stick to it. If you try to single task or multitask alternately during the day, you will only end up wasting time adjusting to the working style. It is more important to stick to one style and achieve maximum productivity.
In case you’re wondering about me, I was a multitasker till my kids were born. After the birth of my second daughter, I just never had enough energy to multitask and I switched successfully to single tasking. When you are multitasking, you need your minds to be at multiple places simultaneously. When I realised that my quality of work plummeted on multitasking, I made the switch without a second thought.
And I must confess that it has served me well till now.
11. Delegate/outsource if you can
Not everybody has the luxury of delegating or outsourcing their work. If you are in that position, take advantage of it and delegate or outsource the work that can be. Remember that delegation need not to be done only to your juniors; you can ask even your friends and at times your boss to help. For example, assume that you are to train a new team member and you are short of time. You should ask your boss to help you out and let me assure you, they will be more than happy to accommodate your request.
Similarly, you can take the help of your team members when you are working on the same project.
The worst that can happen is they would refuse, but if they accept you would have saved yourself a chunk of time. If they refuse, don’t take it personally. They are not refusing you; they are refusing the work you are asking them to do because they have their own deadlines to meet.
12. Have a routine for the most important tasks.
Whatever your chosen profession, you will have some things that are essential for your work or personal life. For example, if you are a creative person, you need to practice being creative. Yes, the most successful creative people practice their craft every day, irrespective of whether they are doing this for clients or themselves.
Have a routine for those important tasks and do them at the same time. For example, if you are a writer or an illustrator, write/draw at the same time. After practising for a couple of days, your muscle memory will be flexed automatically the moment you sit down and you will find it easy to get into the rhythm. Needless to say, after you have done for a couple of weeks, your productivity during this time will shoot through the roof.
13. Are you using online tools – calendar, todoist, toggl
For a long time, I was strongly a pen and paper gal. Meaning, I used my notebook to organise my day, week and sometimes the month. It served me well till my college days but once I started working, I felt the need to have tools that would help me in remembering my tasks.
But those were not the golden days of online cloud synchronisation and hence there could not be just one tool that worked seamlessly on multiple devices. As if reading my mind, my brother bought me a CASIO organizer from the US, where I could save tasks and set reminders. That was my first organizer tool and I used it for quite a few years.
When I did my time management workshop “Mission Control” at Whizlabs, I learnt the tricks of using Outlook calendar and since then it has been my go-to tool for scheduling my day. Of course, my faithful notebook served as the means to synchronize between different devices that did not talk to each other.
Of late I have also started using Toggl for time tracking and Todoist is the home for my to-do lists. Though I am yet to find a tool that would record my superlist and enable me to schedule them from there. If you know of any such tool, do let me know.
14. Don’t get stuck on being perfect
It’s the biggest time sink there ever was. Putting out something that is perfect, whether it is a story or design, a presentation or plan for a webinar sounds good. But perfecting something before putting it out there and sharing with others is just an excuse for procrastinators.
I know I am being harsh here but there is no other way out for those who are stuck on being perfect.
I tell from experience because there was a time when I would deliberate over an 800-word blog post for at least a week after I had completed the first draft. And eventually most of those blogs never saw the light of the day.
The result?
I would publish a blog post on my blog once every 3 to 4 months. When I was tired of tweaking the same lines again or again or bored of going over the same headlines repeatedly. Not a very desirable outcome, as anyone can tell.
Then I realised that even if I put out an imperfect blog, I can always edit it later. Of course, it did not apply to client work and that is why I always try to have someone else look over my work before handing it over to the client. And if the client has their own reviewers who help with the first draft, nothing like it.
I want you to do something just after you finish this article.
Head over to your hard disk and look for a piece of work that has been lying around for days or months because you thought it was too imperfect to be put in front of your tribe. Give it a final review and press the publish or send button, whatever you need to do. It is better out there than lying on your hard disk, however perfect or imperfect it is. Because once you share it with others, you have completed that task; it is not left in a limbo and hence incomplete.
There is nothing like ticking off the task from your list and I want you to get into that habit of feeling the adrenaline rush when you do that.
15. No means no. Learn to be firm.
Learn to mean it when you say no to something. Don’t get persuaded once you have decided that the activity will take away from important work.
You will always come across people who are so persuasive that you fall in line whenever they ask you. But after one or two instances, you should be ready to counter them, even if just by being stubborn.
I once had a teammate like that. I knew what he was saying was correct but I also knew that what I wanted was correct too. So, after a few minutes of conversation, I would tune myself out, only remembering to keep reiterating my own stand. I didn’t end up currying any favour with him but at least I did not end up wasting time doing things that were important to him, not me.
16. Transform habits – replace bad habits with good ones.
Humans are creatures of habit. We find it very difficult to let go of our habits even when we know that they are harming us.
The best way to let go of bad habits is to replace them with good ones.
Have you come across a child throwing a tantrum for getting an ice cream? You know what a smart parent does? They offer them something healthier but equally tasty (okay, that’s just not possible, so something only a bit less tasty) in place of the ice cream. Because saying a straight no to ice cream will invite tantrums but offering something in place of it would be less disappointing and hence more manageable.
17. Utilize time at hand.
Do you think people who utilize their waiting or commuting time are overkilling it?
I would suggest you do the same for a couple of days and only then judge. You will be surprised by the amount of work you get accomplished in those times that were getting wasted. For instance, read your Kindle or engage on social media while waiting, or listen to podcasts while commuting.
I remember carrying my Kindle to the bank when I was trying to get my CC account approved. Waiting always makes us edgy and I was no different. Reading made the waiting that much easier and I was calmer when talking to the bank executive even after 35 minutes of waiting.
If you utilise your time, especially waiting time, you have dual benefit. One, you have ticked a task off your todo list, like reading or social media engagement. Two, as you were busy, you don’t feel you have wasted your time and hence you are not ready to pounce upon the person you are meeting. You have better chance at success than if you were idly waiting and wasting those 35 minutes.
18. Batch similar tasks
Like perfecting something endlessly is the biggest time sink, batching similar tasks is the biggest time saver. If you have to send mails to multiple clients in a day, write those mails together. If there is a sequence of emails you need to create for your new subscribers, it makes sense to write them all in a batch because you are in the flow. Batching similar tasks improves time productivity many times.
19. Do what you can, and forget the rest
Last but not the least, do what you can, or is possible in your situation, and forget about the rest. Remember that tomorrow is another day and you get the chance to start afresh. I am always kind to myself and I always advise others to do the same.
You are the best person to understand how much you can practically accomplish in a day. If you have been unable to do what you set out for yourself in the morning, there has to be a logical reason for it and again you yourself are the best person to understand.
If you don’t try to understand yourself and the way you operate in your given environment, who will?
Be kind to yourself and the situation you are in, and do the best you can. If you are under undue duress stress, you will not be able to perform at your best.
Final thoughts
If you look at this list closely you will notice that I have not given any step-by-step method to manage your time or a framework that you can use to become better at managing time.
Instead, what I have listed here are small habits that can help you be a better time manager.
Everybody is unique, their situations are unique and hence so are their requirements. You are the only person who can draw up the framework that suits you the best and which can be most effective. I am here only to equip you with the tools necessary for drawing up that framework and these 19 tips are what will help you understand how much time you have at hand, what you need to accomplish and what steps you can take to ensure you accomplish it in the given time.
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