A Timely Guide to 11 Critical Time Management Skills
Do you find yourself wasting time during your typical workday? Do you feel like you never have enough time in the day to get everything done?
According to a study by the U.S. Department of Labor - Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average employee spends 2 hours per day recovering from distractions. That’s 10 hours per week, and roughly 40 hours per month simply trying to recover from distractions.
According to that same study, the average employee only works for a total of 3 minutes on one task before switching to another task.
Yikes.
If that’s how you manage your day and you still get work done, we applaud you. For the rest of you, it’s time to wise up. Learning to manage your time wisely is a crucial skill for professional and personal success. Time management skills can help you be more productive and achieve greater balance in all areas of your life.
Here are 11 strategies for improving your time management skills.
1. Create a Plan
Setting goals and creating a plan can give you focus and direction in your daily life. It provides a clear guide for what you need to do and how to use your time wisely to get there.
Creating a plan, to-do list, or work steps can help you avoid little distractions and reach your goals. Whenever you get distracted you will always have a reference for what you are supposed to be doing. Be realistic in what you hope to accomplish, and don't feel bad when you can't complete everything on your list.
Just start again the following day with a new agenda, make it a habit. Setting long-term goals is helpful too. Ask yourself where you want to be in six months, a year, or five years down the road.
Having larger goals in mind helps you focus on the importance of the smaller tasks you want to accomplish each day.
NOTE: Episode 12 of Season 1 provides four quick tips on how to set effective goals.
2. Prioritize Your Work Steps
Prioritizing your time is one of the most critical elements of time management. When you have many tasks to accomplish and they all seem urgent, you have to prioritize.
Go through the list and determine what's urgent, non-urgent, important, and unimportant. Put the most important tasks at the top of the list and focus on them first. Use your goals as a reference point for making these determinations.
Rather than trying to do it all at once and scattering yourself in multiple directions, focus on your top priorities one at a time.
3. Schedule Tough Tasks First
Working on your most urgent, demanding, or unpleasant tasks first can make the rest of your day easier. If there's a task you dread, get it done and out of the way.
Schedule top priorities during the most productive time of your day. For most people, but not all, that's first thing in the morning.
Doing this gives you the best chance of completing a dreaded task and moving on to your other goals for the day or week.
Want to really start your day off right? Check out this article from Early to Rise: 23 Research-Backed Habits to Supercharge Your Morning Routine and Achieve More Focus, Clarity, and Productivity
4. Group Similar Tasks
Multitasking is exhausting and makes you feel scattered and unproductive. But grouping similar tasks is a useful way of managing your time at work.
Cluster similar tasks and you may be able to accomplish them together within a block of time.
This may include setting aside specific times to do certain things, rather than spreading them throughout your day. For example:
Completing paperwork
Listening to voicemails
Making calls
Answering emails
Consider grouping small tasks together. This can help you get some minor essentials out of the way in a time-efficient manner.
5. Say No Sometimes
As a professional, it's necessary to say no from time to time. Overcommitting yourself leads to stress and underwhelming results.
Consider the things you must do. If your plate is full, don't add unnecessary headaches to your day.
Saying yes may seem like the best career move at the moment. But taking on added responsibilities can reduce your productivity and the quality of your work.
What sounded like a good career move could end up making you look bad if you can't fulfill your commitments. Learn to say no in a professional, polite way, and don't feel guilty that you can't do everything at once.
6. Delegate Tasks Whenever Possible
If you have the authority to delegate tasks, use it to your advantage. You can't do everything yourself. Sometimes it's smart to let others help you, especially when you're feeling overwhelmed with responsibility.
Having great talent around you is the key. Delegating is not about dumping your responsibilities on someone else. It's about strategic planning and knowing which small tasks to delegate to make your overall goal easier to manage. If you don’t have an employee or coworker who can help, consider hiring a contractor who specializes in the task you are trying to complete.
Also, learning to relinquish control can be hard for some people. But it's imperative to learn to delegate tasks and effectively manage your time and energy throughout the workweek.
7. Work on Organizational Skills
Organizing your work environment can make a huge difference in your productivity. Having a designated place for everything you need throughout the day can help you save time and energy.
Getting rid of clutter and creating a home away from home creates calm and makes you feel more centered and focused. Using a real-time calendar and task management tools can be helpful ways to organize your schedule.
8. Track Your Time
Try tracking your time at work for a week. The results can be eye-opening and can help you realize the importance of time management skills.
Take note of all the tasks you complete and the time it took to accomplish them. Track the time you waste too and how your waste it.
You need some breaks and downtime during the day. But you might be amazed at the time you're off-task during a typical workday.
Think about ways you can better manage your time and implement a few changes to boost your productivity.
7. Manage Stress
Stress management is a vital part of time management. Feeling stressed at work affects your performance. If you carry that stress home, it can affect your sleep and personal life as well.
Lowering your workplace stress can help you relax and focus on what you need to accomplish. Planning out your day, organizing your workspace, delegating minor tasks, and utilizing automation are all ways to make your workday easier to manage.
Chronic stress is bad for your health and your productivity. Taking active steps to keep your stress levels at bay is essential for your mental and physical wellbeing.
8. Minimize Distractions
Distractions are inevitable at work, but you can take steps to minimize them and improve your time management. Whether it's chatty colleagues, constant emails, checking your phone, or other distractions, these things eat away your time and affect your productivity.
It's necessary to have some breaks or downtime during the workday. But it's also important to avoid procrastinating your day away.
Take a look at what's distracting you from core tasks and work to minimize those distractions. Put your phone in a drawer, put up a do not disturb sign, turn off your Wifi, or whatever works for you.
Also, consider scheduling time to allow yourself to indulge in those distractions after you have completed important tasks. Then you have something to look forward to while working away on your priorities.
9. Take Breaks
Your typical goal may be to power through the day and accomplish everything on your to-do list. But that can lead to burnout and exhaustion very quickly.
You need time to rest, unwind, and recharge. Effective time managers understand that breaks are an essential part of the workday.
Maintaining a work-life balance is the key to lower stress levels and higher productivity. Schedule short breaks during the day. Go for a short walk, stretch, have a snack, or just sit and meditate for a few moments.
Take a lunch break and get enough sleep. Long hours and no breaks are a recipe for disaster. Taking care of yourself is a must for doing your best at work and avoiding burnout.
10. Be Flexible
At work and in life things rarely go exactly as you think they should. Being too rigid at work can lead to more stress and less productivity.
Although it's important to have a plan, it's just as important to be flexible when the day throws you a curveball. In these moments, maintain your composure and know you can handle any situation.
Be flexible with your plans and realize that sometimes you have to adapt as you go. Don't use a setback as a reason to quit.
When you've resolved the situation, get back to the task at hand with drive and determination.
11. Make the End of Day Your Deadline
There may be the occasional day you need to stay late at work or bring work home with you. But don't make it an everyday habit.
Work can take over your life if you let it. You can bring the day's stress home with you and worry about work all night. This is unhealthy and will not make you a better boss or employee.
Try treating the end of the day as the deadline for your to-do list. Whatever is left undone on the list, tackle it tomorrow.
Setting unreasonable standards of perfection for yourself can lead to unnecessary stress. Manage your time at work the best you can, and don't be too hard on yourself if you don't accomplish everything each day.
How to Improve Your Time Management Skills and Company Culture
Implementing these time management tips can help you improve your performance and get more value out of your workday. Organization and prioritization are key elements to help you improve your time management skills. They are also vital parts of a healthy company culture.
Learning how to manage your time won't happen overnight. Taking small steps toward better time management can help you and your organization lower stress levels and accomplish more at work.
We can help! Our goal is to help you and your team manage priorities effectively and have more positive business interactions. Sign up today to get started.
