Most Effective time management skills:

Most Effective time management skills:

Time management can prove to be a very effective habit when you are trying to excel in your work and getting ahead towards your goals.

Every single person on this earth has the same 24 hours and every body utilizes their 24 hours in different ways and hence the outcome is different for different people.

Cribbing about not having time to go get a workout in or reading a book or working on your dream project or doing a side hustle is just a big excuse, which you are presenting to your own self.

In this post I will be sharing with you some of the most effective time management skills that will help you make time for every aspect of your life as well as carving some sweet time to relax and treat yourself.

1.      Digital + physical plan:

Planning can itself feel tiring sometimes when you are trying to visualize your entire week or month in advance.

When you are trying to figure out the things for the coming week or month, it is quite natural to get messy in your head and to get that mess clear up a little, always start planning on a piece of paper.

You can get as messy as you want to be and don’t worry we are going to get all the things jotted down in a proper manner once we move to digital planning.

The whole point to plan physically is to get as clear as you can, so that you don’t mess up on the later stages. Also, writing down your plan and then again scripting out on your computer actually helps you to absorb the plan more, as you are doing it twice!

For planning out your week, month or tasks, projects or even your team digitally, you can use Asana (an online planning and managing platform).

2.      Everyday, a to- do list:

Start your days with physically writing down your to- do list. Planning your day ahead either the night before or early in the morning really helps you to set an intention for the day.

Planning ahead helps you to visualize your day and will give you an estimate of how much effort or focus you need to be putting in for the day.

I actually find it a really nice method because based on the amount of work or the number of tasks I can free up my day and block it to work more efficiently.

Also, Based on how hectic my day is going to be, I try to schedule my mornings, so that I can get myself some quiet time followed by other morning rituals to help me focus and be calm before getting into the day.

3.      Block out your days:

This is a very effective method when it comes to time-management because it really helps you to increase your focus hours and your work efficiency.

Maximum of the time we are fidgeting between different tasks through the day in order to be more productive. Instead frequently transitioning between the tasks can make you more frustrated and burnout at the end of the day.

Time blocking method helps you to block your days based on the type of tasks to be performed throughout the day i.e. if you have to take calls or reply to emails for your work, try to block out  a single day in the week and plan all your calls on that day.

In this way, you will be more efficient as you will be focused on one task instead of transitioning between multiple.

4.      Mark out your MIT’s:

The most common mistake we make while planning out or managing time is by stuffing a lot of things in a single day or a single slot.

“Never overestimate how much can be achieved in a day and never underestimate how much can be achieved in a year” – Bill Gates

Once you are done making a list for the day, mark out 3 MIT’s i.e. Most Important Tasks for the day. Once these three tasks are achieved, you can follow up by performing other tasks only if there is time left.

This method helps you to not stress about 10 things to be done just because you have written them down in your to-do list. Focus on one day at a time and try to enjoy the process otherwise you will suffer work burnout quite frequently.

Make sure these 3 MIT’s are aligned with your goals.

5.      Mark out the boundaries:

It is very important to set a boundary or deadline for every task especially when you are working for yourself.

Making deadlines help you to respect the time that you have and you can be more productive with your work.

Also, make sure to have a set time to end your work everyday so that you have time to reset your brain and body to hustle for the next day!

Effective Time-management is not just about tricks and hacks but also about working on the terms which make you most productive. You can set an schedule by mixing out the skills mentioned above which eventually will work for you. Effective time-management also requires you to have self-discipline because no planning can work unless you do!