18 Time management tips, strategies, and tricks to get the most out of your work

 

In modern conditions, we are forced to constantly be distracted by various tools, notifications, emails, social networks - the list goes on. In our economy of strife, chaos has become the norm.

 

It has become almost impossible to focus on what is truly important and prioritize correctly at the right time. All your plans for the day collapse under the onslaught of some supposedly super-important tasks, urgent messages and endless notifications. To keep up with this pace, 80% of knowledge workers work with an open inbox and other information sharing applications. As a result, work efficiency decreases and the likelihood of lost messages, missed deadlines, and failure to complete necessary actions increases.

 

Time management templates help you save time and complete your daily work more mindfully. To prevent your to-do list from dictating how you use your time, use time management strategies to consciously set your daily priorities and focus only on the most pressing work.

Time management cannot be mastered in a single approach. In this article, we've compiled 18 tips, strategies, and techniques that will help you take control of your tasks and the time it takes to complete them.

 

What is time management?

Time management is the practice of managing your work so that you can manage your time as consciously as possible. The ability to better prioritize your day and carve out time for rest and recovery is the biggest advantage of time management, while it can also increase productivity.

Benefits of Time Management

A good time management strategy will help you organize and prioritize your work so you can:

 

• Get more done in the same time. When you consciously plan your day, you reduce the number of unnecessary tasks, stop giving priority to work that is not yet relevant, and get everything done in less time. Of course, this will not make the day longer, but you will see that you manage to do more in the same time. 

• Draw a line between work and personal time. Better time management isn't about squeezing maximum productivity out of every second. Rather, these strategies allow you to determine what work can be put off until tomorrow so that only the most important things can be done today. By prioritizing the work that needs to be done today and being clear about what work can be put off until later, you set boundaries between work and personal time.

• Reduce stress levels. Without effective time management, you may feel like you never have enough time to work. Feeling like you're putting out fires while running can lead to increased stress levels and ultimately burnout. In fact, according to the Job Design Index study, 71% of knowledge workers reported experiencing burnout at least once in 2020.

• Increase productivity. There are many time management tips that can help you reduce red tape and increase productivity. By defining your top priorities for the day, you will not only become more productive, but also gain confidence that you are doing everything right every time.

• To refuse from bad habits. Nobody wants to deal with red tape. But over time, bad habits make themselves felt and interfere with effective work (trust us: we’ve been through all this). Time management strategies help you recognize and eliminate bad habits.

Six Time Management Strategies to Increase Productivity

One of the easiest ways to develop time management skills is to implement a proven time management strategy into your daily work. Time management strategies help you set deadlines for work, complete one task at a time, and plan your workday more deliberately.

1. Time limit

Time pressure is a time management strategy that focuses on achieving goals by completing work within a limited time frame. This strategy is especially effective when you don't know exactly how much time is spent on each task, but want to be more intentional about your to-do list.

 

This strategy helps you break down large tasks into smaller parts and then complete them within a reasonable time frame. Each task has its own time frame, which cannot exceed three hours. For example, if you need to write an article for a blog, you might want to create a two-hour window to write an outline. Then, after a break, you can create another three-hour window to work on the first draft. By breaking your work into small parts, you can confidently move towards your goal within a few days or weeks.

 

2. Time blocking

The principle of time blocking is similar to the time limiting strategy, but instead of planning specific time for each individual task, you use blocking certain periods in your calendar allocated to perform a particular job. By using the principle of time blocking to schedule your work, you are essentially breaking your work week into separate time slots in which you can work on projects, communicate with colleagues, take breaks, or even exercise. Blocking time ensures the dynamism of the work process and allows you to dive deeper into your work by concentrating on the main thing.

 

To create a time block, first determine your priorities for the day or week. Then group similar tasks together so you can work on them within the same time block. Finally, practice scheduling time blocks on your calendar to stay on track.

 

3. Pomodoro method

Similar to time limits and time blocking, the Pomodoro method helps you get work done in a short amount of time with breaks between work sessions. The good thing about the Pomodoro Time Management strategy is that it actively encourages regular breaks, which keep you motivated and good for your brain. Research shows that breaks make people more creative.

 

To use the Pomodoro method, you need a timer, a prioritized to-do list, and a function to temporarily turn off notifications. To begin, set a timer for 25 minutes and try to devote this time solely to completing the task, if possible without being distracted by text messages and social networks. Then, when the set time is up, take a break for five minutes. It is advisable to devote a break to some physical activity, for example, having a snack or stretching, but you can also look at your smartphone or check if any important message has arrived while you are working on a task.

Repeat the procedure with 25-minute work sessions and five-minute breaks four times, followed by a long break of 20–30.

 

4. Frog for breakfast

Mark Twain once said, “If you eat a frog in the morning, the rest of your day will be wonderful, because the worst of the day will be over.” The eating the frog time management strategy takes its cue from this quote and encourages tackling large, complex tasks before tackling less important or less urgent work. This strategy is suitable for those who are used to dividing their workload between regular daily work and high-priority tasks.

 

The eating frog method helps you start each day by doing the most important work. To start using this time management strategy, all your work and priorities need to be tracked in one centralized tool. Find a way to tie your daily tasks to your company goals. This will allow you to more effectively identify priority tasks for the day and ensure that they are completed first. Then, having dealt with the frog, you can do the rest of the work.

 

5. Pareto principle                          

If a frog for breakfast doesn't appeal to you, you can try a time management strategy based on the Pareto principle.  The Pareto principle is the opposite of the “eating a frog” method, since it involves solving small tasks first, so that already in the first half of the day there is a motivating feeling of completion of several tasks.

 

The Pareto principle is often called the “80/20 rule” because it is based on one fundamental rule: you spend 20% of your time doing 80% of the work. If 80% of the work can be completed relatively quickly, then you will have 80% of the working time to complete the remaining 20% ​​of the work.

 

6. Getting to the result (GTD)

The method of achieving results was developed by David Allen in the early 2000s. According to Allen, the first step towards achieving your goals is to first record all current affairs. By delegating this to task management tools, freeing up your brain resources, you can focus on actually doing things rather than remembering what needs to be done.

 

To work using the method of achieving results, you need to record all the upcoming work in one place. Once you've written down everything you need to do, sort and prioritize your tasks. For example, you might have work that you no longer need to do (and which will go in the trash), work that you intend to do but not right now (and which will go in a project or folder called "Later"), work, depending on the completion of other tasks, etc. Such a tool should provide all the information about the work, and you will need to complete it.

 

Six Time Management Tips for More Results

You may or may not like a particular time management strategy in terms of organizing your work. Not all management strategies are equally effective for everyone, which is why there are so many of them. Instead, you can try the six tips below to improve your time management skills.

 

1. Linking daily work to goals

Time management is not always just about doing all the work unconditionally. Rather, the concept is about identifying and prioritizing the most important work. This requires linking daily work to team or company goals so that the most important tasks can be identified and dealt with on a daily basis. However, according to a recently published study of more than 6,000 knowledge workers worldwide, only 26% say they clearly understand how their work relates to company goals.

 

Coordinating and prioritizing work at all levels of the organization is best done using a work management tool. Such a tool allows you to connect the team’s daily work and projects with the company’s goals so that employees understand how their work affects the company’s priorities.

 To ensure the correct prioritization of work, we set goals for the quarter, using a system of goals and key indicators, which then reach the half-year level. Our team leaders check weekly to ensure that the work their team is doing is meeting these goals.

— BADRUL FARUQI, PRODUCT MANAGER AT FIGMA

 

2. Prioritization and work organization

Regardless of which method you prefer, whether it's "eating the frog" or "getting it done," you need to understand which tasks are truly important. Sooner or later there will be a task whose priority or due date will change. Without a clear understanding of what is of utmost importance, you will not be able to properly organize your work and prioritize.

 

Why is it so important to prioritize your work? You're probably familiar with burnout, which affects more and more workers around the world every year. But there is less documented data on how unclear priorities affect burnout. According to the Job Design Index study, 29% of knowledge workers feel overwhelmed at work and believe that this is due to a lack of clarity in the formulation of tasks and functions. Knowing which tasks to prioritize can help alleviate this feeling and increase confidence that you're working on the right tasks every day.

 

3. Planning for the future at the end of each day

It often happens that on working days there is a feeling of chaos when we are behind schedule before we even have time to start work. If you're one of those people who digs through your email every morning to figure out what you need to do, you're not alone. Thankfully, though, there is a way out.

 

Instead of trying to figure out what to do in the morning, take five minutes at the end of your current workday to plan for the day ahead. This will increase your motivation because you will know exactly what you have to do all day before it even begins. Plus, it will allow you to get your most important work done every day. Instead of responding to emails or requests at 4:30 p.m., you can schedule important work into the next day's schedule.

 

4. Refuse or delegate

One of the benefits of clearly setting your priorities is that you also get an idea of ​​what is less important. It's not always easy to turn down a job, but it's easier when you turn down because the job doesn't fit your current priorities. You can make your priorities clearer if you first formulate them for yourself, and only then share them with colleagues.

 

If you need to do some work that is not a priority for you, you can try to transfer it to another employee. Remember that assigning a task to someone else does not mean that it is unimportant. It just means the job doesn't align with your current priorities. The work may be more relevant to someone else, so by delegating it, you ensure that the task is completed by a more suitable person.

 The strategy we've developed to improve our effectiveness is to have a clear understanding of what work our team needs to do and what work it doesn't need to do. When you know exactly the work you have to do, you can decide which tasks to focus your efforts on and which can wait. When you understand this well, both the efficiency of work and the transparency of the tasks that our employees are working on increase.

— JAY MCBRIDE, FORMAT DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT MANAGER AT WOOLWORTHS

 

5. Checking tasks

Just as you say no to any work, take time to review the tasks you committed to doing a while ago and are still working on. Perhaps some tasks no longer align with your team's goals.

 

If you find such tasks, be sure to check whether they need to be performed at all. If a task is no longer relevant to your team, consider pausing the work. If a task still needs to be done, ask yourself whether you are truly the best person for the job, and if not, think about who you could delegate it to.

 

6. Forget about handwritten to-do lists. Use the tools

If you're still writing work cheat sheets by hand, it's time to switch to an online tool. As satisfying as it is to write notes by hand, handwritten to- do lists are unorganized, prone to errors, easy to lose, and ineffective. 
Therefore, it is best to transfer the management of most projects to a special tool. Project management tools offer many features to help you make the most of your time. With this tool you can: 

• Coordinate work between different departments and control who does what and in what time frame.
• Share work information, share feedback, and report project status in one place.
• Track the progress of work in real time to know exactly what condition it is in.
• Monitor deadlines and dependent elements so that goals are achieved without unnecessary effort.

 Plus, if you think there's nothing more satisfying than crossing a task off your handwritten to-do list, you need to see various mythical creatures fly across your computer screen.

 

Six time management techniques

 

The time management strategies and tips described above are good, but they take some time to implement. Want to get started in just five minutes? Try the following six techniques for better time management now.

 

1. Pause notifications

We constantly move between apps, notifications, and tasks. On average, each knowledge worker switches between 10 applications up to 25 times a day. This is why it is so difficult to concentrate on the task at hand and get into the rhythm of work. This implies that the task will require more time.

 

Whenever possible, turn off notifications or use Do Not Disturb. This feature, on the one hand, will allow you to immerse yourself in your work, and on the other hand, it will let your colleagues know that you will be available again later. Most tools allow you to show that you don't need to be touched yet, so that your colleagues don't expect you to respond immediately. If they really need to, they can override this function, so you're never completely out of reach.

 For maximum productivity, I like to block off time between meetings when I plan to work on different projects, leaving in between for short breaks. I also find it very useful to have a feature that allows me and my colleagues to set an appropriate status in Slack without others expecting me to respond immediately.

— JULIA BERSIN, SENIOR DEMAND DRIVER MANAGER AT GURU

2. Organize your physical space

Think about how empty your desk was when it was first installed. Most likely, he only had a monitor and a keyboard, and maybe a notepad. And nothing more. If you're a business person like us, chances are your desk hasn't been this empty for long. Over time, papers, boxes, books, sticky notes and tangled wires have inevitably accumulated.

 

It may seem that a cluttered desktop is not such a big problem. However, virtual clutter can cause mental clutter that makes it difficult to concentrate. Take a break for five minutes and arrange everything neatly on your desk. Throw away unnecessary paper, fold books neatly, and bundle up cords. When you return to work, you will find that focusing is much easier.

 

3. Group similar tasks

Whenever you switch between tasks, your brain has to find the right context and information for the new task and bring that knowledge to the forefront. Sure, it only takes your brain a few seconds to do this, but if you're constantly switching between tasks and projects, your brain is forced into overdrive.

 

This can cause decreased productivity, not to mention increased fatigue at the end of the day. To avoid all this, try to group similar tasks. See if you can combine all your tasks into one project or all tasks aimed at achieving one result into one time block. This will allow you to spend less energy on context switching and focus all your attention on doing the most important work.

 The “batch” principle of work, especially in planning, helps to correctly set priorities, while maintaining the dynamism of current or future processes.

— ALEX MAROLDI, HEAD OF COMMERCIAL AT YOUTH TO THE PEOPLE

 

4. Work on small tasks between meetings or during the allotted time

You probably have several tasks a day that only take five or ten minutes to complete. This includes quickly answering a colleague's questions, correcting typos in a document, or forwarding a request form to another colleague.

 

Keep these tasks somewhere visible, such as in a work management tool, but don't start on them right away. Leave these tasks for those short periods between meetings or during the afternoons when you gradually get into the rhythm of your work. Not only will you be able to get the job done quickly—and feel satisfied—but you'll also save valuable mental energy that you can use to tackle more complex problems.

 

5. Stop multitasking

Simply put, multitasking is nothing more than a myth. While it may seem like you're doing a lot at once by trying to multitask, you're actually forcing your brain to switch between them quickly. Each time, the brain has to look for information and context for a particular task. Not only does this require more effort than doing just one thing, but it also drains your brain resources.

 

Instead, do one job at a time so you can focus on it completely. A state of concentration  occurs when you are so focused that you feel like you are in a separate “zone.” In this state, you can do more work and do it more efficiently, since all the capabilities of your brain are aimed at solving one problem.

 

6. Take breaks

It may seem strange, but breaks from work contribute to more effective time management. When we are behind schedule, we usually try to get as much work done as possible, but our brain needs time to rest and recharge. When you are overtired and overloaded at work, you can no longer do anything, much less take on the most important work.

 

If you're having a hard time taking a break, you're not alone. According to our research, 32% of knowledge workers experiencing burnout say they are unable to disconnect from the incessant workload that is fueling their burnout. Because they can't switch off, they burn out, and when they burn out, they can't switch off - it's a vicious cycle.

 

If you forget to take breaks, try scheduling them in your calendar. And when it’s time for a break according to the calendar, be sure to take it, at least just to stretch. Even though this break may seem inappropriate, you will immediately feel better.

 To avoid burnout while working remotely, find new ways to step away from your screen and take time out in this digital world. In addition, I highly recommend doing a one-minute “disco”: just get up and move vigorously.

— ALICE MELENDEZ, MARKETING MANAGER, AMERICAN MARKETING ASSOCIATION

 

Control your time

Ultimately, time management is more a state of mind than anything else. To manage your time effectively, prioritize your work to stay on top of each day. Don't let your to-do list dictate your terms and focus on wanting to get the results you want.

Before you start, make sure that you can control the work centrally in a single tool. Ready to get started?  Find out how LifeZen can help you organize your tasks and achieve the results you want.