Do you often complain about lack of time? Would you like to recover precious minutes and occupy them according to your needs? If you practice, you can have more free time than you ever thought.
Proper time management helps you live better.
We all have the same number of hours, but there are some people who manage to do a lot of things during the day, while others manage to accomplish only a small part of their goals. They always live in a rush and at the end of the day they even feel guilty for not doing what they should have done.
1 - Plan your goals (to do list)
One of the most effective techniques is the so-called "To do list - the to do list". It will take you five minutes in the morning to write a list of the actions you want to do during the day
What are the benefits?
you will have a work schedule with well-defined times
you can "underline" the most important commitments
you avoid wasting mental energy to remember that you have to do the shopping, pay a bill, etc. etc.
you will be able to easily ask yourself what tasks to do during the day
you will be able to notice your results and reward the goals achieved
To write the "to do list" you can use a word processor, online applications or directly on a sheet of paper (To do list). Start now, write the list, plan your goals.
2 - Choose priorities
Writing a to-do list is a good start. If you are like most of all of us, the list may contain more tasks than you can get in a day.
So what needs to be done?
You have to learn how to set priorities, the most important tasks (To do list). Focus on immediate deadlines and identify what is really needed, without wasting precious time.
Choose the most important tasks, decide your priorities
3 - Stop procrastinating
Postponing to-dos is one of the main reasons people end up having no time for themselves. A bit of procrastination is inevitable, it may happen that you have to postpone some commitments on your list, but when you find yourself postponing everything you have a big problem with time management.
Sometimes you postpone:
because you don't know where to start
you have unclear goals
because you are afraid of failing
And you say to yourself: “Ah, I'll do it tomorrow”. Meanwhile, you get distracted with "useless" activities.
What is the solution?
start without waiting for conditions to be perfect
read carefully the list of "things to do"
define your goals well
ask yourself immediately how you are using the hours of your day
avoid distractions that lead you to procrastinate
Commit to managing your time, stop putting it off and you will get more satisfaction.
4 - Divide the work into phases
When you work without a break for several hours, it is normal that you are not very concentrated. A good technique is to divide the work into small portions of 45 minutes or one hour. Setting an action time helps you stay focused, work more effectively and buy time.
How many times has it happened to you that you found yourself a few hours from a deadline and you started working more carefully? And then you said to yourself: "I like doing everything the last minute!".
This happens because when you have a deadline to meet, a specific time, your mind takes out the resources necessary to achieve the goal. Give it a try, divide your work into small 45-minute steps and follow each result step by step. You will see that with a little practice you will be more satisfied with your goals achieved.
5 - Record your time
If you want to improve more and more, you should try to have a log of the actions performed during the day. The technique may seem boring, but it is effective in identifying wasted time.
Take a sheet of paper or use your computer, a spreadsheet (Excel ed) and describe in detail the actions of the day:
Example:
from 09:30 to 10:00 - reading e-mail
from 10:00 to 10:30 - meeting
from 10:30 to 10:45 - phone call
from 10:45 to 11:00 - reading websites
Try writing the log for a couple of days, keep track of your time and point out any problems. Recognizing your time as "wastes" is the first step in managing it better.
