Take back control over your schedule and focus on what matters most.
Do you often find yourself in the trap where there are never enough hours in the day? Each one of us has likely been into situations like when we walk away with a “busy’ badge because time management is becoming one of the hardest jobs for everyone.
As a manager, are you able to give time to help your team each day? Can you adjust to the things when something urgent comes up or you go out of senses?
If not, you probably need some useful time management hacks that you can use right away to achieve your goals.
Why is time management important?
Time management is all about bringing the joy back to your life. And experiencing every bit of joy that you deserve.
The phrase “time and tide waits for none” explicitly explains the importance of time to succeed in all aspects of life. How you value your time management dictates the quality of your life. Particularly, for project managers, it is important to possess these skills to be successful. The prime importance of time management is to have positive aspects in your life, that includes:
- You feel more fulfilled
- You have more energy
- You achieve what you want faster
- You are more in control
- You enjoy your life more
Understanding the need and importance of time management, you need to become more efficient with organizing your work so you not feel overwhelmed.
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How managers organize their time
1. They have an ideal morning routine
Starting a morning routine is not a piece of cake. It involves several trial and error which greatly affects your life. Routine means a sequence of actions that you do repeatedly. Tony Robbins also uses a morning routine, to prepare him for a productive day. High performers find good routines for themselves and stick to them.
As managers have a lot on their plate, they should design their morning habits to help start the day right off.
- Rise early to get the rest of the day under control.
- Visualize the good things that will come to you for the day, while detaching yourself from the negative self-talk.
- Get some exercise to increase your overall energy levels to fight depression and anxiety.
- Consume the best food possible that includes: good carbs and fiber plus some protein.
With a good morning routine, you will be prepared to face anything that comes to your way.
2. They categorize their priorities
All the projects you are working on along with your team need clear priorities. Take time to sit down, know how to set priorities and categorize your priorities according to the available time. One of the biggest challenges for project managers is to have the right kind of project insight to manage the team’s workload. It becomes a problem when everything feels like important and you have to make categories of the tasks according to their priorities.
So, here’s what you can do:
- Know what is important and what is not
- Get organized
- Delegate well
- Be flexible and adaptable
So, on the whole, knowing how to prioritize work will affect the success of your project by time management and your role as a manager.
3. They use a to-do list in the right way
To-do list: a list of all the tasks you plan to accomplish for the day ㅡ a simple concept to be much better organized. Keeping a properly structured to-do list the evening or the night before will make it easy for you to focus your time on important activities. Everything that you add to your to-do list should be very important on what you need to do. As you complete the tasks, tick-off the items from your list and you will more powerful.
Pro tip: ProofHub you can create an unlimited number of tasks in your task list, and organize your task list.
4. They eliminate distractions
Sometimes the world around us makes it difficult to maintain the focus. In this age of constant distraction, managing your mind from wandering is equally important when it comes to managing your time. Apart from scheduling your lives to every second, the idea of keeping distractions from coming in should also be looked upon.
Make it a ritual to set boundaries for the day to structure your time. Have a plan for the day to eliminate distractions to focus properly on the quality of your work.
5. They work smarter, not harder
The bitter reality is everyone has 24 hours in a day with each hour defined conveniently for our job, relationships, family, personal life and hustle and bustle. But the successful people are those who work smarter in these hours that keep them stay afloat.
Nobody can be efficient with their time if they do not think before taking any actions. Set a plan and strategy for your workday on a work tracking software, take a look at your daily tasks, control your habits to improve time management skills and don’t let your day control you.
6. They create time estimates for more productivity
Are you using an online time management tool? If you are using a dedicated time management software, you can log your time estimates to track how you spend your time working on different tasks. With accurate time estimation, you will know how long your project will take and if it will be delivered on time. With a time tracking tool, you get to make better time estimates for all tasks to manage the time efficiently.
7. They break big projects into small tasks
Project managers often feel demoralized seeing large projects before they even begin working on it. They find it pretty difficult to consume to work on large projects and delegate it to the team. But the best way out to conquer large projects is to break down the large projects into small components, to make it doable. By this, you can possibly get everything done on time as time tracking online is much simpler for smaller tasks.
8. They commit to work-life balance
How do you maintain a well-balanced life to master your life? You definitely need to delegate your personal and professional time. While it is important to manage time, you will have to restructure your life around your strength and weakness. Here’s what you should do:
- Balance your personal and professional goals
- Become the master of estimating time by making timesheet
- Set boundaries to be more balanced
So, create a work-life balance to get the job done right leading to a change in how your work day looks like.
9. They beat procrastination
Are you always procrastinating yourself all the time? Addressing time management and procrastination is a simple act of self- care. If you are struggling with managing time well, a small change in avoiding procrastination can be a lot benefit for delivering your projects on deadline.
Create a to-do list and track your time spent on a free time tracker software on each task to make it easier for you to overcome procrastination. This act of self-management can lead to a more productive life.
MANAGE YOUR TIME
Author Alan Lakein wrote, “Time = life; therefore, waste your time and waste your life, or master your time and master your life.” Schedule how you want to spend your time for the perfect day every day, because when it’s gone you will never get it back.
