How To Become A Productive And Thriving Professional: 5 Ways To Master Time Management

Time management does not mean managing time, rather it means managing yourself. Well, we have a 24 hours time span every day, but how we will use the time depends entirely on us. Time management can help you to use the time precisely and handle your work within your assigned
time. You need to plan the work first, then track and manage your work.

Meetings, estimations, planning, communication, and finishing the work, these everything seems a little confusing? Do you need to finish all the tasks during a 9-5 working hour? Well, it seems completely impossible. But with proper planning and time management, you can easily finish
your work before the deadline.

Time Management Techniques: 5 Ways

When there are lots of techniques of time management floating on the internet, we have come up with five time management techniques.

1. Keep A To-Do List

Well, making a to-do list is one of the most important and powerful ways while you are trying to manage your time. It can easily make you more productive and help you to complete your most important tasks quickly.

If you make a list of tasks then it will help you be more determined. Your mind will be focused on the job primarily and all outside tasks will fall into the second category. If your mind wanders a lot then a quick glance on your to-do list will allow you to take the mind on track again. You can visualise what you want to achieve.

While making a to-do list, check the list of tasks you need to perform. Then delete or delegate or do it according to your priorities.

• Delete: There are some works that we often write on the to-do list but they do not need to be done in the first place in a given schedule. You do not have to write that task on your list while you are trying time management.
• Delegate: For an important task, consider taking expert advice then start it. If you think someone can do it better than you, consult them.
• Do: Write the tasks that you need to do right now on the top of the list.

You can make a diary if you want, you can use online apps as well. Go for a to-do list app that will help you to organize and will have no shortage of features.

2. Rank Your Task

Well if writing a to-do list is the first step of time management then ranking your tasks is the next. Always remember that prioritising the tasks can make your tasks easily accomplishable. Ranking your tasks help you to prioritise what's most important to you therefore, it helps you in time management.

Sometimes when the deadline comes close, we often feel pressured. Ranking your task according to its importance can help you to ease a bit. Prioritizing a task can actually help you in time management.

Rank your tasks in Rock, Pebbles, and sand way.

• Rock: The works that are most important and will require more time.
• Pebbles: Tasks or projects that are important but not so crucial.
• Sand: Tasks that are small, require less time but very significant.

Start your world with these ‘Sand’ tasks. Then go for the ‘Rock’ and then finish your day with ‘Pebbles’.

You can find many apps where you will list your tasks and as well as prioritize them according to your needs. These apps can also help you to monitor tasks as you go along.

3. Manage Distraction

Well though we do not want to get distracted, we often end up scrolling social media or playing candy crush. While you are a noob at time management you need to manage your distractions. Sitting down for
some time and getting things done is tougher than you actually think.

Do you know that it needs at least 23 minutes to refocus after you get interrupted?

Moreover, you need to manage your distractions and then you can focus on time management. There are some type of distractions that we do not even consider like emails, meetings and slacks.

To identify and manage your distractions get an activity app. These activity apps can automatically record the time that you are spending on anything. You can even use an app that can put restrictions on social media or websites that can waste your time.

4. Set Your Time

Making a structured schedule is crucial while you are trying time management. While you have set a time then you have enough span
to complete your work and face a healthy pressure. Time schedule is one of the most fruitful ways to increase your productivity. Moreover, it helps prevent one task from taking up the entire day and helps you in multitasking.

Though for some people multitasking is not at all beneficial. Almost all people become more focused and productive if they concentrate on one thing at a time. If you block your time into separate work schedules then you can divide your attention as well. Therefore, set a small time for work like replying to emails, scheduling and returning calls and interviews, have a little chat and many more.

You can try apps that use a calendar tool and schedule your time one week in advance. With this app, you can also track the work that you have actually done. Therefore, you can also optimise your future schedules.

5. Track Your Time

Well, apparently you can not do time to manage without understanding how you are spending your time. Therefore, you need to track your time first. Tracking can easily provide self-awareness and also help you to make effective changes in your daily routine. Moreover, you can also understand much about your hidden time drains. It can also highlight the inefficient process and help to restore your patter of productivity.

Keep daily summaries of your work, thus you can discover where you did well, and how can you improve your efficiency. At the end of each day check the list of works you have completed and thus you can be motivated for your next day's schedule as well.

Well to understand how you are spending your time you can use some automatic time tracking apps. These apps will record how you are spending your time and create a log in your private timeline. You will not
even have to start or stop it. It will automatically run on the background when you will be getting on your daily schedule.

Conclusion

Always remember when you are trying to be productive as well as want to manage time, you need to balance your life. A healthy diet, a good night's sleep, and exercise will help you to be more focused and energetic. Thus you will get the stamina you need to make your day countable.

We often feel that work is more important and we can easily catch up on sleep, but that is not true. Never skip your comfort. It will make you feel dull and sleepy. Therefore just try to be focused on time management and you will easily complete your tasks within the schedule.