As a hustler on the busy side, you know that your time is your most valuable resource. Sometimes, when you try to maintain the lifestyle you dream of or want, you will feel like you are juggling a million things. Still, I wonder if work-life balance is possible.
While some level of self-discipline is required, know that learning good time management skills is completely feasible. Here are 10 useful time management tips to add to your daily life.
1. Track the time of a week or month
Over the past decade, time tracking has been one of my favorite tools for better time management. If you’ve never tried this before, record how you spend each day. To track spreadsheets such as Google Sheets, you can use blank Google Docs or a sheet of paper.
I don’t have the best memory so set a timer and at the start of each hour, I write down what I did in the previous time. At the end of the day or week, look at how you spent your time and see if there is anything you want to change in the future.
I think most of us have a good idea of ​​how we spend our time. However, after time tracking, you often find that there are things that can be changed or improved. Also, when you know you’ll track your time, you’re much less likely to spend an hour on Instagram at 2pm on Monday afternoon.
2. Find out what your biggest distractions are and find ways to minimize them
We all have something that distracts us from our work. For some people, it’s social media. For others, it could be your phone, text message, or a notification of another employee. Whatever that may be, you’ve noticed that multitasking like this increases stress levels and makes it nearly impossible to tackle urgent and most important tasks.
Do your best to set clear boundaries with yourself and the people around you. This seems to keep a regular schedule, so you can always be clear about what you need to do. Also, do your best to avoid temptation. If your phone is large, try placing it in a different room while you’re working.
Remember that distraction is a smart form of procrastination. Ultimately, another way to see it is that the less time you spend on procrastinating, the less time you need to do your job. This means better work-life balance for you.
3. Find project management or planning tools to manage calendars and task lists
Confused and scattered quickly leads to worsening of time management. I like to use Google Calendar for my schedule and deadlines. You can also use Asana to create to-do lists and track ongoing projects. If you work with others, you can also rank tasks and delegate responsibilities according to deadlines and urgency.
If you prefer paper methods, an intelligent change productivity planner is the perfect option for planning and organizing. Holly also has a printable planner, The Deicination Bundle, which she uses to get a grasp of all her personal and professional responsibilities.
4. Schedule a short break all day to avoid burnout
Scheduled breaks or breaks can be much more productive by taking breaks all day. When I give myself a break, I think I can go back to my work and give my full attention in ways that I can’t when glued to my desk all day.
If possible, try to get away from your device during your break to see if you can get fresh air, read a book, or get some movement. Even if you only have a short time, this is a great way to incorporate your favorite free time activities and hobbies into the day.
5. Give yourself a buffer time between tasks and meetings
Having a buffer of time helps reduce some of the anxiety that most of us feel when we are rushing or running behind us. For example, I hate being late so I’m trying to schedule at least 15-30 minutes between meetings in case something is late. This way, when you finish something, you just need to refill your water glass for at least a few minutes, or take a breath and relax for a few minutes.
Regardless of the number of time management tips you use, if your schedule is always jam packed, it will be difficult to do quality work or make your best efforts.
6. Try time management strategies such as time blocking and Pomodoro techniques
The Time Blocking and Pomodoro techniques are probably time management tools you’ve heard of, but if you haven’t done it yet, give it a try. When it’s time to complete a task, you might be surprised at how much time this can save you.
Time blocking is where you create blocks of time to work on similar tasks. For example, a week will have blocks of time to do admin work, such as answering emails and invoices, completing client work, or doing social media and marketing. Of course, this will depend on the type of work you work with. The advantage is that you can focus on a specific task rather than multitasking or switching back and forth from task to task.
The Pomodoro technique is where you set a timer for a specific time, such as 20-45 minutes. After that, when the timer goes off, you will take a short break and do another Pomodoro round. This proved to be an effective time management strategy to pass the day more quickly. This is especially useful if you’re working on something you don’t want to do or a big project that can take several hours.
7. Eat that frog and make the most of your mornings
If you have the greatest energy in the first few hours of the morning, make the most of that time. You’ve probably heard of Brian Tracy’s famous productivity book Eat that frogbased on Mark Twain’s quote, he talks about completing your most challenging task first. You can also set goals at the day or the beginning of the week to allow you to measure what success looks like.
To set goals, you can always refer to Smart Goal methods that require that the goals be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-of-day.
8. Try working with other experts
Participating in collaboration sessions with other experts has brought my productivity a marvel. This includes a specific website called Focusmate, where you can serve as people and colleagues and colleagues around the world. The free version receives three coworking sessions per week.
It may seem strange at first, but coworking forces you to show up when you commit. Then you check in with others, share your session goals, and then both work independently. Finally, check in again and share how things went.
We’ve started working on this article using a collaboration session! If most of your work is done independently and you feel lonely, coworking is also great.
9. Use reminders to set clear time limits
Using reminders to set time limits can help you focus yourself. If you were lying down and had multiple jobs or projects, you probably felt that you overwhelmed more times than you could count.
Reminders can help with deadlines, but you can also make them into space to get back on track on days, weeks and months.
You can also set a clear time limit yourself. Let’s say you’re writing an article or completing a task. You can give yourself a set time, perhaps an hour or two, to complete the task. When there is a deadline like this, it helps you stay focused and avoid distractions.
10. Think about habits that will help you achieve your long-term goals
Adding positive habits to both your work and your personal life will save you a lot of time. Consider this: When something becomes a habit, it creates a change of behavior and automatically executes the habit without thinking about it. Think about all areas of your life and ask yourself about habits that will make the rest of your life easier.
As a side hustler, some of the essentials to me are:
- I’ll go to bed at 10pm
- Spend at least 15 minutes each day learning something new
- Eating a healthy diet of protein and vegetables
- Journaling or writing to organize my ideas
First, don’t try to change your entire life. Instead, try one new habit for a week, a month. Then try adding another habit and then another.
Summary of time management tips
You always know that a slow, stable approach is the way to go, especially in busy lives and multiple jobs and projects. Reread the above list of tips and think about which one works.
Don’t forget that our lives are fluid and constantly changing. Just because certain time management tips have worked for you in the past doesn’t mean you have to stick with them today.
Use trial and error to see what works for you. The goal of time management is not to achieve more than anyone you know. Instead, it’s about creating the time and energy of tasks and projects that make the most sense to you.