Productivity Guide: Time Management Strategies That Work

Time management is one of the greatest challenges today. With so many tasks, deadlines, and endless assignments, employees and students alike can barely find time to finish what they started. Add intensive fatigue to this cocktail, and you got yourself a depression mix.

When people don’t manage their time right, they don’t perform at their maximum productivity peak. When we are not productive enough, we might work more than we’d like to. Eight hours of work turn into 12 and we end up zombies along the way.

Here’s the key secret: manage your time right. If you can handle that, you can handle anything. Here’s a strategy guide that you might want to check out.

Time Management Strategies That Actually Work

1. Don’t strive for perfection

Understand that you don’t need to reach perfection every single day, nor never. Accept that you can make mistakes and give yourself permission to be wrong. Taking all the precautions you can think of to avoid a certain outcome won’t do the job. You’ll continue to be stressed out about everything. In a nutshell, you’ll become a control freak.

Take a long breath. Now take a moment to realize that you cannot control everything in your life. Perfection is boring. You are allowed to make mistakes. It’s okay to fail. This is how you learn. Embrace yourself now. You got this.

2. Plan your days out

Not striving for perfection does not mean that you shouldn’t put a serious effort to organize your days. Figure out each day’s when, who, what, and where. WHYs are also important. Planning your time slots out and figuring out a daily schedule is important. If plans change, go along with it. The more relaxed you are, the easier your plans will unfold.

3. Prioritize!

Take time to prioritize each day, but first – identify your priorities. Keep a journal and write down all the tasks that you must complete by the end of the day. Complete the most challenging (or time-consuming) ones first. Then, disperse the rest of your workload accordingly. Leave time for breaks to avoid burning yourself out. This is the only way in which you’ll be able to stay productive throughout the day. Prioritization is key.

4. Don’t multitask

Whoever still believes in multitasking is outdated. Research has long proven that multitasking lowers people’s comprehension levels and intelligence. To stay effective in your work and focused, you must concentrate on each task at a time. Distributing your attention in ten directions will not be of any help. You’ll end up less focused on each one of these tasks – and so your productivity will suffer. If you take baby steps, you’ll soon realize that multitasking is nothing but a distraction.

5. Delegate

Delegate your work whenever you can. This allows you to focus on your most urgent tasks and thus, can keep you on top of your assignments. Hire an essay writing website to do writing for your blog, consult with a financial company to create a budget, etc. You don’t have to do everything. Share the load with your team and work together on a solution.

6. Find your productive times

Work smart, not hard. The key to doing that is finding your most productive times of the day. Some individuals work best at night while others enjoy working early mornings. Make sure you know yourself well enough to figure out when your productivity peak occurs.

When can you focus best on your tasks? When are you the most productive? Answer these questions to cut your work time in half. By using this technique, you’ll be able to accomplish more in less time. This is another crucial step in becoming a time-management expert.

7. Let go of distractions

Distractions are literally everywhere. Social media is a distraction. Co-workers are a distraction. Your smartphone is a distraction. Unnecessary e-mails are a distraction. Your TV is a distraction.

There are just SO MANY distractions out there. While it’s true that you cannot always avoid them, it’s best that you bring them to a minimum if you want to manage your time right.

Put your phone on silent, turn off the TV, turn off notifications for your unnecessary e-mails, turn off social media. Do everything that’s necessary to create a calm and work-friendly environment for yourself, even if that means genuinely communicating with your co-workers and asking them to not distract you from your work.

8. Learn how to say ‘no’

Last but not least, learn how to say ‘no’ when the situation requires you to. A night out with friends before working on a big project the next day? NO. Taking your kids to the mall instead of attending a seminar? NO. Focusing on other people’s problems instead of fixing your own? NO!

Get Back Your Time Today With These Time Management Strategies!

Pick some of these time management strategies to put yourself back on track. Learn how to prioritize, let go of distractions, and forget about perfection. Try them out and let us know if they work for you.

Written By Charlie Svensson

Charlie is a fast, engaging freelance writer at a top essay writing service. He is skilled in content writing and blogging. The favorite topics of his posts are education, social media, marketing, SEO, motivation blogging and self-growth. Excellent adaptability of skills to reach diverse audiences.