How to manage time wisely– 7 time management skills that will help you get more done in your day
Time. There’s never enough. We all have the same 24 hours each day and many of us struggle to find time to do what we need to do. As summer winds down I thought it was the perfect time to talk about time management and how to use time wisely.
Life is busy for many, many people. Frankly, most of us don’t have time to waste. We want to make the most of our days. When we are effective at time management we are productive. We get more done.
While you may still not be able to get through your to-do list each day, wouldn’t it be great if you could at least check more off of it?
Time management is something I’m still learning. However, each year I seem to get a little better it. I’ve learned some secrets and tips along the way, and today I want to share them with you.
Here at our house we’ve been enjoying the “lazy” days of summer. Of course, even in summer, when you have three kids, a homestead, a blog, and other commitments it sometimes doesn’t feel very “lazy,” but it is a little slower than the other times of the year.
However, September is only a month away. That’s when school starts here in Canada. Along with school is extra-curriculars, and other programs at our church that start up again, along with just a busier schedule overall.
So, August is when I start thinking about that. It’s when I sit down and write out what I want my year to look like. It’s when I make goals. It’s when I plan for this year to be better than the last with time management.
But, it doesn’t need to be the beginning of the school year, or the beginning of the new year (in January) for you to make a new plan to use your time effectively. Better time management is something you can implement any time of the year.
Here’s the thing about effective time management. When we make better use of our time it leaves us with more time to do what we want which could be:
Time with our family
Picking up a hobby
Exercising
Spending time with friends
Make some money on the side
Not only that, but better time management can help you financially. When we are struggling with managing our time, it’s easier to spend more money to make our lives easier. For example, if you are running around doing errands, and you haven’t planned for dinner, and you feel you’ve run out of time to go home and make something with the frozen meat in your freezer that you forgot to defrost, it might be easier to hit the drive thru.
Not only that, if we don’t manage our time well, we end up driving more, and wasting more gas. Managing your time when you are running errands can mean creating a route where you aren’t backtracking and using more gas.
When you manage your time well, you also make time to budget properly. You don’t push it aside until you have more time which never seems to come.
Time management can also help you with your finances because if you manage your time well in your work, especially if you are self-employed, you may be capable of making more money if you waste less time and use the time you do have to be extremely focused and get a lot done.
So, how that we know what lack of time management does to us, let’s talk about HOW to effectively manage our time better.
HOW TO MANAGE TIME WISELY
Stop spending too much time on social media.
Okay, I’m going to get the most painful one out of the way. So many of us are guilty of scrolling way too much on Facebook, Instagram, and whatever other social media platforms we use.
We tell ourselves we are only going to spend a few minutes on it, then before we know it we’ve been sucked in and an hour has flown by.
But how can we reduce the temptation? Well, there’s an app for that. 🙂 You can use an app such as Flipd or In the Moment.
to limit your time. These apps prevent you from using social media between whatever times you plug into the program. You won’t be able to log on to it. So, let’s say you want to stay focused from Monday to Friday during the day, you can plug in 9-5, and you won’t be able to log on.
You can also remove the Facebook app from your phone so that you have to log in to your laptop to use it. The same goes for Messenger if you are distracted by chatting with people when you need to get stuff done.
And, if you really want to reset some bad social media habits, consider taking a break from social media for a while. I have done this from time to time and it always helps.
Social media is a great tool. It isn’t a bad thing. It only becomes a bad thing in our life when we let it take over. Just like most things, everything in moderation, right?
Make up a schedule.
You’ll hear me say it again and again on this blog, but without a plan you are bound to fail. We can wish and hope for change in our life, but if we don’t have a plan that we can implement, we struggle to work towards changing our old habits.
Making up a schedule of how you want your days to look like will go a long way in helping you be productive. I personally like the block schedule which gives me so much time to work on one project, chore, or activity and when the time is up I move on to the next thing whether I am done or not on my current thing I am working on.
You can check out the daily schedule template I use at the bottom of this post.
Write a to-do list.
Write a list everyday with what you want to get done. I find it’s best to write your list the night before, when you are getting ready for bed. That way when you wake up the next morning you know exactly what you need to get done and you don’t feel lost and waste time trying to figure out how you want your day to look like. You also avoid missing something you need done.
Silence your phone.
One of my biggest struggles with time management is stopping what I am doing to respond to a message I receive, whether it be a text or through a messenger app. We live in a world where we think that we have to respond right away to every message and/or email we get. However, most messages can wait a few hours.
Keep your phone on silent or turn it off when you need to focus and get some serious work done. The messages will still be waiting for you when you are done and you will be able to respond then.
Ditch the multitasking.
Women especially are known for their amazing multitasking skills. It’s kind of like our claim to fame. Except that, I’m not sure we are as great at it as we think we are. You see, when we multitask we tend to give 10% here, 10% there, 10% somewhere else, instead of giving 100% to one thing. We get distracted and instead of 5 different things getting done, we actually don’t get anything done! Or at least, not as much as we’d like.
Work on one thing at a time. You’ll feel a sense of accomplishment of completing what you need to, and your stress level will go down because you won’t feel like you have 15 unfinished things going on at the same time.
Don’t give up sleep to make more time.
I get it. I’ve been there. So much on my to-do list that the only thing that it feels like I can remove to make more time is sleep. However, that never ends well.
We don’t really do our best work when we are exhausted. Not only that, but we become more at risk of getting sick when we don’t get enough sleep or take care of ourselves in general. If there’s anything that stops us from being productive, it’s getting sick. Our bodies need proper rest so that we can do what we need to do each day.
Along with that, in general I would say that taking better care of ourselves, diet and exercise wise helps us be more productive too and manage our time more effectively. It’s easier to get things done when we feel good and we feel energetic, and what we put into our bodies affect the way we feel.
Consider letting some things go.
Time management is crucial to getting more done, however, sometimes we really just have too much in our schedule and it’s time to make some changes. Our family is in that place right now where we are looking at everything on our plate and deciding what we need to let go. We are adamant that something needs to go and while we are still trying to decide what that is, we know some changes need to be made.
Sometimes it’s time to take something our of your life. That can be difficult when our life is filled with so many good things. Getting rid of something from your schedule or your life doesn’t necessarily mean that what you were giving your time to wasn’t good, but even too many good things becomes a problem in our life.
It doesn’t mean you can’t pick it back up later. For everything there is a season and sometimes we add things into our lives in the wrong season. We all do it from time to time so you don’t need to feel like you are a quitter or that you failed. Actually, it can be a very wise thing to decide that now just wasn’t the right time for that particular thing and that you can try again later if you so desire.
It’s okay to say no to even good opportunities. You are only one person. You can only do so much. As much as we don’t like to admit it, none of us are superwoman.
EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT ALLOWS YOU TO ENJOY YOUR LIFE MORE
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When we are effectively managing our time, we can enjoy our lives more because we aren’t always stressed about what needs to be done and how we are always, always behind.
Sometimes we need some tools to help us with time management. If you need a little guidance in time management and productivity, consider trying out the courses called 4 Weeks to a More Productive Life, or Make Over your Mornings by Crystal Paine. Crystal Paine is amazing at time management! She is known for getting a lot done in a day, and has accomplished a lot in her life partly due to her time management skills. So be sure to check out her courses if you need some help.
The last tool I’ll mention is my daily schedule printable pack that you can find in the printables shop of my blog.
Changing your habits when it comes to how you use your time will allow you to be more productive and feel less stressed.