Do you find yourself slaving away, day after day, but feel you’re not making a lot of progress? Are you dreading your next deadline, big family obligation or social event because you can’t find the time to get everything done when you need to?
Relax. Captain Plan-It is here. 馃檪
Time management is a great tool that not only will help you be more productive, but free up time you didn’t know you had so you can do the things that add joy and value to your life.
Easier said that done? Maybe. Just check out my favorite tips below and see which ones聽 you can master.
My favorite聽time management tips
In no particular order, here are my top 14 time management tips:
1. Why are you doing what you’re doing?聽
If you’re just doing stuff to stay busy, you’re going nowhere — fast. Know where you want to be down the road and let time management be your roadmap on how to get there. Set goals and use those goals to create your task lists. Every day. If you put off a task more than 3 days, ask yourself why.
2. The聽Pareto Principle
From a time management perspective, this principle means we should focus 80% of our efforts on the 20% of our activities that brings us real results.
3. Multitasking sucks
Research has shown that multitasking lowers your effective IQ by 10 points, or as much as if you’d smoke a joint of pot. You get that back, of course, but do you have any IQ points to lose, even short term?
Other research indicates that you can “dual task” — do 2 things at the same time — without damaging your effectiveness but these tasks must be of equal importance.
Switching back and forth between multiple tasks always creates a “Gee, what was I doing?” lag time of about 23 minutes that none of us can afford to lose.
4. Time-blocking is essential
This was one of the toughest things for me to learn after leaving my corporate gig to run my own business. I had to assign specific blocks of time to do all the tasks that needed to be done; otherwise, I was just churning away at busy work.
If you are a business owner also, then one of the specific blocks of time has to be devoted to business building. You always need to spend time growing and improving your business. Time-blocking will help you focus on being busy doing the right things.
5. Take control of your distractions
If you want to get things done, you need to control your distractions — and our electronic devices are among the biggest (more on other distractions later).聽Just because your phone rings doesn’t mean you have to answer it. Heresy, right?
Control your devices by allotting a certain time of day, for a certain amount of time, to return calls, check texts and so forth. You will not miss anything, I promise. And best of all, you’ll get important stuff done.
6.聽Email is a productivity killer
Turn off your email notifications. No little bell or buzzer, and no little icon on the bottom of your screen. Why? Refer to “multitasking sucks.”
In fact, close your email program entirely except for 3 pre-determined times during the day: (1) Mid-morning; (2) right after lunch; and (3) near the close of business for the day.
Here’s why: Every time you open your email, you are giving up control of your day. You are allowing other people’s wishes and聽issues come before yours.
Yes, 聽there will be occasions when you’re waiting for an important email and you have to keep your inbox open to get to it as quickly as possible. But how often, really, is that the case? And whatever you do, don’t keep refreshing it every few seconds to see if that all-important missive has arrived.
Don’t give up your power to your inbox.
7. Close your tabs 聽
Right now, I have 2 browser聽tabs聽open — my online timer (which would still be ticking away if I closed it) and my content management system so I can write this blog.聽If you’ve got more than 3 open at one time, be sure they are necessary. And if one of them is social media…you know, just in case something funny pops up…Shut. It. Down.
8. Schedule your聽important tasks during high-productivity times聽
It doesn’t matter when you stagger out of bed: Research has shown that you are most productive for 2.5 hours beginning about 2 hours after you wake up. So even if you get up at noon (what that’s like?), your most productive time will be between 2-4:30 p.m. Don’t squander it!
9. Make good use of your “down” time
Down time is those bits and snatches of time that show up unexpectedly every day: When you are on hold, sitting in the doctor’s office waiting to be directed to yet another room where you will sit for another 20 minutes, waiting in the parking lot to pick up your kid from soccer and so on.
Use that time wisely: If you can’t complete an entire project, take those few minutes to do something. Anything.
10. Create a list of quickie tasks
This is related to the previous tip, but goes beyond that. On occasion, we’ll reach a point where the brain stops functioning at its optimum level but we can’t just throw up our hands and walk away.聽 
When you get stuck, pull out your handy-dandy list of 5-minute projects and get them done. Could be filing papers, cleaning your inbox — whatever. Be sure to set a timer so you don’t go over your allotted time. There are 2 bonus points for this: You get some piddly tasks off your plate and you’ll come back to your original project with a fresh set of eyes.
11. Rushing makes you stupid
You make more mistakes and your creativity goes in the toilet when you hurry. Slow down. You’ll get more quality work done if you do and you’ll do it faster, even at a slower speed, as strange as that sounds.
Remember this: If you can’t find the time to do it right the first time, how will you find the time to do it over?
12. Challenge yourself
Give yourself a tight deadline — not out of reach, but something that gives you a little competitive edge over the task. This works especially well when you’re doing things you hate but still have to complete.聽And when you’ve finished that task, give yourself a treat. You deserve it!
13. “But I WANNA quit!”聽
Yep. Been there. When you get to the stage where you want to throw the computer off a tall building, tell yourself, “Just 5 more.” 5 more pages, 5 more minutes, 5 more anythings. You can do it.
14. Give yourself a break
Could be a real vacation. Could be 5 minutes of standing outside and admiring聽the clouds or playing with the cats or whatever the heck you want. It’s vital to your mental, emotional and physical health take a break.
Never work more than 90 minutes without taking a break; most experts recommend taking 10 minutes off every hour.聽 You’ll be glad you did.
What’s the most valuable time management lesson you’ve learned? Please share in the comments.