4 Tips for Managing Your Time

A common theme that comes up time and time again when coaching my clients or speaking with Executives is time management. It seems everyone feels like there is too much work to get done and never enough time. No doubt time management is one of the most rewarding skills a person can master. In this blog post, I share 4 tips to help you stay focused and make the most of your day.

1. Keep track 

Before you can organize your day, you need to understand how you're actually spending your time. Draw up a list of all your regular activities and allocate time per week for these tasks. This list should be as exhaustive as possible. For example, make sure to include activities like coffee breaks or reading the news. 

2. Establish a priority 

We often talk about our priorities as plural, but research suggests that this can sometimes be unproductive! It turns out that the brain isn't really equipped to handle several jobs at the same time, so it’s best to focus one-by-one. Take a look at your to-do list and ask yourself what should be prioritized first. Dedicate your focus to this single task before moving onto the next. 

3. Organize activities by themes

Achieving what’s important is about moving through one activity at a time in order of priority. Working on similar tasks after each other can sometimes be more efficient because there is less time needed to refocus between activities. Therefore, it may be useful to create themed days where you group together similar activities. For example, you could focus on correspondence on Mondays, meetings on Tuesdays, creative projects on Wednesdays and so on. If you can't devote an entire day to just one task, bundle similar tasks together to keep your mind focused.  

4. Build in buffers

Finally, one of the more enjoyable time management tips is to make breaks a part of your day. When you finish a task, give yourself time to breathe. Take mini breaks to recharge, whether that be a short walk, eat a snack, or have a conversation with your colleague or friend. 

Allowing rest time between activities will not only keep your stress levels regulated; it has been shown to improve your productivity! Buffers between tasks also help you budget some time for unavoidable interruptions that inevitably pop up, or when tasks take longer than expected. Having this “extra” time added into your schedule can therefore be a great way of reducing stress. 

Creating specific habits around how we spend our time is critical for improving time management. How could the 4 tips from this article be applied to the structure of your workday? And remember, coaching is the perfect place for exploring what strategies could work best for you.