“I don’t have time for time management.”
I hear this excuse often from those who aren’t taking control of their time and life.
Instead, they use the “too busy” excuse to put off getting organized and being more productive in their daily activities.
If this is you, today I have 10 tiny time management tips that you can fit into your too busy day.
Too Little Time for Time Management?
I don’t buy the “I don’t have time for time management” excuse.
Time management doesn’t (and shouldn’t be) a time intensive effort.
“Time management should save time, not take time.” (Tweet this Quote)
By investing in your time management skills you should actually have more time in your day. And the best time management habits fade into the background and become part of your daily routine.
Below are 10 tiny time management tips. Bite-sized if you will.
Each are small, and each are immediately usable in your daily activities.
So, if you don’t have time for time management…
Here are 10 Tiny Time Management Tips:
- Plan Your Day – Spend 10 minutes planning your day each morning. (Set a timer if you must…) These few minutes can save you hours of misfortune and wasted effort. They can prevent missed opportunities, last-minute scrambles, and life stress.
- Make Your TODAY List – Each day, take your todo list and highlight the “Top 5 Tasks” that you must get done today. This is your TODAY List. You will get these tasks done first and no matter what life throws at you today.
- Get up 30 Minutes Early – You can be an early bird. Getting up 30 minutes earlier will let you be ahead of the day. Whether that means getting a task done early, getting out the door on time, or even beating the morning commute.
- Be Early to Appointments – When it comes to meetings and appointments, “10 Minutes Early is on Time.” Leave for your appointments with enough time to be comfortably early. You will avoid being the “always late” one, and in the few minutes ahead of the meeting you can relax or get caught up.
- Have a Notebook – This is the tool most often missing from people’s time management system. Whether on paper or on your phone via something like Evernote, have a place to capture important information and notes. Avoid using Post-Its and the random scraps of paper.
- Rule Your Phone – Stop letting your phone rule your life. It is there for your convenience, not that of others. Answer it only when it is convenient. Check it only when you need something. Turn off the chimes and notifications.
- Stay Out of Your Inbox – Email is not your job. Stay out of your inbox except for a few designated times each day. Instead, concentrate on your priorities, and your email will still be there when you check back.
- Clean Your Desk – Take 5 minutes and clean up even a few things on your desk. A clean workspace not only lets you get more done, but it reduces stress. Don’t wait until cleaning your workspace becomes an all day affair, do it in small increments every day.
- Take a Break – To be more productive, you actually have to rest every once in a while. A five-minute break can reset your mind and rejuvenate your energy level. Go outside, walk around the building, or just take a few deep breaths of peace.
- Don’t Waste Time Complaining – When you catch yourself complaining or being negative… STOP. Instead of wasting your breath and time, do something productive with that time.
Tiny Productivity Tips
The truth is that you do have time to be more productive.
Time management skills will help you get more done with less effort.
Practice these 10 tiny tips and have more time in your day.
Question: What are you best tiny time management tips? Share yours below. You can leave a comment by clicking here.
Thanks for a great post, Craig.
I really like the part where you are saying you don`t buy the “I don`t have time for time management” excuse.
The only way to get more time, is to make more time and prioritize.
My best tiny time management tips are:
1. An easy temporarily to do list
When I am in a hurry, I write notes on my phone, and I transfer those notes to my master to do list at the end of the day.
2. A master to do list
I use a excel spread sheet (which is my master to do list) – saved in dropbox (so I can access it from anywhere).
I Prioritize the tasks using the ABCDE method:
A :Tasks I must do – serious consequences if it doesn`t get done
B: Tasks I should do – mild consequences if it doesn`t get done
C: Tasks I could do – no consequences if it doesn`t get done
D: Tasks I delegate
E: Tasks I never do
Here is the kicker: you never do a B task before you have done alle the A tasks, and you never do a C task before you have done all the B tasks, etc.
Apply the 80/20 rule: you need to identify each day, which 20% of the tasks on your to do list will give you 80 % of the results.
My mantra is to help people work smarter, not harder – so they can achieve more by doing less.
Tor Refsland
Thanks Magne….I love your tips too and will try out the ‘master to do list’ in excel and save in dropbox. Thanks again Craig for another great article!
Thanks Nina.
The Master to do list method combined with the easy temporarily to do list, has doubled my output and cut my work load in half – so basically a 4x multiplier of my total productivity.
Excuse me for asking, Nina, but it is your name from nordic ancestors? 🙂
Anyway, greetings from Norway.
Tor Refsland
haha! yes…well….family is from Finland 🙂
I look forward to creating this list tomorrow! thanks for the tips!
Thanks, Nina! 🙂
You might want to see this new post of todo lists… too.. 🙂
http://timemanagementninja.com/2014/11/why-you-should-keep-only-one-todo-list/
Tor, thanks for the tips.
Definitely important to do those 20% tasks! 🙂
Craig, these are all things we know. Thanks for the reminder because I know I’m not currently doing all of them and should be. An add on to number 4, being early to appointments is having a 2 minute task list. It’s follow ups or quick phone calls you can make with the time you are early so you are still being productive during that time. It’s amazing how many things on our to do lists are truly 2 minute tasks to compete the next step.
Great tip. Think I wrote about that somewhere… but it is amazing what you can get done in those few minutes, even if it is to catch your breath. 😉
For time management skills I like to take 10 to 15 minutes the night before to plan for the next day. Look at what you haven’t accomplished for the day. Put those tasks at the top of the list. Then look over any notes or tasks that may need to go before the undone tasks. If there are any doctors or other appointments fit in your tasks around those. If you can accomplish any of your most important tasks while waiting at your doctor’s appointment, then use that time. Check off each task as it gets completed. If some tasks might be able to wait until the next day, then put them on tommorows task list. Be proud of what you have accomplished for that day and reward yourself. Realize that stressing about how much you haven’t accomplished is a waste of time!
Maureen, great tip! The night before is even better. 🙂
Tips defined here are practically inclined with the segment for a respective end up of the process to make out at. Well I would say that along with the time there are certain other segment which has to be considered in a practical aspect to reach out to the target.
But going ahead its quite practical to look out for the possible consequences which makes a big difference to work value. Any properly time managed organization or individual makes it happen to get a successful and streamlined approach to get ahead with the segment.
For a better end result, I have been using the cloud based hours tracking software from Replicon and I do believe that these tips would go inline with the same tool.
Great article. I especially like #2