While many people don’t use any time management setup in their day-to-day, I am always amazed by the ones that have a system so complex that it is unmanageable.
Their time management ends up taking more effort than it saves.
Time management isn’t supposed to be complex. Today, I want to share 10 simple and effortless time management basics that should be part of your daily productivity habits.
You Do Have Time for Time Management
I love when people use the excuse, “I don’t have time for time management.”
Of course you do. Time management, by definition, should give you more time in your day… not take up time.
“I don’t have time for time management… is simply an excuse.”
Many people think that time management needs to be difficult or complex. That they needs some super-duper app or complicated planner system.
Yet, some of the best time management actions you can take are straightforward. They just need a little practice and discipline in execution.
Here are 10 Simple Time Management Tactics to Effortlessly Make You More Productive:
- Plan Your Day – It takes all of 5 minutes to plan your day before you charge out the door in the morning. Yet, few people do this. You can spare 5 minutes to check your schedule and tasks. This simple step can save you all kinds of setbacks in your day.
- Have a Todo List – You can’t keep your todo list in your head. If you are trying to, undoubtedly you are constantly stressing about forgetting items. Keep a list. It can be on paper or an app on your phone, it doesn’t matter. What’s important is that you have a todo list.
- Set Priorities – All of your tasks are not important. Make sure you prioritize your work. Pick your top three tasks for each day, and commit to getting those few done… no matter what life throws in your way.
- Block Your Calendar – Protect your calendar and your time. Don’t let others commit you to endless meetings and commitments. Instead, “block your calendar” in advance to ensure that you maintain time for yourself first.
- Decline Meetings Where Appropriate – Just because someone sent you an email invite, doesn’t mean you have to derail your day. Practice the “Right to Decline” and defend the time in your day.
- Make appointments for your work – Another calendar tip, go ahead and schedule appointments with your most important work. Blocking your time (See #4) is good, but setting specific times to do your top tasks is even better. It also gives you an out when you need to say, “Sorry, I have a meeting at that time.”
- Do Less – You have too much on your list. (We all do.) You need to do less in order to be more effective. Take a few moments to delete some things from your daily list. Face it, there are probably several things on there that just don’t need to be done.
- Get Up Early – Despite excuses, you can be an early bird. Get up early and get a head start on the day. The early morning hours are some of the best to get work done while others are still sleeping.
- Exercise – This is similar to “I don’t have time for time management.” You do have time to workout. Hit the gym, go for a walk, do some cardio, whatever is your thing. But, make sure you get some exercise in your day. The most productive people are also the ones that take care of their physical health.
- Make Decisions – You “want to be able to choose,” but then you don’t make decisions. Don’t waste time in indecision. Don’t put off simple decisions that are holding you up. Most decisions really aren’t that important. And very few decisions can’t be changed later. Make that choice and move on with your life.
Simple (Time Management) is Doable
Don’t believe the hype that time management is something that should take extreme effort and complex productivity.
Incorporate a few of these simple time management tactics on your day and you will find that with a little effort you can have a big impact on your productivity.
Question: Do you keep your time management simple? How many of these tips do you do? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
I used to think declining meetings was rude no matter what – but I slowly learned that being at a meeting where I don’t necessarily serve a purpose does everyone in the room a disservice. That was a huge time-suck for me. Now I only attend meetings that are absolutely necessary and they’re more productive than ever.
I used to be able to do all of these things but a recent management change has made doing ANY of these challenging. The new director schedules “today” meetings without agendas without any respect for what is already booked in my calendar. When I block out time to complete task or do research he will pull me into his office along with co-workers for ad-hoc meetings that have no definitive end. He keeps adding things to my todo list that are all “high priority” with due dates that are “this week”.
in the last few weeks all 10 of these tactics have failed.
Thoughts?