Everyone gets caught up now and then in the overwhelming number of tasks they need to complete. Maximize your time to help increase your productivity, maintain control, and encourage you to be in the driver’s seat by using some time management skills. Effective time management is an active process where you must plan, divide your time, and set a schedule to meet your deadlines.
The other part of time management that is probably even more important is your own mindset. Do you really want to have a schedule? Are you allowing negative thoughts to creep in and keep you from making positive changes? Really think about if you are ready to take the next step to get out of your own way and follow your dreams.
Staying positive all the time is impossible, but you can change your mindset to be more positive in your everyday interactions. Join our challenge to create a more positive YOU!
Planning to Maximize your Time
My first tip is to actually plan out your time. Many people like to time block. I’m a fan if it works for you. For me, it doesn’t work. Most nights I don’t know if my husband or I will get called into work and have to stay late. So I adapted.
I use what I call a
It doesn’t matter what you use, as long as you use something. Time blocking, planners, checklists, digital, paper, whatever it is keep trying new things until something sticks. Planning out what you need to do helps hold you accountable for getting it done. One of the best things I ever did was join an accountability group.
If you have serious issues with time planning, get yourself an accountability partner or group. They will help keep you on track, accountable for your actions, and taking steps forward. Tiny steps are still steps so make sure you recognize that if you need help, you need to embrace that and go find it.
Dividing your Time
Now that you have planned out all the commitments you have and things you need to get done. Start dividing up how long each of those things will take you. Give an estimate here, there will be some discrepancies to deal with but for the most part, you probably know if something will take at least an hour or two or if a task will take you 2 full days.
Once you know how long things will take start to organize them in ways that make sense. For me, I organize by the length of time and mark them if something else needs to be done before I get to that task. For example, if I have an item that says I need to promote a post, I probably need to write it first.
Set a Schedule to Maximize your Time
I try to abide by a basic schedule that gives me time to just get stuff done. I don’t block it off to strictly in case things change. I will say ok tonight I am going to work in my office for two hours. That way, I can best manage my time if I think I may get interrupted after 20 minutes and try to get one of my less than 30-minute tasks completed.
If I am sitting at my daughters Taekwondo class, and I have 45 minutes before it gets done, I can work on Social Media graphics or start an outline to a blog post. You get the idea here. Start to schedule time where you can work and get things done.
Time Management Conclusion
One of the most important things you can do for yourself is ensure you are using your time productively. This can be hard in our never ending struggle to get everything done. In order to help you be efficient we’ve created an ebook Tips for Staying Productive just for you! Use code CHAOS to get it for FREE!
Using some basic Time Management skills can help you maximize your time and get things done. In turn, you will find yourself being more productive and feeling more in control. Additionally, check out our FREE Resource page to help you with other areas you may need some guidance on.
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