This post is all about how to improve time management.
Time-management. The one thing that almost everyone sucks at.
We say things like “oh, I’ve still got time” or “I don’t really feel like it right now” or if you’re not saying things like this then you’re probably spending too much on one thing when you’re “supposed” to be doing something else. *cough cough* /social media/.
Since I am also like you and have very bad time management, why not we both try and improve our time management together? I’m going to give you 5 ways that I think will help improve your time management. I have started incorporating these tips into my day-to-day life as part of my New Year’s resolution and I will say that it’s been working.
This post is all about how to improve time management.
Disclaimer
I am not an expert in time management and speak from my personal experiences only. You, the reader, will read at your own risk and should not take anything seriously. Everything in this post should be used for informational purposes only. I will not be held liable or responsible for any consequences arising should you decide to take my advice.
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Let’s begin.
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How To Improve Time Management
1. Set Timers + Alarms
Timers are your best friend when it comes to being on time and knowing when to stop. Obviously, most of us use timers to wake up before school or work but we also use timers for cooking, how much time we want to spend on a project or almost everything honestly. I mainly use alarms as reminders because I tend to be very forgetful.
For example, I have alarms for when I need to start getting ready to leave the house and for when to leave the house. I also label my alarms so that I remember exactly what I had planned to do at that time. If you don’t use timers or alarms, you probably have really bad time management. Just sayin’.
2. Create A Routine
Creating a routine is really important because it ensures that you do what you need to do and you can expect what to do next. If anything, having a routine just makes life easier.
An example of a routine would be you wake up at the same time every day, start your morning with a cup of coffee, then you do productive things for however many hours, have time for yourself, have dinner, get ready for bed, and then sleep.
It took me 21 years to realize how beneficial being in a routine is. Being in a routine is great for getting what I want done and having a more simple and fulfilling life.
The list I just mentioned is pretty much what my day looks like and let me tell you that it works. Try to be as consistent as you can and make it a priority to follow your routine.
You might find routines boring and repetitive but the feeling of productivity and not falling behind will eventually change your thoughts and help you see how great and not boring having a routine is.
You might also like 21+ Ideas To Create Your Ideal Morning Routine
3. Know Your Boundaries
When you say you’re only going to do a project for an hour, you need to only be working on that project for an hour. As soon as your timer or alarm goes off, which you should be utilizing, you need to force yourself to stop and move on to the next activity.
Knowing your boundaries will keep you on track with what you have planned for the day AND you won’t get burnt out from one activity.
If you worked on your project for 6 hours straight, you might not want to come back to it for a while. Taking breaks is really important in helping you reset yourself so that you’re ready to come back to it later. Besides having limits while you’re being productive, you also need limits while you’re on your breaks too. Say you give yourself a 15-minute break between tasks and you decide you want to watch a YouTube video. On average, more YouTube videos are about 10 minutes long.
So you decide to watch one YouTube video during your break. But since you still have 5 minutes left, you might decide to start another video and then you go past your limit and you’re spending your precious time where it wasn’t intended.
Also, if you go past your limits of what you had planned, everything else that you had planned for the day will get pushed back, you’ll get behind on your schedule, you’ll feel overwhelmed, and it’ll just be all bad again.
4. Turn On ‘Do Not Disturb’ On Your Phone
I’d say your phone is the #1 distracter in your life. You’ll be in your zone of productivity and then you get a text from a friend or a family member.
Your reaction isn’t to ignore the text message. Your reaction is picking up your phone to read the message and respond. Not only does this take away time that you could be using to be productive, but you also lose your focus on the activity that you were doing.
At this point, you are being productive anymore. You’re just getting distracted. The same goes for social media apps too. You might get notifications from Instagram or Snapchat from your friends there too. So putting your phone on do not disturb is really important to be better at time management.
5. Delete Social Media
Here we go again. The delete social media talk.
I’ve mentioned deleting social media so many times. In fact, I deleted YouTube and Instagram off my phone this morning! Why?
Because I kept spending all my time checking my analytics when I could’ve been spending that time doing my homework, writing a blog post, or editing a YouTube video.
Just imagine how many hours I’ve lost over the last week just from staring at my phone. Let me say it’s working so far because I’m working on this blog post right now. (Lol.)
You might also like Why You Need To Delete Social Media Right Now
6. Have A Plan
If you want to be better at time management, you need to have a plan for what you’re going to do next. Without a plan, you’ll be spending your precious time trying to decide what you’re going to do next. This chases the cycle to continue, where you can’t decide what to do, you lose time, get behind, and it’s all bad.
My recommendation is that you get yourself a planner to write everything down. You can write down your to-do lists. I used to write my to-do lists for the week; however, I realize that seeing a week load of things I plan to do overwhelms me.
I end up not doing anything because I feel so unmotivated. The key to a clear mind is a clear space and your planner is no different. Now, I only plan for the next day.
Obviously, I still keep in mind the long-term deadlines, but I only plan for what I need to do the next day to feel less overwhelmed while also being productive.
For example, if I have an assignment due on Friday and today is Monday, I’ll still write it down on my Tuesday’s (the next day) to-do list if I decide that I want to do it on Tuesday. If I wanted to leave it till Thursday, then I wouldn’t write down that assignment in my planner until Wednesday (because the next day after Wednesday is Thursday).
I’ll insert a photo down below so you get the idea.
Ending Note
That’s all I have for how to have better time management. If you want to feel successful and productive all the time, better time management should be your go-to solution.
I hope you liked this post. Let me know in the comments what you think and whether or not you agree with these tips or have more suggestions for others.
Have a great day!
This post was all about how to improve time management.
Sheri K says
I felt like you were describing me in the first paragraph haha. I really need to get better at time management. Thank you for sharing these great tips, Lily-Anne!
Lily-Anne says
Then me and you must have a lot in common! Thank you so much for stopping by Sheri. ❤️