At the end of the day, do your feel like you haven’t done the work you aimed for today? Do you feel like you didn’t do all tasks on your to-do list which sometimes make you feel useless or lazy? Even if you worked all day, do you feel that you didn’t do the main task and the whole day of work was a kind of waste even though you worked? Do you want to increase your productivity?
I get it. It used to happen to me too. Sometimes you work all day but still, you don’t get the work done, you struggle with productivity. In different words, you are not using your time worthfully. Time is the most valuable thing you have and it’s very easy to waste it. If you use your time productively, you can get more work done in less time.
So, How do you can be more productive? Luckily, I have an easy answer for that. You can be more productive by managing your time better. Developing good time management skills makes you productive in your work, doesn’t matter if it’s a job or a business.
But, how can you develop time management skills? You can develop good time management skills just by planning your day better, and prioritizing your tasks and the time you are spending on them. We will talk about the main aspects of time management that will increase your productivity below in this article. So stick around, it will help you.
What is Time Management Skill
In the simplest words, time management is planning your available time and controlling the time you are spending on a specific task in order to use your time more efficiently and be as productive as possible.
Time management skills help you to do all your tasks time efficiently, it enables you to have control over your day and be productive at the end of your day. Time management is directly related to productivity, better time management equals more productivity.
Why Time Management is Important
You searched and are reading this article, you might already know how important time management and productivity are.
If you are a businessman, time management skills in you and your employees will boost your business income and put you on the growth graph. Or if you are a job person, good time management and productivity are what your boss wants from you, it can help you get a promotion fast. Brian Tracy said, “Discipline yourself to work more and faster to grow fast.”
Even when a candidate applies for a job, employers pay special attention to the time management skills of the candidate. Time management skills can give you an edge over all the other people who are applying for the same job. Time management skills help you in all fields. It’s a life skill, it will help you your whole life.
A person with good time management skills completes his work on time with a great feeling of being productive and he gets left with time. The free time he can spend enjoying. It is an important life skill.
So, how can you manage your time better? How can you increase your productivity?
How to Increase Productivity
Knowing the importance of high productivity, here we are on how to be more productive. We should have time management skills to increase our productivity. You can incorporate good time management in your daily life or at work by following some tips.
Here are some things you should do daily in order to have good time management skills and more productive days.
Set Daily Goals
By setting a daily goal, I mean setting a goal or aim for your whole day. It will be, what you want to achieve at the end of the day.
Your daily goal will give you a direction for your day. A clear goal for the day helps you not wander cluelessly. You will always know what to do next in order to reach your daily goal. A daily goal drastically increases the productivity of the day. It unlocks planning, which is only possible when you have a goal. We will talk about planning in the next step.
The best way to set daily goals is by asking yourself some questions.
- How much work do I want to complete at the end of the day?
- What task do I want to finish at the end of the day?
- At the end of the day, what work being completed will make the greatest impact?
Ask these questions to yourself and set yourself a goal for the day.
Brian Tracy said, “A goal when not written down is like cigarette’s smoke, it drifts away and disappears.” It’s a very important point. Your goal is no more just a thought when written down. It helps you a lot to stick with your goal and achieve it.
Plan Your Day
The next step after you set your goal for the day is your plan for it. Planning for the day includes making a list of tasks you have to do to achieve your goal and prioritization that list for the most efficiency and productivity.
Planning your day out helps you cut through the noise of every day to bring out a few important tasks every day. This gives you a clear focus on what you have to do to achieve your goal for the day and increases your productivity. Planning in the form of a checklist gives you a sense of accomplishment every time you tick off a task.
How to plan your day? Start with taking a sheet of paper. You can use the same page you wrote your daily goal on. Start brainstorming out all the tasks you have to do to achieve your goal for the day. When you are done filling out the sheet, it’s time to organize and optimize your list.
You have to sequence your task in a manner of importance and urgency. You will end up with 2 sequences of tasks, One prioritized by importance and the other prioritized by urgency. Mash these two sequences together and the sequence you will get will be the final order for you. You will carry out your tasks according to this sequence of the list.
The number one task should be the most important and most urgent at the same time. This way you won’t waste time on less important tasks all day, still feeling like you did nothing. Doing this will minimize your time wasted on less important tasks during work
Stop Multitasking
By stopping multitasking, I mean don’t do multiple tasks at a time rather focus on one task and don’t get distracted. It’s a proven fact that you take less time to finish multiple tasks if you completely focus on one at a time and do them one by one rather than doing a bunch of them at once.
The people who say, “mY TaLeNt iS mUlTitAsKinG” while feeling like they are being super productive are in reality less productive than those who focus on one task at a time. This article shows Multitasking reduces productivity.
If you want to manage time greatly and get more work done in less time, you have to give up multitasking. Focus on one task at a time, give it your full brain energy and do the greatest job as fast as possible.
Having one task at a time will help you with focusing better, not get distracted by other tasks in between, enjoy your work stress-free, and get into the flow. It will increase your productivity by 500%
Now, whenever you sit down to work, complete one task at a time and don’t start the second task till you tick off first on the plan list you made.
Take Breaks
By taking breaks, I mean taking rest from the work you are doing. It doesn’t mean a big break. It’s a 5-10 minute break just to give your brain rest from what it is doing.
Our brain naturally starts to lose focus on anything it is doing if done for a long period of time. So it’s important to take a small 5-10 minutes break every time you feel like you are losing your focus on work.
During this break, you have to change your environment. If you work at a desk or a computer, it’s a must for you to get up from your chair and change your environment for some time. It’s great if you preview your list during this break or do some small exercises.
The biggest DON’T of this break is social media, don’t get on it during the break. As social media is the biggest distraction, it will distract you from work by occupying your brain. Things from social media can occupy your mind killing productivity.
After you come back from a healthy break, your focus will be refreshed and you will be ready to focus on any task. It will help save you from completely destroying your focus by not taking a break.
Conclusion
If you follow all the tips mentioned above in your workspace, you will feel a prominent increase in your productivity.
When to start?
RIGHT NOW! there is no better time to start implementing these things in your life than right now. If you are reading it in the morning time, plan your day right now and if you are reading this at night, plan your next day right now. Don’t trust your brain when it asks you to start tomorrow or you will end up like everyone non-productive.
You read this whole article, you have the spirit to learn and do better. If you want to take your time management skills to a master’s level, I recommend you to read this book named “Getting Things Done” by New York Times best-selling author, David Allen. This super helpful book will teach you the art of stress-free productivity. You can listen to its book for FREE in a free Audible trial. Click the button below to continue.
Stay disciplined and focus on the process of becoming the person you were born to be.
