Time management seems to come naturally to some people, but certainly not to everyone. Even if you were born with an internal timer that syncs to your oven or impeccable punctuality everywhere you go, a few good time management tips can further improve your life. Running late is just one byproduct of having poor time management skills. You can help reduce stress and increase your productivity by merely focusing on better ways to organize your time.
You’re never too old to add a few new time management tools to your belt. It’s almost amazing how these little tips can add up to big-time savings and stress relief over time. Consider these 11 different ways to improve time management in your life.
Harness the Power of Time
Simplify your efforts and stay focused as you work to incorporate different time management strategies into your life.
- Start with the most important task. Even if that task is all that you get done, you will feel relief instead of the stress of something hanging over your head.
- Practice mindfulness and be present. Making a commitment to be present can help you improve your own time management skills on a daily basis. Experience a greater awareness of time and your relationship with time. Get more done or get less done for the greater good of actually enjoying your time and being where you’re supposed to be on time throughout the day.
- Chunk your time. Set a time to do a project and really dig into it. Avoid distractions during this time and focus on getting as much done as possible just during this chunk of time. Do this for your emails as well – answer emails at a certain point in the day and avoid getting sidetracked when you’re supposed to be doing other things.
- Try the five-minute scramble. Set a timer and work to tackle a project, like picking up one room in the house, in just five minutes. See how far you can get. You may not get it all done, but chances are you’ll be much happier with the room after your scramble timer runs out than you were before you started. For even better results, start tossing items into a box labeled for self storage as you go from room to room.
Time Is on Your Side
Think of time as your friend and not a fleeting enemy that thwarts your every move. Work smarter rather than harder with these tips.
- Create a priority list. Put all of your tasks down in a spreadsheet or other list. Assign a priority level to each project as well as a due date. Organize your to-do list by due date first and priority second. It may also help to add a column for the expected time required to complete the task.
- Aim to touch paper clutter just once. Go through the mail when it first comes into the house. File school papers the day they come home. Teach your kids to organize their artwork when they first finish it. Complete paperwork and rebate forms when you first lay hands on them, or at least that same day if possible. Filing and saving artwork and paperwork becomes easier than ever with your own private storage unit.
- Create a time budget. Sit down and list out everything you need to achieve in a given timeframe—for example, that day, the morning of a birthday party, or all during the work week before vacation starts. Estimate how much time you need to complete each task and assign the appropriate order or schedule. This time budget should help you to get as much done as possible without elevating your stress.
Avoid Time Management Challenges
Try these time management tips to keep yourself organized despite challenges that may arise with multiple demands calling for your time.
- Multitask (or refrain from multitasking) as appropriate. A great example of multitasking is successfully washing the dishes while listening to a podcast and kicking a ball that your dog keeps bringing over. In this case, you operate as a well-oiled machine. You’ve combined productivity, play, and education or entertainment. Not all multitasking is so clean and organized, though, so beware that you don’t end up tangled in a web of time management challenges as a result. Multitask when it makes sense but be willing to work head-down as well.
- Make your To-do list each morning or the night before. Sure, priorities may change like a fire drill, but planning and putting your tasks on paper can absolutely up your productivity.
- Stand up for your time. Remember, your time is a resource. Your time is a gift. You can give your time freely or accept payment for jobs completed using your time. Remember that you have a choice. You can say “no.” You can delegate tasks. You don’t need to fill your schedule to the brim for the sake of staying busy.
- Explore and recognize your time management challenges. Discover what is most challenging to you about time management. Are you always late, and if so, why is that? Are you always trying to do too much before you go someplace? Are you disorganized? Do you feel unproductive because you can’t focus or because your mind is on other things? Diagnose your flaws when it comes to understanding how to organize your time and enjoy the benefits of a more focused attempt at time management.
Learning how to manage time can dramatically improve your life and your mental health. It should come as no surprise that physical clutter affects us, adding to the mental clutter. Relieve your tired mind and remove the clutter from your home and into a private self storage unit. Contact us at Price Self Storage today to find a stress-free storage solution for your home or office location.
