Time Management: Five Tips That Successful People Do In the First Working Hours
Becoming successful in anything you decide to do in your life is greatly connected to how organized you are and how well you manage your time. If you are looking up to anyone that is successful in your field of work, it is almost certain that they are great at managing the time they have available in their hands.
The good news is that improving your time management skills is not an impossible task. It is rather based on building habits which will help you achieve your goals one step at a time. In order to help you accomplish that here are five of the most helpful time management tips you can start using now.
1. Create a functional working schedule and stick to it
The very first thing you need to start doing in order to be able to manage your time better is to create a schedule which will help you organize your work. Different people might give it different names, but one thing that can help you get started is a simple To-Do List.
While this might seem simple, you need to keep in mind that there are many ways to develop and expand the usage of a simple To-Do List. After you have finished adding all of your tasks for the day, you can take your list a step further by including deadlines, time needed to complete each task, necessary breaks you will need to take and even other tasks that need to be completed during the day, even if they are not related to your work.
Another thing you can try doing is setting a time limit for each individual task you need to accomplish throughout every day. While this will add more pressure on your shoulders since you will have a very strict daily schedule to follow, you might come to find this process a lot easier and effective in the long run.
Many people who tend to procrastinate find it easier to concentrate if they have to work under pressure. If this is an issue for you, a working schedule which is based on allowing yourself limited yet sufficient time to complete each task could be the secret to more successful working sessions.
2. Work during the same hours every single day
Some people prefer to work during the day while others are more functional during the late hours of the night. If your job allows you to choose your own working hours, it is a good idea for you to experiment with when you work during the day so you can see when you are most productive.
After you have decided on during which hours you are the most productive, it is important that you stick to working at around the same hours every day. While this might not seem important, creating a schedule will help you get used to staying focused since you will know that for the next few hours you are supposed to stay concentrated and complete the tasks you have for the day.
Another thing that might help you keep this schedule up is being able to go to sleep and wake up at a similar time each day. If you have a day job, waking up a little earlier can help you start your day in a productive way and prepare yourself for everything you have to face during the next few hours at work.
3. Keep distractions away from your working space
A very common reason why many people are unable to manage their time effectively is that they are not able to stay focused on what they are doing. A big part of this issue comes with the various distractions people are exposed to at their place of work.
Whether you work in an office or at home, the biggest distraction you will come across is your phone. Instead of keeping it next to you while you work, you should try leaving it in another room, or if it is necessary for you to take calls on it, keep it next to you on silent, so you can avoid having to look at incoming messages from friends and notifications from your social media accounts.
Food and snacks can also become a distraction and many people tend to want to focus on eating instead of working when they are very busy. You need to make it a habit to leave food items except for coffee, water or tea away from your office, so you can not only stay focused but fit.
For those that are working from home, sometimes distractions can be the people you live with. It is a good idea to have your office space at the back of your house, away from traffic and the main entrance to your place. The less noise and disruptions you have to face, the more you will be able to concentrate and the easier you will be able to manage your time and complete your work on time.
4. Use the right tools to help you save time
In our day and time, it is almost certain that you will be able to find a tool for every single thing you might need. There are plenty of tools out there which can work as productivity and time management tools and which can truly help you save time from everyday tasks and allow you to make your work look even more professional without having to put in an extra effort.
Some of the best tools you can use in order to help you better manage your time are the following:
- Self Control
This free tool is made to help you stay focused if you find that you are unable to stop scrolling social media while you work on your computer. It will help you do exactly what it says and help you find some much-needed self-control so you complete your work on time.
- ProofHub
ProofHub is probably one of the most versatile team collaboration cum time tracking software tools available today. You can add timesheets, set time estimates for tasks, track time manually or using timers, export timesheets, create custom time reports and much more to make sure there’s no wastage of time. Project managers have the bird’s eye view of all time data of people across all projects.
- Evernote
Evernote is a note-taking tool which has a lot to offer and can truly help you save time by offering you a way to keep your thoughts organized. If you have decided to start working on a To-Do list, this tool can help you keep notes in different forms, from voice memos to doodles and it is available on every platform so you can sync and use your notes wherever you are, from a meeting to your home office.
- Ganttic
Ganttic is an online resource planner. With its visual Gantt charts, users can plan out their resources, projects, and tasks, rotating it as needed, and seeing it from the perspective that suits you best. With Ganttic, you can check your resource capacity and utilization for the day or week and make sure that nothing is overlooked or overbooked in the process. Plus drag and drop for quick changes when you spot potential bottlenecks and conflicts. This tool will help you get the utmost efficiency out of your team, equipment, and work tools, and you can be assured that you’re starting the work day off on the right foot.
- Grammarly
One of the things that can take a lot of time for any professional is proofreading and editing their content for grammar and spelling errors. Grammarly is a tool which can help you proofread anything from word files to your online emails and can help you simplify and speed up this process effortlessly.
There are plenty of other tools which can help you simplify various tasks and allow you to better manage your time by actually helping you save time you would otherwise spend on less important things. They will also help you become more productive since you will be able to focus your attention on more interesting and crucial aspects of your job.
5. Eliminate anxiety by avoiding multitasking
Last but not least, another thing many people tend to do which causes them to be nervous and to lose a lot of time out of their days and be less productive is multitasking. “A big part of being successful is being able to focus only on what you are doing. Multitasking can reduce the quality of your results and cause you to waste time on things that are not truly important”, notes David Pond, an HR Manager at BestEssayEducation.
Therefore, it is a good idea for you to start focusing your attention on only one task at a time instead of trying to do many things at once. Even if they all have to do with your job, you should focus on completing each individual task first before moving on to something new. This will help you make fewer mistakes, manage your deadlines and most importantly rid yourself of unnecessary anxiety.
Manage your time more effectively without having to struggle
Improving your time management skills doesn’t have to be difficult. There are tips and tricks you can use in order to make it easier for you to get used to a new way of working and there are also plenty of tools which can allow you to be more productive and spend your time wisely.
No matter your job, time management is a skill which will help you succeed in your field and allow you to reach your goals without having to overwork yourself or having to worry about spending time on things that are not as important.
Author Bio: Angela Baker is a self-driven specialist who is currently working as a freelance writer at WoWGrade writing services and is trying to improve herself and her blogging career. She is always seeking to discover new ways for personal and professional growth and is convinced that it’s always important to broaden horizons. That’s why Angela develops and improves her skills throughout the writing process to help to inspire people. Also, she writes for LiveInspiredMagazine, rounding out her professional writing career.
Thank you for reading this,before you go
Clap: if you enjoyed reading this article, so others can find it
Comment: if you have a question/suggestion you’d like to ask
Follow: ProofHub to read all the articles
