How to develop the skill of Time Management
You are playing PUBG or using YouTube, Tik Tok or any other social media. Your forehead hurts and your eyes feels heavy as you lift your head towards clock.
And then you realize its 12:00 AM, and you have successfully wasted 4 hours on your smartphone/desktop.
In dismay, you jump on your bed cursing yourself and start thinking about your day. But suddenly your dream breaks and you get up in the morning at 10 AM.
It takes you a moment to remember where you left off and you tilt your head back with a heavy sigh. You aren’t even halfway done with the work you intended to finish.
If this seems familiar to you in any way then you are terrible time manager.
Time management is one of the biggest problems of our generation, we are unable to make use of our time wisely, mostly because of tons of distractions.
So, this article will discuss about some practical tips which will ease your time management skill. But before jumping directly to the tips, look at some example and lessons we should learn.
A common example
Suppose tomorrow is your exam and you are still busy on social media and surfing the internet.
What is it?
Its total waste of time and it shows your time is not utilized properly. And in the end result you will not be able to score good marks.
Lessons we should know
If you make fun of time today, then time will also make fun of you in future.
So it is better that you use the time wisely.
Billionaire, entrepreneur and most successful person, what they have done, in their life they have given the first priority to their work. And they have utilized most of their time in doing their work.
But at the same time an average person does not make the best of time available. If a person understands the value of time in his/ her life then he/ she will, for sure, become a successful person.
Calculations of Time and Money
Suppose you are getting $86400 daily. Now it depends on you that how you are spending each dollar.
You would be thinking of how you will get $86400 daily? Let me explain to you.
One day has 24 hours and each hour has 3600 seconds. So in the whole day, each and every person gets 3600×24=86400 seconds. So, as the wise men knows “Time is money” so 1 sec = $1. According to that, everyone gets $86400 per day.
It varies from person to person on how much that person makes use of it or wastes the opportunity. That’s why time management is a must in our life to be a successful person.
Stories of two great personalities
1. Bill Gates
Everybody knows that Bill Gates was a college drop out.
Yes, he was a college drop out but what a lot of people don’t know is that when Bill Gates goes to bed at night, he does not remove his shoes.
He shared a reason for this weird habit. He thinks that “if he removes his shoes now then, he will have to wear them the next morning which will lead to waste of his time“.
2. Mark Zuckerberg and his T-Shirt
Everybody knows about Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, he mostly wears a grey T-shirt only.
Why? Don’t tell me that he doesn’t have enough money to buy other T-shirts.
The reason behind him wearing the same T-shirt is that he is not interested in wasting his time to decide what to wear.
In this way, successful persons give respect to time and manage their time.
Now, lets talk about the steps by which you can develop the skills of time management. You simply have to work on your habits, so I would suggest that before reading further check our article on :
Make a Good Habit or get rid of Bad Habits
Follow the given steps to Manage Your Time
1. Plan Ahead
15 minutes before going to bed, plan about the next day. The important things which you are going to do on the next day.
So when you will wake up the next morning, you don’t have to waste time on making plans. So, in the morning without wasting time you can start your work according to your plan.
2. Spend your mornings on Most Important Tasks (MITs)
For starters, you usually have the most amount of energy in the morning. So, it’s better to tackle the most important tasks when you are not drained. And with a lot of energy you will be able to complete the task before time and more efficiently.
3. Stop being perfect
When you are perfectionist, nothing will ever be good enough. That means you will keep going back to same task over and over again. How productive do you think your day will be as a result?
4. Say ‘NO’ without hesitation
I know that you don’t want to upset anyone. But first complete your work and then go to help others. Or else you will be going and completing your friend’s work and your work will be pending. So you will not be able to complete your work on the given deadline. So never hesitate to say ‘NO’.
5. Find inspiration
Use inspirational sources like a TED Talks or biography or you can follow the motivational pages on instagram. We have our motivational page on instagram. https://instagram.com/the_strongmindset You can check it out and follow the page if you like it.
6. Create a time audit
Find out where you spend your time and try to evaluate the report. It will help you to spend your time in most important tasks. The report which you will make will show you that how much time you are wasting and how much time you are using it. And by doing so you can divide your time accordingly.
7. Put a time limit on tasks
Put a time limit on every task. Don’t keep on doing whole task for whole day. If you do so then your productivity will decrease. Setting time constraints for completing tasks helps you to be more focused and efficient.
Making the small extra effort to decide on how much time you need to allot for each task can also help you recognize potential problem before they arise. That way you can make plans for dealing with them.
8. Add a done list to your to-do list
Sometimes many unexpected tasks just pop up during the day. So write down them in a separate list next to your to-do list for some extra satisfaction at the end of your day.
9. Block out distractions
Switch off your mobile phone and keep it away from you when you are working on focused tasks. If your phone will be with you then you will not be able to focus and concentrate on your work. So it is necessary to keep your mobile phone and other distractions away from you.
10. Don’t Multitask
Researches have proven that Multitasking is Myth. If you believe that you can do more than one thing at a time and you are utilizing the time then, you are totally wrong.
Whenever you do more than one work at a time you will not be able to concentrate on any of them and it will be more time consuming in completing the work. So it’s better to avoid multitasking.
11. Schedule breaks between tasks
Scientists says, the human brain can only focus for about 90 minutes at a time. Thus, it is better to schedule a break at least every 90 minutes or at every 50 minutes to avoid burnout and maintain high productivity throughout your day.
12. Eliminate bad habits
One of the biggest time wasters we have are our bad habits. Whether it’s Netflix binge – watching, excessively surfing social media, playing games, going out frequently with friends, etc. Those bad habits take away the precious little time that we do have. Use your time wisely by eliminating your bad habits if you are serious about achieving big goals in life.
13. Meditate or exercise every morning
You might think that this won’t help you. But meditating and exercising every single morning gives you a balanced life. It will help you cut out the toxins of your life and you will for sure observe your energy, stamina and mental focus take a drastic shift.
Read our article on ancient exercise “SUN SALUTATION” or “SURYA NAMASKAR“.
Everything about Sun Salutation or Surya Namaskar
14. Organize yourself
Utilize your calendar for a long-term time management. Write down the deadlines for projects, or for tasks that are part of completing overall project. Not only do you need to organize your time but you should also organize your work space.
Think about which days might be the best to dedicate to specific tasks. This will lead to a more efficient working environment.
15. Sleep well
Some people think sacrificing sleep is a good way to hack productivity and wring a couple of extra hours out of the day. This is not the case. Most people need 7 – 8 hours of sleep for their bodies and minds to function optimally. So, listen to your body and don’t underestimate the value of sleep.
Do follow these steps to manage your time. One day, you will, for sure, be able to manage your time and you will also be able to lead a successful life.
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