The Top Five Ways That You Can Maximize Your Time
Time is the one thing that we all have the same amount of and how we manage it is up to us.
Some people seem to always get their tasks completed for every day, but some people seem to never catch up with their inner to-do list.
The difference between the first person and the second person is time management. And trust me, I’ve been both of those people during my life. And I have continually adjusted my schedule in order to compensate for new things that enter my life and take up time. One good schedule won’t fit you for the rest of your life.
For instance, I need more sleep than I used to when I was younger and can’t rely on staying up late to get things done. Another example is when I had my second child, two kids definitely took up more time than one kid, and I had to find new ways to fit in work with motherhood.
But you can master time management if you’re dedicated enough, so to help with that, I’ve put together the top five ways that you can maximize your time in my opinion. Let’s get into them…
#1 – Track Your Time
One of the first things we do when trying to get a handle on our finances is to track our spending and I firmly believe that we need to do the same thing with our time. I know it sounds a little weird but trust me it will make a difference.
For a day or two just keep track of how much time you spend scrolling on your favorite social media platform, binge-watching your favorite show, or even just texting your friends and family. When you see how much time you spend doing those things you will realize why you always seem to be playing catch up with the chores. We’re all guilty of it and I know can get spend hours on YouTube if I’m not careful so don’t feel bad.
Tracking your time will help you figure out how to make a great schedule and still have time for the fun stuff.
#2 – Make A Schedule
The biggest key to managing your time is to make a schedule. If you make some sort of schedule to go by then it can keep you motivated, ensure that you get everything done that you need to do, and give some structure to your day.
The type of schedule that you make could vary depending on your personal needs, so you can experiment with a lot of different types. The only things that need to be a factor in building your schedule is consistency and structure.
Some people prefer to build a detailed schedule for each day. Wake up at 6:30 AM, eat breakfast by 8:00 AM, work for four hours, go cook lunch, etc. Either they have the same schedule for every day, make one for each day of the week, or sit down the night before and make a customized one for the following day.
A lot of people do well with this style because it’s so strict, and they know what to expect. When my kids were small we had a detailed schedule and it worked great for us.
Now I just lean more towards making a to-do list for each day. Which leads me to my next time management tip…
#3 – Make A To-Do List
To-Do lists can really help you prioritize which is an important part of managing your time. Decision paralysis of what thing to do next can often lead to procrastination and that’s the last thing that you want if you’re looking to be more productive.
Most people will either make a to-do list late at night of what they want to accomplish the next day, or they’ll make one early in the morning. Either way is fine, and as you check off each item of your list it will motivate you to do more. There’s something so satisfying about checking tasks off!
Now I always organize my to-do lists to have a couple small things I can do quickly and then a medium or larger task. This is one of the ways that I make my to-do lists manageable, because if you make a list too hard or too long then you risk not being able to complete it and feeling worse about everything.
Especially when you first begin making these lists, start out small.
Check out my post on making a to-do list work for you.
#4 – Find Ways To Procrastinate Less
As I just mentioned, procrastination is time management’s worst enemy. When you put off doing things you know you need to do until “later”, chances are that it will end up getting off until you either have very little time left to do it (which will cause you a lot of stress) or it might never get done!
But everyone is guilty of procrastinating occasionally, you just have to learn how to overcome that urge most of the time.
One way that you can beat procrastination is to understand why you’re doing it in the first place. You may procrastinate because you don’t want to do a task, and something else seems more entertaining. Or you may put things off because you’re feeling overwhelmed at a large task and just want to forget about it.
Whatever the reason, once you diagnose it so to speak, you can begin to fight against it more effectively.
If the issue is that the thing you need to do is boring, then schedule in some times to reward yourself with something fun in the middle of completing the job. Think of it like checkpoints, and you unlock something you want to do with every checkpoint.
Or if you’re overwhelmed, then try breaking a big task into a bunch of smaller ones so that they seem more manageable. You’ll feel less overwhelmed every time you complete one of the mini-tasks.
#5 – Take Breaks
I sort of mentioned this in the last tip, but it’s worth diving a bit farther into. Because a lot of people actually think taking breaks is a bad thing, and they avoid doing it since they think it’s counter-productive. But never taking breaks can actually harm your productivity levels more than help them.
So whenever you start to feel tired or overwhelmed, take 10 to 15 minutes to cool down and relax. Or maybe if you have a schedule you like to stick to, you could also schedule in those breaks. But make sure you give yourself time to rest, or you’ll eventually wear yourself down even if you are able to keep being productive. Trust me, I know from experience.
What you do during these breaks could vary depending on your preference. Some people might want to take a little power nap, some might prefer to take a quick walk in the fresh air, and others could choose to cuddle with their pet and watch a quick tv show.
Just make these breaks count, and let yourself look forward to them during the day. Knowing that you have one coming up could really help keep you motivated.
To Wrap This Up…
I’ve spent a lot of my life focused on how to optimize my time, so I hope that these tips I’ve shared with you today can help you in some way. And if you have any time management hacks of your own, I’d love to hear about them in the comments.
But even though I covered my main five already, there are so many other things that you can do to manage your time more efficiently. So I want to end this article with some rapid fire tips for y’all.
Start Your Day Early – I know not everyone is an early bird, but if you can start to wake up earlier then it’s going to help you out more than you know. There are less distractions in the morning, and many people find that they’re more motivated during that time of day.
Only Take On Optional Tasks That You Have Time For – This one can be tricky, I know. Throughout my life I’ve struggled with telling people no, and as a result, I’ve often had a lot more piled onto me than I can handle all at once. So if you feel like there just aren’t enough hours in the day, try to take on a little less.
Don’t Stress! – I know that with a lot of work and responsibilities, stress comes right along with it. But too much stress will just wear you out and make it hard for you to accomplish anything. So find some things that help you relax, and do those things as often as you need to in order to rest up and be the best you that you can be!
