How to Utilize Time Effectively – 15 Time Management Smart Tips

The root of all success and happiness lies in managing your time effectively. No matter how hard you work, you’ll always lag and miss deadlines if you don’t care and utilize your time effectively. Couple effective time management and hard work together, and you can accomplish every goal you ever set. That’s why everyone is looking for the most effective strategies on how to utilize time effectively. If that’s your case as well, you have come to the right place. 

Finding the right strategies on how to utilize time effectively can be challenging. But here are some for you – 

• Proper planning
• Having a to-do list
• Waking up early
• Practicing mindfulness
• Setting deadlines
• Being practical
• Being choosy
• Taking breaks
• Not trying to be perfect
• Delegating tasks to others etc.

What is Time Management? 

Time management is the art of managing your available time most effectively and efficiently. You plan everything you must do and then allocate specific time frames for each task. You take care of a task when its time frame appears. In this case, you don’t have to stress about a task beforehand and can rest assured that you will take care of it when the right time comes. 

Effective time management allows you to focus on the most essential things in life and ignore the things that are not important. Here, the 80/20 rule comes into play. Proper time management allows you to separate the 20% of most essential things in life from the 80% of trivial tasks. This is most important as only 20% of things we do in life bring us 80% success. There are some ways to improve work performance.

Why Time Management is Important?

There is a purpose behind everything that happens in our life or everything we decide to do. Managing your time efficiently has some meanings as well. The list of the benefits of utilizing your time efficiently can go and on. But we are writing down the most significant ones. 

1. Helps you to Lead a Stress-free Life

When you manage your time effectively, it sets you ahead of others in the race. You complete every task on time and know when you’ll be doing the next ones. It gives you a sense of relief and helps in having a stress-free life. 

2. You get loads of Leisure Time

Before managing our time efficiently, we complain about needing more time to do things. This scenario changes entirely once you start managing your time effectively. Once you complete everything on time, you find loads of leisure time to entertain yourself or do the things you love. 

3. Get Applauds from People

Although we shouldn’t wait to get validation from people, having it doesn’t hurt, right? People who manage their time effectively usually get a lot done in life. Their homework is always done, they’re always on time for all meetings, and they always seem to complete all deadlines. 

Every college wants to have this type of student and employee every organization cherishes. That’s why these people get a lot of praise from superiors and subordinates. 

How To Manage Time At Work | 15 Time Management Smart Tips

In case you haven’t been wise with your time till now and feel very bad about that, don’t stress. Nobody likes to waste their time willingly, and chances are that your habits are all good; you’re just missing the right strategies to use your time most effectively. Here are 15 time management tips for professionals.

1. Plan it now!

At the start of every month, you have to note down everything you have to do in that month. Knowing everything from the beginning allows you to divide enough time to complete that task. You may have studies, projects, dates, or tours; you can have anything. Just ensure you have written it in a monthly planner and set a specific time frame. 

Once the monthly planner is complete, now all you have to do is make a to-do list while going to bed. You may be tired and think you’ll make the list in the morning. But trust me; it doesn’t work this way. You must know what you’ll be doing from the start of the day. Also, make sure your daily to-do list aligns with your monthly planner. 

2. Convert your To-Do List into a Priority List

A list that has our upcoming tasks written in it by points is called a to-do list. But we want more than just a to-do list. We need a priority list to utilize time effectively. We might have a lot of things to do in a day, but we only get 24 hours. So, you may need help to complete all the tasks for various reasons, like unplanned incidents. 

So, what you want to do is prioritize the tasks on your to-do list. You can divide them using various segments like – 

• Very Important 
• Normal
• Less Important
• If time remains after doing other things etc. 

In this way, you’re separating your most essential tasks for the day, and you will complete them first, no matter if anything goes wrong or something unplanned comes up.

3. See the Sunrise

So, you’ve got a lot of things to do and are already feeling miserable that you can not complete them altogether. But the irony is, waking up at 9 or 10 in the morning isn’t going to make you feel any better. We have 24 hours every day; if you wake up at 10, you have already spent 10 hours of the day. So, how are you supposed to complete everything else in just 14 hours? 

That’s why it is very crucial to wake up early in the morning for time management. By waking up at 6, you can get an extra 4 hours to do everything. You can search the whole world and not find someone who completes all his duties even after waking up late. This is just a waste of time. Practice the habit of going to bed early, and you should face no difficulties in waking up early. 

4. Practice Mindfulness

Sometimes, we have so much going on in our lives that we forget to focus on the present and stress out a lot. I know it’s easier to say than to do. But what other option do we have? Stressing out and whining wastes our time. So, you have to practice mindfulness to live in the present. 

You have some things that you have to complete; it’s okay. Don’t stress about the future. Complete them now, and you don’t have to feel bad later. Stoicism is a philosophy that encourages people to complete their duties and lives in the present; you can study stoicism. I’m sure it’ll help you. 

5. Set Deadlines

While creating the monthly planner, remember to allocate deadlines for every task. You can not just allocate the whole month for every single job. It is wiser to set a starting and ending date for each job. In this way, you don’t have to stress out about things beforehand. Just complete the task in its allocated window, and you’ll be good to go. 

Example – 

• Design the cover page for the E-book. 
• Design the cover page for the E-book from the 13th to the 14th. 

6. Be Practical

This one is very important. You can not complete a task in 30 minutes if it’s meant to be done in 3 hours. You may complete it somehow, but the quality of the work would not be good. So, to make sure that the quality of your tasks stays the same, you have to take the right amount of time to do it. 

You can mess up if you’re doing something for the first time. But once you know how much time you need to complete it in the right way, allocate that right time the next time.

7. Be Choosy

Nobody likes a very fussy person, and everyone seems to want someone who is okay with everything. But, when it comes to managing your time effectively, you don’t have any other option other than being choosy. You can have tons of things to do in a day, but the reality is that you can only do some things. So, be fussy about what you decide to focus on and spend your time on. 

You’ll only succeed in effective time management when you’re mindful of the essential things and ignore the things that don’t deserve attention. 

8. Take Breaks

When planning your day, remember to set time for breaks. We can not work 10 hours straight without taking any breaks. That’s why we humans have invented robots; that’s their job. As a human being, your job is to take enough breaks between tasks so that you don’t burn out. If a task is very long, take 10 to 15-minute intervals while doing it. 

If you’re working for straight 30 or 40 days, take a break for a few days and spend time with your family or go on a tour. Taking regular intervals between work is a good use of time. 

9. Stop Trying to be Perfect in Everything

How are the perfect things created? By devoting countless amounts of time to them. Can you afford that? You can’t afford to allocate numerous time to something when you have tons of other things to do. So, don’t try to be perfect in everything you do. Just give it the right shape and look, then move forward to the next thing. 

10. Delegate Tasks to Others

Another thing that could be improved is trying to do everything ourselves. This is not a healthy habit. What are your subordinates and teammates for if you have to care for everything? Delegate your less critical tasks to others, and this will help you focus on more important things. 

But overdoing this can damage your image as well. You’ll be seen as someone who keeps ordering others and not getting himself done. So, please don’t overdo it; only do it to offload the tasks you can not handle.

11. Do as much as You Can in The Morning

People who wake up early and work in the morning can be seen as happy for this sole reason. They have done much of the work in the morning, and later in the day, they can do anything they want. As humans, we’re most productive in the early hours of the day and have extra energy at that time. 

So, use that energy correctly and complete as many tasks as possible in the morning. There’s a saying that goes – “Win the morning first if you wanna win the day”.

12. Be Productive, not Reactive

Life is very unpredictable. Nobody knows what things we will face tomorrow. Often, we get very motivated to complete a task, and something goes wrong. Then what do we do? We forget that task until everything gets right again. This is called being reactive. And being productive means completing a job no matter what goes wrong. 

So, don’t give in to things like – ‘I’m not feeling well’, ‘there is no electricity’, ‘it’s raining’ etc. You have to complete everything on your to-do list, whether everything is right or wrong. 

13, Don’t do Multiple Things at Once 

We can’t stress this enough, you lose the quality of your work and easily get distracted when you try to do more than one thing at a time. To be productive and get a lot done quickly, you batch things together and begin multitasking. But this is never a good decision. When you’re doing two or three things together, both tasks will be inaccurate, and you can’t reach the quality target by this. So, avoid multitasking and set specific time frames for doing each job. 

If you have too much to handle in a single day, get help from others; don’t try to do everything yourself. 

14. Keep something you Love in the To-do List 

Whenever we talk about to-do lists and time management, we primarily emphasize work life. But life doesn’t consist of work life alone. We said earlier that we’re not robots; we are required to do things we love without any reason and recharge by that. So, what do you love besides working? It can be spending time with your friends, watching some Netflix with your spouse or playing around the house with your kids, or even drawing or fishing. 

Whatever it is that you like, remember to set some time aside for this. This will work as the recharging point of your day. It will also motivate you to finish all your tasks as soon as possible so you can do what you love. No matter how much the hustle culture pushes you, never become a robot. 

15. Audit your time for A Week 

So, you’re following everything we told you before regarding managing your time effectively. Yet, somehow you are unable to become more productive. Is it because something is wrong with the strategies we told you above? Or is it because there is something wrong with you? 

No worries, we have a strategy for finding out that as well. Just audit your time for seven straight days. Keep track of every minute you spend from 12 a.m. to 11.59 p.m. in this audit. You must catch everything you’re doing with your time during this audit, be it personal or professional. 

After one week, you can see how much time you spend on work. The unnecessary things like social media scrolling or sleeping during the day can be easily identified by performing this audit.  

How to Utilize Free Time to Make Money

You can use your free time to make some extra bucks. With the advancement of digital technologies, it is relatively easy to build a second income. You have to have the right skills and knowledge. Here are some ways to utilize free time to make money. 

1. Get a Part-time Job

If you’re a student, it is very crucial for you to do some part-time jobs so that you already have some experience in your resume once you get out of college. If you’re an employee and want to utilize the evening free time, you can get another part-time job to give your savings an extra boost. 

2. Become a Freelancer

Do you have any demanding skills that others are ready to pay for? If yes, go to freelancing marketplaces like Fiverr and Upwork, create a free account, make some gigs, or throw some offers. It won’t be accessible in the beginning, but once you get two or three orders, orders will start flowing in. 

3. Become a Blogger

Do you love to write? If yes, you can start your blog on some relevant topic and earn from that. You won’t get any money in the beginning, and you have to invest 1 to 2 years in building that blog. Once the blog is well-decorated and has well-written informative blogs, you can get Adsense or other affiliate links and earn from them.

How to Utilize Free Time at Home

If you have some free time that you can use but not enough to go outside and do things, then this part is for you. 

1. Read Non-fiction books

Non-fictional books are a great source of knowledge. When you’re reading fictional books, they only entertain you. But you can educate yourself by reading non-fiction books. The books can belong to any genre of your interest, i.e., history, motivation, language, skills, etc. 

2. Learn something

Learning a new skill has never been so easy in the history of humanity. We do not need to go outside and enroll in an academy. Just open your computer and search the internet for the skill you want to learn. You can find free courses on almost anything nowadays. If you are still looking for something on the learning platforms for free, go to YouTube, and you’ll be satisfied there. 

3. Start Exercising at Home

Exercise not only makes us look attractive, but also it keeps our bodies healthy. You don’t need gym equipment to start exercising at home. Just go to YouTube, and you will find tons of videos on how to exercise at home without any equipment. 

4. Learn a Foreign Language 

Languages are amazing. We generally admire people who know more than two languages. If your English could be better, then you should start with it. Before going into the job sector, mastering two or three languages will benefit you in the future. 

How to Utilize Time for Study

If you’re a student, then these time management skills will help you with your studies. 

1. Exercise between studies

When we study for two or three hours, our brain starts getting tired and wants to sleep. That’s why keeping our focus on the study at that time gets so tricky. Whenever you’re feeling sleepy, start exercising, and it will make the sleepiness and tiredness go away.

2. Make goals on a Weekly Basis

Students only sometimes finish reading or completing a chapter in a day. You might want to force yourself to do that, but the session won’t be effective, and chances are high that you’ll forget everything the next day. That’s why it is crucial to make goals on a weekly basis and finish chapters with care. 

3. Don’t sacrifice Sleep

Students often give up on their sleep during term finals or because of assignments to complete their studies. Well, you can do it once or twice in a while, but making it a habit will cost you in the long run. The quality of your studying will also deteriorate because of this. So, instead of sacrificing your sleep, make proper use of your time and make sure you’re always ahead of your deadlines. 

4. Kill Procrastination

The leading cause of suffering during student life is procrastination. Our brains get tired after classes, and we don’t want to sit at the reading table and finish that lesson. When the term finally arrives, we forget our sleep and meals and pressurize ourselves to complete the syllabus.

You don’t have to stress before the term final if you just study constantly for two to three hours throughout the semester. Don’t procrastinate; sit at that table and finish your lesson. After that, you’re free to do anything you want. 

Side Effects of Poor Time Management Skills

So, we told you why you should manage your time effectively and how you can do it, now this part is to scare you. Life rewards us with something for everything we do, right? So, if you’re wasting your time, there should be some rewards for this also. Let’s see what rewards we get when we waste our time. 

1. Poor Performance in Everything

If you’re a student, you will not get good grades; if you’re an employee at some organization, you’ll not get any promotions or increments.

2. Stressed-out Mind

You’ll always feel like everyone is getting ahead of you and you’re becoming a failure in life. It will take away all your mental happiness and even haunt you in your sleep. 

3. Shame

When all the people you’re familiar with are doing good in life, you’re not doing something significant with your available time. So, you will be ashamed to meet and greet others. 

4. Regret

When you grow older, tons of regrets will haunt you for not using your time wisely. 

So, do these rewards look tempting? If so, go ahead and waste more of your time. If not, then follow the strategies provided above and get your life under control. 

Conclusion 

Time management is a skill that will stay relevant in your life no matter the stage you are in. It will help you do well in your academics when you’re a student, assist you in achieving more in your professional life, and come in handy even after retirement. So, use the above strategies and master the art of managing your time.

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