Time Management Techniques

The Best Time Management Techniques Summarized

After spending a whole day at work, do you feel that you have made any achievements or failure to achieve important tasks? If you are not making any progress after putting in all your efforts, then it means you are not managing and exploiting your time efficiently. In this scenario, time management methods can rescue you. With useful time management tools and models, you can easily classify your tasks into important and less important. You can plan your to-do lists, complete your tasks systematically, and obtain planned results without any nuisance.

What is Time Management?

As the name describes, time management aids you to utilize your free time as resourcefully as possible. This helps to complete your everyday tasks, whether short or long. But, the thing is that we can’t control time in actuality. We just manage our work and the way we perform them. That’s why self-management is a popular term when it comes to utilizing our available time and managing our work.

The best thing is that there are several time management methods for completing, prioritizing, performing, evaluating, planning, and organizing your private as well as professional tasks.

Important Note:

No method is worse or better than another. The success of any time management method depends on your work style, activities, personality, and application. It’s completely up to you which time management methods you want to use for getting the most effective results. Bonus, you can combine different time management techniques too.

The Benefits of Time Management Methods:

It takes some time and valor to manage your time. You must try different time management methods and practice each one regularly for a month or several weeks. Some methods require extra effort, but they can actually pace up your work and productivity. Make it your habit and add other methods if you want to experiment. This process can be tedious, but the results are worthwhile. Here are some benefits of time management methods,

• Increases productivity level.
• Reduces stress level.
• More time for family, friends, and even yourself.
• Bringing balance between work and life.

Below, we have curated a list of some most popular time management methods you can try.

Eisenhower Principle:

If you feel difficulty in prioritizing your tasks, then fret not because the Eisenhower principle is here to help you. Sometimes, we spend most of our time on unnecessary things such as replaying unimportant emails, phone calls, etc. You must apply the Eisenhower method to manage your time and prioritize your tasks. The Eisenhower principle helps you prioritize your tasks both private and professional. This principle consists of four quadrants matrix. These four quadrants are classified into important, not important, urgent, and not urgent boxes.

You should complete the A tasks (important and urgent) as quickly as possible. The B tasks (important, but not urgent) are not urgent but important. The C tasks (not important, but urgent) are not important but urgent, so you can complete them on an urgent basis. The D tasks (neither important nor urgent) can be discarded, but if you have a lot of free time then you can process them.

Read More: THE EISENHOWER MATRIX – IMPORTANCE AND URGENCY

The Pareto Principle:

Have you ever wondered how some people can achieve big by putting in the minimum effort? If you are constantly busy with one task and feel stressed, then you must use the Pareto principle. It is also referred to as the 80-20 rule which means to get 80 % of the result by putting in the 20 % effort. It is another time management method. This principle describes that 20 % of the effort or work accounts for 80 % of the results. It means you need to prioritize your crucial 20 % tasks.

Read More: THE 80-20 RULE – THE PARETO PRINCIPLE FOR MORE PROFITS

The ABC Analysis:

It is one of the classic business management methods for identifying the standard strategy of an organization. This technique helps you visualize aspects that have a significant impact on the organization’s achievement.

The ABC analysis investigates the following questions,

• Which consumers account for the biggest share of profit or revenue?
• How many items, goods, or products contribute most to the organization’s revenue?
• Which raw materials gain the most to manufacture and preserve?

In order to find the answers to the above questions, you organize different factors into the categories such as A, B, and C.

• A (very important)
• B (less important)
• C (marginally important)

After categorizing into A, B, and C, you can easily decide which tasks, products, or services are important for the company’s success.

Read More: ABC ANALYSIS: A METHOD FOR BETTER BUSINESS PLANNING

ALPEN Method:

For planning your workday, the APLEN is a useful method. It tells how to organize your day for gaining maximum effectiveness. This method consists of five steps,

A: Define all your activities. It is a process of adding important tasks to your to-do list.

L: Evaluate the length of your working time. Assume the time to complete each task or activity. In this way, you can easily plan your all-day activities.

P: Plan leisure time. You must divide your time into 60 % of work and 40 % the fun.

E: Establish planned decisions. Categorize your tasks into important less important ones. For prioritizing your tasks, you can use different methods or techniques like the ABC analysis or the Eisenhower Matrix.

N: Note your progress. After completing your workday, evaluate your progress or success rate, whether you have achieved your target or not.

The Pomodoro Technique:

If you easily get distracted by small things, then you need to apply the Pomodoro technique. There are so many distractions around in the form of social media, newspapers, websites, emails, and much more. If you feel difficult to avoid such distractions, then the Pomodoro technique can help you. It helps to enhance your productivity level by keeping your focus on a single target or task for a specific time period. It is an Italian word and is named because of the tomato-shaped timer. Francesco Cirillo was the creator of this technique.

He breaks down big tasks into small and manageable subtasks that are easy to complete. You have to finish these tasks in 25-minutes intervals rather than working all day. You take a five-minute break after every 25-minute interval. After four intervals, you can take a longer break, say a 30-minute break. In this way, you can use the Pomodoro technique. By regularly substituting between focus and rest, your brain will work more efficiently and stay focused all day.

Read More: POMODORO TECHNIQUE: HOW TO RESIST DISTRACTIONS AND INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY

SMART Goals:

Setting the right goal is really important to increase the success rate of any project or task. SMART goals are really helpful for keeping you and your team efficient and motivated. Setting unclear, unrealistic, and unachievable goals can decrease the chances of success and productivity. In this scenario, no time management method will work for you. The SMART method helps to set right, clear, and achievable goals. According to the SMART method, any goal or objective must contain these five factors,

1. Specific
2. Measurable
3. Attractive
4. Realistic
5. Time-bound

Read More: SMART GOALS FOR SUCCESS TO SET TODAY

Getting Things Done:

If you are a busy person in your professional and personal life, but never want to miss an appointment, meeting, or meet-up, then you must use the Getting Things Done method. It is a useful time management method consisting of calendars and lists for your private and professional life.

By writing all your tasks, meetings, and appointments, you can give some peace to your mind. In this way, you won’t miss or forget any of your targets, task, or more. You can capture all new and old information in written form. This process consists of five steps,

1. Capture
2. Clarify
3. Organize
4. Reflect
5. Engage

You need to update your task list on a regular basis. This method gives a detailed process for decision-making and also tells how to deal with a task. You can categorize different tasks on the basis of their length and time in different sections of your worklist. Enter meetings or appointments in your list or calendar. In this way, you can easily decide which task is important.

Read More: GTD: A PRODUCTIVITY SYSTEM FOR ALL AREAS OF LIFE

Timeboxing:

This process comes from project management and an excellent time management method. In this technique, you assign tasks to particular timeboxes. You have to complete these tasks within the given time. This technique is based on assumption that how much time a task will take and how much time you have for it. Without setting a deadline, the production cost and overall budget of the project will be increased. It also causes unnecessary delay. But, timeboxing brings a sense of productivity.

You and your teamwork are on the basis of timeboxing. It depends on you how long is your project. It is suitable for both short and long-term tasks. For taking maximum advantage of this method, you must make sure that it shouldn’t be too short or too long.

Read More About Timeboxing Technique:

TIMEBOXING TECHNIQUE FOR IMPROVED PRODUCTIVITY

The POSEC Method:

POSEC stands for “Prioritizing by Organizing, Streamlining, Economizing, and Contributing”. This technique is based on Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. In this method, a person’s basic duties and requirements have relative significance, so it creates a base for their aspiring goals and desires. Here are the factors of the POSEC method,

1. Prioritize:

First of all, prioritize your goals and then arrange them in order of prominence. You need to spend your maximum time on identifying the right goals and placing them in order.

• Organize:

The next step is to plan or organize the tasks that you want to complete you have planned. It gives stability and security which encourages you to choose the next step.

• Streamline:

In this process, you have to find out ways to fulfill your duties and obligations. As the name predicts, you need to streamline your responsibilities that are necessary for achieving desired results.

• Economize:

Manage your time for all types of goals such as important, urgent, etc. It is necessary for achieving desired goals. By economizing your time, you can achieve all your goals including non-critical ones.

• Contribute:

In this step, you need to contribute your ideas and assistance to others so that they can also achieve their goals. It is because your tasks have already been completed. In other words, it is a kind of community service of assisting someone to obtain their tasks, goals, or targets.

Read More Details: THE POSEC METHOD: MANAGE YOUR TIME BETTER

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