Great Time Management Tips for Success

Time management is one of the most important skills any person, especially businesspeople, can learn. Learning to manage your time means you will be able to meet deadlines better, have more control over your schedule, enjoy more free time, and have less stress. The thing is, most time management and productivity courses teach you difficult techniques that feel like they will take more time to put into place than they will save you.

Here are a few tips for better time management that you can easily put into place right away and start experiencing results!

Quit multitasking!

Many people think multitasking is saving time because you are completing more than one task at the same time. This actually isn't true! Multitasking can actually slow you down and also lead to lower quality work. Since you are spreading your attention between two or more tasks, you are more likely to miss mistakes. It can also interrupt your flow of ideas, slowing you down further.

Instead, set aside time for each task and you will start noticing that because you are concentrating better on that task, it gets done faster. This also makes it easier to schedule your tasks because you only need to plan one for each section of time.

List your tasks, prioritize them, and schedule them.

The best time to do this is at the end of the day. Sit down and make a list of everything that needs to be done the next day. You should do it at the end of the day because otherwise you end up starting your day with this task leaving you more likely to miss things. It could keep you from starting your day focused on the most important tasks for the day.

You want a list of all the things that need to get done, big or small. Once you have a list, you start putting them in categories such as "must be done today," "should get done today," and "needs to get done at some point." These don't need to be the name of your categories, but this helps you figure out what really needs to get done. For instance, getting that assignment done for your client is going to be more important than organizing your desk. Sure, both need to get done, but that assignment MUST get done in time, while organization can wait until you have finished your more important tasks.

Now, start to schedule your tasks. Thank about how long each should take and set aside that much time for it. Be sure to add a little bit of extra time in case something slows you down, and try and keep your schedule flexible enough you can change it if something important comes up.

Just these two things alone can have a huge impact in your day and allow you much more time. By prioritizing your tasks and focusing on one thing at a time you will find yourself completing tasks faster, meeting deadlines easier, and having more time to get to those things that you always struggle to get done, like organizing your desk.