Proper Time Management: the key to success

As the semester comes to an end and finals slowly approach, managing my time has become difficult. Oftentimes, I find myself scrambling to complete my assignments only to realize that hours have gone by. However, this problem is not uncommon, many individuals struggle with time management just as I did and still do sometimes. In today’s blog, I wanted to share some of the benefits of proper time management along with ways to improve it.

What is time management?

Essentially, time management is the way an individual chooses to prioritize their tasks and decide how much time should be used for a certain activity. However, having proper time management skills can have a variety of benefits, including:

• increased productivity and efficiency
• more time throughout the day for recreation
• quality results
• met deadlines
• lower levels of procrastination
• better quality of life
• most importantly, lower levels of stress and/or anxiety

Therefore, time management has a variety of benefits that can truly help an individual be successful. However, now let’s address how we can improve our time management skills.

Time management tips

There are several things that we can do to improve our time management skills. You should:

• Set attainable goals. Try setting small, easy to achieve goals that will motivate you to get work done. For example, “I will finish planning my essay in an hour.” 
• Prioritize your tasks. While it may seem difficult, complete all your important and long tasks before you try to work on any others. 
• Create deadlines for yourself. Instead of waiting for the deadline to slowly approach, create deadlines for yourself while you finish tasks. For example, “I should be done this assignment by Tuesday at the latest.” 
• Reward yourself (“work hard, play hard”). It is crucial to reward yourself when you complete tasks. These rewards do not have to be large, they can be simple, yet effective. For example, rewarding yourself by watching one episode of your favorite show after you’re done studying for math.
• Take breaks. The human brain can only focus for a short period of time. Therefore, taking breaks will help you get work done effectively and preserve the quality of your work. 
• Keep your workspace clean and organized. By sitting in a clean workspace, you are able to think clearly and truly be more efficient. 
• Create to-do lists (divide and conquer”). By creating to-do lists, you break down all the activities that you have to complete into a simple, easy-to-complete list. 
• Plan ahead. Create a schedule and complete your tasks according to it. For example, if you have a game on Sunday, you cannot complete your assignment that day. Instead, you should focus on completing it prior to this event. 
• Don’t multitask. Instead of multitasking, focus on one task and complete it well. When we multitask, we waste most of our energy and focus on switching between tasks. Therefore, choose one task and move onto the next when you are done the original one. 
• Do it now. Rather than procrastinating and waiting to get all of your work done, complete it now. 

Time management resources

Today, there are a variety of apps and resources designed to help individuals manage their time. However, it is important to realize that utilizing these apps will not guarantee great time management skills. For example, quality knives will not make a five star chef.

• Forest
• MindNode
• Evernote
• Remember the Milk
• TimeTree
• Trello
• Toggl

That’s it! I truly hope this blog helped you find ways to manage your time well. As always, please share any others tips or resources that you may have in the comments.

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