Learning how to organize my time is one of the most important productivity skills you can work on improving. Good time management skills can be life-changing and can mean the difference between success and failure.
Improving your time management abilities is going to benefit you whether you are still a student who is trying to improve your grades or if you are trying to become more productive.
So, how do you get better at managing your time and avoiding time wasters? This guide features helpful strategies that are easy to incorporate for work or life-related tasks.
How to Organize My Time: 11 Ultimate Strategies
Organizing your time and planning out your day involves several steps and you might even need to make a few lifestyle changes before you reach your productivity goals. Let’s explore some of the best techniques for time management and the top ways to set the tone for a great day.
1. Start Your Day With a Day Planner
Starting your morning the right way will set the tone for the entire day.
Instead of grabbing your phone to check messages or social media, you should be grabbing your day planner (digital or book form). Social media posts tend to put us in a social mood and can trigger dopamine cravings. One of the easiest ways to get a dose of dopamine is by checking your phone again. This tends to create a chain reaction and you will constantly seek out these types of distractions throughout the day.
If you start your day by checking all important meetings and events, the proactive part of your mind is stimulated. Taking note of all of the important events and tasks on your daily schedule will motivate you to get out of bed, get ready, and start your day.
Leverage modern technology and take charge by using productivity apps. These apps are great for keeping track of your day, and scheduling meetings, and will even send out notifications to remind you of important projects.
2. List and Prioritize Tasks
When checking your daily schedule, take time to list tasks and arrange them by priority. The Eisenhower Matrix is one of the very best strategies for getting your priorities in order. This method is also known as the time management matrix and is a helpful tool that can break down and group tasks by important, not important, urgent, and not urgent.
This matrix system has four sections or “boxes” in which you split and arrange tasks. Here is a quick look at how the strategy works.
First Quadrant: Important and Urgent
These are the most urgent tasks that require your immediate attention. They are your top priority and should be completed first.
Second Quadrant: Important but Not Urgent
This quadrant refers to tasks that are very important but don’t require your immediate attention. They should be completed within the day or week but you don’t have to focus on them right now.
Third Quadrant: Urgent but Not Important
This section is where you will write down all urgent tasks. These tasks are not important but they are time-sensitive and need to be done quickly. The tasks on your third quadrant can usually be delegated to others.
Fourth Quadrant: Unimportant and Not Urgent
The tasks in this quadrant are neither urgent nor important. Rather, they are daily tasks that you can go without completing. These tasks should only be completed if you have free time on your hands but can be ignored if you are just too busy.
After listing your daily tasks, it will be easier to identify urgent tasks that require your immediate attention, tasks that can be delegated to others, tasks that should be completed but can be postponed, and tasks that are a waste of time.
The next and final step is to create time limits for all of the urgent and important tasks and to schedule and plan out your day.
3. Set Realistic Goals
While planning your day, take care to set realistic goals. It’s important not to bite off more than you can chew. Unrealistic goals can cause your entire schedule to crash because if a task cannot be completed within a certain time, it will cause other projects on your list to become delayed.
Having unrealistic goals can also cause unnecessary stress and make you feel depressed and negative every time you are unable to reach a specific goal.
It’s better to allocate a bit more time for each project than to end up disappointed in yourself and your results.
4. Eliminate Distractions
Distractions – like email notifications, social media pings, spam calls, and a noisy or messy work environment – can take a huge bite out of your day. One quick peek at your phone can turn into an hour of wasted time. Not to mention that it’s difficult to get back to work when your focus is interrupted.
Using a blocking app is a great way to eliminate unwanted distractions and is one of the most popular time management strategies. A good app will eliminate unnecessary notifications and can even block out certain platforms so you won’t be able to waste time on them.
Here are a few great apps that can eliminate distractions during working time blocks:
StayFocused: This web extension is a terrific tool to use on your computer, tablet, or even phone. The app keeps you from entering time-wasting websites. You can customize the extension to block out or eliminate any websites that you usually find distracting. These can include sites like Twitter, Instagram, and even Wikipedia.
Freedom: This multifunctional app can be used to block distracting apps and websites making it ideal for multiple device types. It’s very functional since it will eliminate distractions from both apps and sites on your browser.
Cold Turkey Blocker: This app can be customized to suit your working preferences and allow you to block out certain sites or apps. With the right settings, you can even block your entire computer – also a handy feature if you want to keep nosy colleagues off your PC when you step out.
5. Use The Time-Blocking Technique
The time-blocking technique is an effective time management strategy. With this strategy, your entire day or week is carefully planned out. The strategy involves breaking your day into bite-sized time slots. Tasks are allocated for each of these time slots. You are also required to allocate time for breaks and distractions, and can even include exercise in these time logs.
Using this strategy is a great way to take full control of your day and will help you complete a lot more during the day without feeling overwhelmed.
6. Include Breaks In Your Schedule
It’s important to include breaks or time for rest and time with friends in your day. If your day is booked with back-to-back projects, you may feel fatigued or overwhelmed, and your energy levels will plummet.
By including time for lunch, coffee breaks, physical movement, rest, and socializing into your day or weekly schedule, you will enjoy a more balanced life and will feel a lot more refreshed during work time logs or sessions.
7. Focus on One Project at a Time
Multi-tasking is a true productivity killer. Taking on too much simultaneously will only result in chaos because you won’t be able to complete any of the projects you are working on throughout the day and mistakes are bound to creep in.
It’s best to focus on one project at a time and to check off each project on your task list before moving on to the next.
8. Declutter and Simplify Your Life
Another successful time management strategy is to declutter and simplify your life. This goes for all parts of your life. Start by decluttering your desk and simplify by only keeping bare necessities like writing materials on your desk.
In your office space, remove unnecessary items and replace furniture pieces or items that are too bulky. Over time, you can also get rid of overly bright colors and replace these vivid hues with more subtle or neutral tones so decor elements won’t overwhelm your visual senses.
After simplifying your workspace, move on to other aspects of your life. A simplified bedroom and wardrobe can make it easier to get ready for work. An organized kitchen will ease food prep and can save some time on cleanup.
9. Keep Track of Progress
Try to keep track of your work progress as you continue with your day. You should regularly consult your daily schedule so you don’t miss deadlines for projects. Keep checking off projects as you continue.
Being able to check off demanding tasks can be very rewarding and will reduce your stress levels as the day continues.
This strategy is also great for staying motivated. If you see time running out, you will be more motivated to complete difficult tasks without procrastinating any longer.
10. Reward Yourself
Completing an important task can be satisfying and stress relieving but sometimes just finishing a project isn’t enough of a reward to stay motivated or positive about your job.
Without some kind of reward system in place, you can start to feel unmotivated, negative, or even depressed about work. This is especially true for projects that are a bit on the dull side.
Develop a reward system for yourself. Your reward system should include small rewards that you can indulge in after completing short projects throughout the day or a large and lavish reward that you can enjoy after having a productive day at work.
Small Rewards for Completing Projects
Small rewards should be something that you can enjoy in just a few minutes. Here are some suggestions:
- Enjoy a cup of coffee.
- Eat some healthy snacks.
- Go for a 10-minute walk outside.
- Allow yourself a few minutes on social media.
- Take five minutes for a quick game on your phone.
- Listen to a song while stretching.
Large Rewards for Being Productive
If you manage to complete a major or urgent task or have a particularly productive day then you can pamper yourself with a larger reward. These self-care rewards can help replenish your energy levels and make you feel better about any upcoming projects you might be facing tomorrow. Here are good examples:
- Watch a movie.
- Enjoy a soak in a hot bath.
- Spoil yourself with eat-out dinner or takeaway.
- Have a home spa session.
- Go for a walk in a park.
- Have some coffee with friends.
- Go swimming.
- Be creative with journalling or drawing.
- Have a game night with friends.
- Go for a photo shoot.
- Visit local attractions.
11. Experiment and Improve
Incorporating these time management techniques is likely to yield positive results within the first few days. However, there’s always room for improvement. Experiment with different strategies and keep modifying your techniques.
Over time, you’ll discover strategies that are best for your work environment and ones that have the best productivity and motivation results.
Keep improving your daily schedule and keep working on your time blocks. Adjust your rest times to times when you typically feel exhausted during the day and practice motivational techniques to get you going early in the morning.
Conclusion
Learning how to organize my time can have life-changing results. Not only will you become more productive at work, but your personal life can also improve when you learn to make time or schedule social activities, workout times, or time for self-care.
At Top Productivity Apps, our goal is to help readers find the best way to make the most of their day. We frequently review the latest and best productivity apps and offer useful advice that can help you make the most of your day.
We would love to hear your thoughts on this guide and how it helped you become a more productive individual. And if you need more advice then feel free to check out some of our other guides and reviews.
