Top 12 Time Management Tips that Actually Work

Have you been rummaging through the drawers of the internet, only to find time management tips that only waste more of your time? We know, we have been there. Effectively managing your time is the only secret to success. For the same, you need the most effective strategies and tips.

The techniques and tools we have provided for managing time work for everyone, and can be easily adapted to all situations and working styles. So, whether it’s your errands, professional work tasks, or anything that comes in between, you are getting an efficiency boost by implementing these methods.

So, in today’s blog post, we will tell you the reasons for time wastage to avoid with the most effective time management tips that work and the benefits you get from using them. Furthermore, we will provide you with some techniques and the best software to manage time for success. With that out of our way, let’s get started.

5 Reasons Why People Waste Time

It’s not our intention. However, whether knowingly or unknowingly, we still put our valuable hours to waste. So, to effectively manage our limited time, we need to avoid the reasons for time wastage first. Here are 5 common ones to begin with.

1. Lacking a Clear Understanding

Lacking or not having a clear understanding of your tasks will also result in you not doing any productive work. As a manager, it results in not properly delegating tasks. Moreover, from employees’ perspectives, it results in poor task prioritization or no task prioritization at all.

2. Family Responsibility

This one is obvious. Isn’t it? All of us are humans first. Our roles and designations are not permanent lifetime tags. Outside the office hours, we are all human beings. Coming to our point, everyone has family responsibilities. The reason this wastes time is that employees mix their professional and personal lives. Plus, there are also some unavoidable circumstances, such as the clash between the son’s school fee due date and the project deadline.

3. Poor Time Management

The next reason is the one we are here to improve. Not effectively managing your valuable time also results in you wasting it. However, it won’t happen to you once you are through with this blog. Continue reading to find out.

4. No Inspiration & Discipline

Another reason people waste time is that there is no inspiration or discipline. These two are necessary to keep at anything, including effectively managing your work hours. When people lack motivation, they fail to manage time. That’s all there is to it. Another problem here is that this inspiration and discipline come from within. However, we wait for others to give us the push that never happens.

5. Procrastination

Procrastination is the biggest enemy to success. We overthink whether we will succeed or not, and the clock keeps ticking. At the end, we are left with no choice but to complete our work in a rush. Thus, our overall work efficiency and quality are reduced.

Read Also: Remote Work vs. Hybrid Work: Which One is the Better Choice?

12 Time Management Tips You Need to Use Right Now

So, now we have talked about the reasons why people waste time. Speaking firmly, they don’t want to do it. Based on our expertise and experience, we have shortlisted 10 tips for effectively managing time. These are simple, effective, and can be easily adapted to any life and work style.

1. Keep Your Work & Schedule Organized

Organizing schedules and work tasks will always keep you on track. It’s as simple as that. When everything is organized, the workflow is streamlined, leading to more efficiency. Plus, you will be left with more than enough hours for every task. Similarly, you will save more hours to rejuvenate:  

• Using digital planners or project management software like DeskTrack is always a good idea.
• A checklist is great for tracking your daily, weekly, and monthly tasks.
• It’s essential to keep your desk free and clean of unnecessary things to get better focus on work. 

2. Identify & Focus on Key Priorities

Just clocking in and starting to do work won’t get you anywhere. For instance, you start coding a module and then remember that there’s another module, which has some errors only you can fix. Instead, it’s always better to identify and focus on key priorities. That is knowing the sequence in which you will do tasks.

3. Structure a Daily Plan

The next thing not to forget is to plan out every task. A structured day means that you have allotted a specific time to every task, scheduled realistic deadlines, and set breaks. Doing so keeps you on track and prevents last-minute stress.

4. Set Achievable Objectives

Be realistic in your goal-setting approach. Remember that you can’t complete a project within a day. However, the same is possible for short tasks. Overall, jot down your work to be measurable, achievable, relevant, particular, and finite. That’s SMART for you. Even more awesome, if you are using a smarter project management software.

5. Efficiently Delegate Tasks

Next, what you want to do is efficiently delegate tasks across your teams and employees. Remember, by doing everything yourself, you are only adding to your burden. However, that’s not the way work-hour management works. Delegating tasks as per employee schedules and skills saves you valuable time and money.

6. Minimize Distractions

Distractions are commonplace in any office. From traffic sounds and winds to disturbing colleagues who can’t just stop snacking, you can’t eliminate all of them. However, you can avoid them for your good:

• Putting unnecessary distractions on silent and/or using the “do not disturb” mode on your phone will help.
• Setting specific focus hours for working without interruptions is a good idea.
• Using noise-cancelling headphones and/or soothing background music will skyrocket concentration.

7. Leverage Technology

The best way to manage your time these days is to use technology to your advantage. For instance, use cost-effective time tracking software to identify where most of your time is being utilized, which tasks take more time, and all that. This way, you will be able to easily prioritize and boost work-time utilization efficiency.

8. Procrastination Management

Most people will tell you not to procrastinate or overthink. However, is it that easy? It’s not. A proven method here is to take a short 10-20 minute break, relax, and then continue to work on that project with new energy. Light snacking will also help calm the mind down.

9. Take Breaks

Nonetheless, whether you procrastinate or not, it’s crucial to take short breaks between work to cool off. As we mentioned before, the best ones are those that involve some beverages and snacks. Just don’t disturb your colleagues while munching on those wafers.

10. Manage Time Flexibly

The method you use to manage your time may not give you enough results. However, that means that you need to switch to an easier technique. Self-evaluation is crucial here. Plus, it is important to choose a technique that you can easily adapt to.

11. Make Your Mind

The first thing to do before starting to effectively manage your time is to prepare your mind for the challenges that will follow. Plus, it is also essential to be able to adapt to this new way of working.

12. Don’t Look at the Clock

This is the technique that we recommend to all our new hires. The issue with every employee is that she or he keep looking at the time left till lunch and clock out. However, that puts non-positive thoughts in your mind. Instead, just work without thinking about anything else. It’s hard to do, but if you achieve it, your efficiency will reach new heights that you won’t believe yourself.

Top 5 Proven Time Management Tools & Techniques

To aid you in your journey to effective time management, we also have some proven tools and techniques for you. People have been using these to get exceptional results. So, the same will happen to you.

1. Pomodoro

Pomodoro is an Italian word, meaning tomato. The method is called that because the clock used is shaped like the fruit. It is ideal for those who work long shifts, as this technique involves balancing work and breaks. Here’s how it benefits you.

• Maintains inspiration and eliminates procrastination.
• Encourages deep concentration due to short work bursts.
• It assists you in decreasing mental fatigue and maintaining high energy levels throughout the day.

Here’s an instance of Pomodoro:

• Get inside a distraction-free workspace.
• Select a task to focus on.
• Set a 25-minute timer.
• Do your work
• Stop working at the end of the timer.
• Take a break for 5 minutes.
• Repeat 3 times.
• Take a longer 30-minute break. 

2. Calendar

Whether it’s a physical or digital calendar, it does more than just tell the current dates, days, and months. For instance, you can plan your month using a calendar by marking all project deadlines. However, integrated digital calendars are always better because they let you:

• Configure notifications for crucial meetings, deadlines, and events.
• Utilize color-coding for different types of tasks.
• You can stay updated even on the go by synchronizing your calendar across all the devices you use.

3. Time Blocking

Time blocking, as the name means, involves dividing your time into blocks. Within each block, there will be a start time and an end time. Each time bracket is for working on a particular set of tasks. These are usually similar tasks:

• Schedule specific time brackets for deep work, emails, meetings, and breaks.
• Batch similar tasks together.
• You don’t want to overschedule. Emergencies are always uncalled for.
• We also recommend using automation applications, tools, and software for optimizing task recurrences. 
• It is crucial to stay true to your schedule and avoid distractions.
• Leaving buffer time between tasks for handling unexpected interruptions is always a good idea.

4. The 80/20 Rule

All you need to do here is identify tasks that contribute most to your success and work on them first.

• Identify high-impact tasks. These are tasks that provide you with the most results.
• For time-consuming tasks and activities, the best course of action is elimination or delegation.
• As we always say, it’s crucial to focus on efficiency rather than on getting more and more work done.

5. Continuous Assessment & Improvement

As we mentioned before, you need to flexibly manage your time. At the end, if nothing works for you, combining 2 or more techniques for managing time is a good idea:

• Track your time with tools such as DeskTrack.
• It’s a good idea for you to identify tasks that consume more hours than expected and make decisions to streamline them. 
• Don’t stick to a technique if it’s not providing you with the expected results.

Read Also: All You Need to Know About an Employee Management System

5 Key Advantages of Time Management in the Workplace

Effective time management provides you with many benefits in your professional and personal life. From no missed deadlines and procrastination to reduced expenses, here’s why you should train your employees to properly manage their time between clocking in and clocking out.

1. No Missed Deadlines

Effectively managing your time results in no work rush. Since there is no last-minute drag or stress, you can easily meet deadlines with streamlined workflows and expected outcomes.

2. Eliminates Procrastination

As we mentioned before, proper time management results in preventing procrastination. Why? Because there will be nothing to procrastinate about. In short, no overthinking, just efficient work.

3. Eliminates Stress & Burnout

Efficiently managing your hours results in no stress and burnout. It’s because you have planned out your schedule, everything is organized, and there is no fear of the deadline closing in, all of a sudden.

4. Reduces Expenses

We all know that time is money. Manage one effectively, and the other just takes care of itself. Effective time management results in reduced expenses due to smart and efficient workflows, resulting in higher quality outputs.

5. Improved Work-Life Balance

Effective management of your time also results in improved work-life balance. That’s because you always have enough hours to relax and rejuvenate. Plus, since you are not forced into unnecessary overtime, you will always be home on time for your family.

Perfect Time Management with the Best Time Tracking Software

DeskTrack provides you with what other software solutions for tracking time fail to offer. That’s time tracking with accurate data analytics. With this employee monitoring software implemented, you will know the exact reason behind project delays. It will be easy to pinpoint resource wastage, idle time, and a lot more. Plus, you get the added security of:

• Real-time screenshot monitoring 
• End-to-end data encryption
• A strong backup system  

Conclusion

Now, we hope that you are clear about all the time management tips, tools, and techniques. As a final word, we would like to say that effectively managing time results in success via improved work-time utilization efficiency. However, to achieve the same, you need the best tips and strategies that actually work and not those that only claim to work. Plus, it has to provide you with the results that you want to achieve. Thus, it is essential to wrap your head around the most commonly used and choose your preferred method to manage time, which you can adapt to. Speaking of which, utilizing the best time tracking software will only aid you in perfecting the way you manage hours with data insights. With DeskTrack, you will know the exact reason behind project delays to boost efficiency and productivity.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q. What are the Reasons People Waste Time?

Ans. Knowingly or unknowingly, people waste their time due to these reasons.

• Lacking a Clear Understanding
• Family Responsibility
• Poor Time Management
• No Inspiration & Discipline
• Procrastination

Q. What is Time Management?

Ans. Time management includes the organization and planning of dividing your time between different activities. Effectively managing your hours results in you doing more work in less time and working smartly.

Q. What are the 5 Ps of Hours Management?

Ans. Here’s what we call the 5 Ps of managing time.

• Prioritize
• Plan
• Prepare
• Pace
• Persist 

Q. What is the 7 8 9 Rule of Time Management?

Ans. Here’s a breakdown to allocate time using this rule.

• Sleep for 7 hours.
• Work or study for 8 hours.
• Do anything else you want for the remaining 9 hours.

Q. What are the 5 Tips in Effective Time Management?

Ans. Here are a few tips to effectively manage time.

• Keep Your Work & Schedule Organized
• Identify & Focus on Key Priorities
• Structure a Daily Plan
• Set Achievable Objectives
• Efficiently Delegate Tasks
• Minimize Distractions
• Leverage Technology
• Procrastination Management
• Take Breaks
• Manage Time Flexibly
• Make Your Mind
• Don’t Look at the Clock