5 Rules for Boosting Time Management

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When people are asked what the one resource is that is limited, and never enough, some will say love, others money, and probably many people will say ice cream 😊. However, upon more profound thought, I’m sure there will be a consensus that this resource is time.

In this article, I will present and discuss a few simple rules that will help us improve our time management, enabling us to make the most of our day while maximizing our efficiency and mindset.

Keep track.

I am not sure if it is the most crucial rule in our article, but it is probably the most basic one — keeping track of your tasks, what you did, what you still need to do, and if possible, try to assign them a priority rank.

Keeping track of our tasks ensures that we won’t miss any of them. Completing something late is ten times less problematic than not doing it at all. Submitting your tax report with a delay might incur a small fine, whereas not submitting it at all is illegal.

Choosing how we keep track is up to us; it can be a simple paper list, a phone app, or even a song reminding us of our tasks. As for me, I’m old-fashioned, and there is no better feeling than crossing off a task from a paper list with a pencil. Another advantage of maintaining this list is that our most robust sense is visual. Visualizing what we need to do helps our brains process and accept the tasks.

The 2-minute rule.

Our tasks and activities can be easily categorized based on the time required for completion. We don’t need to pinpoint exact durations but classify them using size labels (L/M/S…XS) as a general guideline. We can consider “L” tasks to take more than a day, while “XS” tasks require less than 2 minutes. Examples of such “XS” tasks include replying to a birthday invitation, starting the washing machine, and even ordering pizza.

Although these 2-minute tasks may seem minor and prone to delay, they are easily and quickly accomplished due to their brevity. Completing them promptly shortens our task list, enhancing motivation and satisfaction and preventing the need to revisit them later. Delaying these tasks triggers a context switch in our minds, incurring more time than the actual task itself. Also, delay can escalate the task into a higher time category. For instance, if we postpone ordering pizza and the pizzeria closes, we’d spend more time searching for an alternative dinner option than initially completing the task.

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Celebrate it.

Don’t become your own worst enemy; time management is challenging. We seldom complete everything we set out to do and often feel there’s more to accomplish. Viewing time management as a muscle, we must consistently exercise and enhance brings the realization that improvement is an ongoing journey. Monitoring progress holds significance; it aids in comprehending the factors contributing to varying efficiency levels on different days, facilitating learning and growth.

However, there exists another facet to this: recognizing our incremental progress and commemorating it. It’s vital never to overwork or exhaust us. After productive focus sessions, it’s crucial to take breaks. On successful days, spending time with friends or partners is rewarding, and periodic vacations dedicated to unwinding should not be neglected.

Never pass up an opportunity to celebrate. Life isn’t a sprint but a marathon; the essence lies in deriving enjoyment from it.

Maximize efficient hours.

Some people rise early in the morning, while others are night owls. Some struggle to keep their eyes open after lunch, while some experience a sugar rush that boosts their energy. Everyone has their preference, and that’s perfectly acceptable. Our objective is to identify our most productive period of the day and make the most of it.

Let’s consider the following case study: I’m a morning person, easily waking up at 6 AM. Working from home, I spend 30 minutes organizing before diving into tasks. Conversely, my partner tends to wake up around 9 AM, with virtual meetings starting at 10 AM in our shared home office and lasting all day. This comparison highlights that my peak focus time extends until 10 AM. Thus, every minute I delay waking up results in a reduction of my productive hours. By embracing an early start — aligned with my comfort — I can optimize my efficiency, achieving much more throughout my day.

Discovering our most effective time slot isn’t an effortless endeavor. Yet, with time, experimentation, and self-awareness, we can all pinpoint and leverage it to its fullest potential.

Stop starting — Start finishing.

Engaging in parallel tasks can become our greatest adversary. Our day-to-day lives are agile, with numerous events occurring simultaneously — push notifications flood in, and people remain available around the clock. These factors urge us to juggle multiple activities at once. Some call it FOMO (fear of missing out), yet in reality, we’re attempting to keep pace with our rapidly moving world.

This situation often compels many of us to undertake various tasks simultaneously. This stems from the multitude of events unfolding concurrently in the external world. However, this can prove immensely intricate and overwhelming for our systems. Attempting to manage everything at once can strain our minds, induce stress, diminish productivity, and, over time, even lead to illness. Furthermore, as previously mentioned, context switching incurs a considerable cost in terms of time and mental effort. Thus, leaping between tasks is, overall, highly inefficient.

Our guiding principle becomes clear: “Stop starting — Start finishing”. Rather than tackling everything at once, we concentrate fully on completing one task before moving on. This method offers advantages such as reduced context switching, minimized energy depletion, increased task list progress, heightened motivation, and a shorter period until task completion. Adjusting to this mindset may require time, but the endeavor is undoubtedly worthwhile.

In our pursuit of effective time management, we reveal uncomplicated guidelines to enhance productivity. We emphasize time scarcity as the ultimate resource, introducing techniques like the “2-minute rule” for efficiently handling small tasks. We celebrate progress, advocate for well-deserved breaks, underscore the importance of identifying peak efficiency hours, and promote the “Stop starting — Start finishing” strategy.

Time management is an ongoing journey; the key is ensuring we remain on the right path.

Thank you for reading.