5 Time Management Hacks: Ways to Make Time for Your Goals
Time management is not something that ever comes naturally. It helps to view it as a skill that constantly needs work, in order to not plateau.
Here are 5 tips to spearhead the things you truly prioritize in life.
1. Write down your goals
Writing down your goals for the day/week/month/year really holds you accountable. You need to be specific. Let’s say your overarching goal is to save money. You need to break that down into micro goals, in order to meet that overarching goal. If you are not specific, you will never know if you failed because you never outlined a target. For instance, I can say I am going to save more money and somehow rationalize my spending behaviour if I don’t have an exact threshold or measure. By writing down the goal while being specific on how you intend on completing that goal, it encourages you to think about your goals into manageable micro processes.
A part of this process includes making a list of things you are willing to compromise in the pursuit of attaining those goals, along with the non-negotiables. You have to be willing to compromise certain things (e.g. commuting is a non-negotiable for you and you would prefer to move closer to your job or work remotely). By writing down what you are willing to negotiate helps when prioritizing tasks and also gives perspective when outlining longer-term goals.
2. Make use of “wasted” time
For the mundane tasks like showering, brushing your teeth, getting ready, waiting in line, sitting in traffic, commuting — this could be seen as wasted time. If you take the “dead time” within your day and use it by multi-tasking: reading, listening to a podcast or finding a way to educate yourself on something new, those mundane tasks can actually become a lot more bearable, and even enjoyable. For instance, whenever I shower, brush my teeth, take off my makeup, I put on a podcast and feel like I am able to make good use with that time.
3. Create a mood board
I am a very visual person, so I like to have a visual representation of my life goals. It can be a digital board on Pinterest where you seek inspiration and re-pin peoples pictures, or it can be a physical portfolio you create yourself.
When I was in high school, I took drama/theatre where we were required to create portfolios, and consistently add to the portfolio each year. It was genuinely one of the best outlets for creative expression. I love being able to look back on it and see how much progress I made over a short span of time. This gave me the inspiration to create mood boards throughout the years.
4. Limit your use of social media
I am constantly updating my social media. It takes up time and it adds up quickly. So help me god I expose my screentime. If you designate a specific time to browse social media, and limit your usage, you mitigate falling down a rabbit hole of yoda memes 6 hours later. It also helps to disable notifications that bombard your attention. Even if your job requires you to be on-top of social media, designate a block of time for that purpose, allowing you to track what other distractions interfere with your productivity.
5. Evaluate how you spend your “leisure time”
I know people who love to spend their “free time” binge-watching Netflix. I also know people who love to go to bookstores for hours, along with those who dedicate their time practicing for marathons. It all depends on what your goals are and what you value. If you genuinely enjoy watching 8 seasons of a show on Netflix within a period 4 days, then all the power to you. But if you are going to criticize yourself afterwards, it doesn’t really work in your favour. Once you bring it to your awareness, try your best to incrementally change those habits. A good starting point is to track how you spend your leisure time in order to make any further changes.
Originally published at https://www.chantalmaruto.com.
