For years I’d say “If only there were a couple more hours a day”! I know a lot of you probably feel the same, but I hate to burst your bubble. You probably need better time management skills. Trust me. You’re not alone. I’m Cape Verdean, and if you know any, you know we can never get anywhere on time. I swear it’s in our genes. If the party starts at 5 pm, nobody is showing up until at least 7 pm! I know it’s a problem lol. All my life, I’ve struggled with managing my time, and this year I’ve been on a mission to be better and BE ON TIME! It’s a working progress, but I think I’ve gotten a little better thanks to these tips!
Say No
How many times have you had your things to do, and someone suckers you into doing something that derails your plans?! Probably a lot. You probably feel guilty for saying no to last-minute drinks with a friend or over-committing because you feel bad saying no. I’m telling you for the sake of self-care say no if you can’t make it. It’s okay. We’re continually doing things for other people and putting ourselves last. If you have a plan and someone asks you to hang out or do something that’s not important or an emergency, and you say no, they will understand. You’ll also be happy at the end of the day when you were able to be very productive with your time.
Plan ahead Make a scheduled list
I saw one of my best friends making a scheduled list that was very detailed, and I thought for sure she’s insane. This list had the time frame of her plan and even included buffer time for traveling. I finally realized why she did that, and the answer is plain and simple. IT WORKS! If you list all the things you need to get done and provide a time frame for them, you can set realistic goals for the day. Eventually, you’ll run out of time in your daily plan and begin to see what’s realistic.
Try to stick to the time frames you created and check off the tasks as you complete them. Your mind will be organized, and you’ll save so much time sticking to your time frame. I know this works because whenever I make a list, my day goes smoothly, and twenty-four hours seems like plenty. Plus, my friend is always on time!
Wake up Earlier
There are so many benefits to waking up earlier, and improving your time management is one of them. If you wake up at 8 am on your day off versus 11 am, that’s three extra hours you have to use wisely for anything you want or need to do. You won’t have to go through the day rushing and being behind on your plans.
Use Waiting Time Wisely
A lot of time is wasted while we’re waiting for things like doctors’ appointments, traffic, or picking someone up at work. I always try to keep my planner in my bag so I can do things while I’m waiting. For example, while I’m waiting, I’ll try to do minor, but necessary things like my monthly budget or my grocery list. Even if it’s just 15 min, it makes a difference, especially if you add up all the times you waited for something throughout the day.
Stop Multitasking
I’m so guilty of trying to multitask. My brain is going a mile a minute, and I’ve got 99 tabs open in my mind, so I’m always trying to do more than one thing. Sure it seems smart at the moment to kill two birds with one stone, but it doesn’t always work out as planned. If you focus on finishing one task at a time, you will be that much more efficient with your time. You can complete one task and move on to the next faster than if you were trying to do two things at once.
Being a Perfectionist
We all want everything to be perfect, but sometimes everything can’t be. Imagine you spend your whole day today perfecting every single thing you did. That would lead to wasting a lot of time, and as we all know, time is money. Choose a couple of things that need to be perfect and do the rest of your tasks to the best of your ability without it having to be perfect.
Sleep
According to a Harvard study on www.Forbes.com, the average worker loses 11.3 productivity days due to insomnia. That’s about 271 hours! You can get a lot more things done when you’re well-rested. When you’re tired, your desire to complete tasks will decrease, or you might not be as fast at finishing them.
Time is not money at all it’s more valuable than that because you can never get it back. Instead of wasting my time, these are the tips that i”ve been using the past couple of months. I must say they’ve been working when I use them..lol. Some days I still slip up, and that’s okay, but hopefully, these time management tips help someone else like me who’s always late to the party!