manage time

5 Simple Time Management Skills To Complete Tasks Quickly

Productivity15th DecemberBy Jason Daly

5 Simple Time Management Skills To Complete Tasks Quickly And Efficiently

If you’re anything like me, your to-do list is never-ending, and your productivity levels are all over the place. But it doesn’t have to be that way! With a few simple time management skills, you can complete tasks quickly and efficiently, freeing up more time for the things you love.

What Are Time Management Skills?

Time management skills are the ability to use your time wisely and effectively. Everyone has the same amount of time, but some people seem to get more done than others. If you want to be more productive, you need to learn how to manage your time better.

Here are five time-management skills to help you get started

Purpose Focus Goal Setting Prioritization Delegation Conclusion

Purpose

Whether you want to build a fulfilling career, find more passion in your life, or make time for your health and wellness, all examples of time management skills start with a single foundation: finding your purpose.

Your purpose is what drives you to do what you do. It’s what motivates you to get up in the morning and face the day. It’s what gives you the strength to keep going when things get tough. And it’s what keeps you focused on your goals.

Finding your purpose can be a challenge, but it’s worth the effort. Once you know what your purpose is, you can start to figure out how to best use your time to achieve it.

There are a few questions you can ask yourself to help you find your purpose:

What are your values?What do you want to achieve in life?What makes you happy?What do you want to be known for?What difference do you want to make in the world?

Answering these questions can help you gain clarity on what your purpose is. From there, you can start to develop time-management skills that will help you achieve your goals.

Focus

“Where focus goes, energy flows.” The first step is getting clear on what it is you really want, and then aligning your ultimate goals with the actions you need to take today.

What are your goals? What do you want to achieve? What kind of life do you want to live?

Once you have a good understanding of your goals, it’s much easier to start taking the actions you need to take today in order to achieve them.

But what if you’re not sure what you want? Or what if your goals seem so far out of reach that you don’t even know where to start?

That’s where focus comes in.

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Focus is the key to achieving anything you want in life. It’s the difference between taking action towards your goals and just sitting around wishing things would change.

If you want to achieve something, you need to focus on it. You need to put your attention and energy into making it happen.

The more focused you are, the more likely you are to achieve your goals. And the more you achieve your goals, the more confident and capable you become.

So if you’re feeling lost or stuck, remember that all it takes is a little focus and some action to get things moving in the right direction.

Goal Setting

Now that you have your focus, the next step is to look at your goals. Setting goals is a necessary step to achieving success, but it’s not always easy to create effective goals.

The best goals are SMART goals: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and anchored within a time frame. Be clear about the outcome you plan to achieve and designate the time needed to achieve your goal.

Creating SMART goals can help increase your motivation, focus your efforts, and give you a greater sense of control over your progress. But before you start setting goals, it’s important to understand the different types of goals and how they can impact your motivation and likelihood of success.

There are four main types of goals:

Outcome goals: These are goals that are focused on the end result, such as losing weight, earning a specific amount of money, or finishing a project.Process goals: These are goals that focus on the steps you’ll take to achieve an outcome, such as exercising for 30 minutes every day or eating healthy meals.Performance goals: These are goals that focus on improving your performance, such as running a certain time or lifting a certain amount of weight.Behavioural goals: These are goals that focus on changing your behaviour, such as quitting smoking or spending less time on social media.

No matter what type of goal you’re setting, it’s important to make sure it’s SMART.

Once you’ve created your SMART goal, it’s important to create a plan of action. This will help you stay organized and focused as you work toward your goal.

Here are a few tips for creating a plan of action:

Divide your goal into smaller goals: This will allow you to focus on one task at a time and make it seem less daunting.Set a deadline for each goal: This will help you stay on track and motivated.Create a daily or weekly action plan: This will help you stay organized and focused.Find an accountability partner: This will help you stay on track and accountable.

Achieving your goals takes time and effort, but it’s worth it. Setting and achieving goals can help you boost your confidence, improve your sense of control and increase your overall happiness.

Prioritization

It’s tough to stay on top of everything. You’ve got a million things on your plate, and it feels like if you don’t get them all done, something bad will happen. So, how do you know where to focus your energy in order to get the results you want?

The answer is to track your activities for two weeks and take note of which of your core values they connect with.

Your core values are the things that are important to you and guide your decision-making. By understanding which of your actions connect with your core values, you can start to prioritize what’s important to you and focus your energy on the things that will help you achieve your goals.

To get started, make a list of your core values. These can be anything from “family” to “adventure” to “helping others.”

Once you have your list, start tracking your activities for two weeks. Every day, write down what you did and which of your core values it connects with.

At the end of the two weeks, look at your list and see which activities connected with your core values most often. These are the things that are most important to you and deserve your focus and energy.

Prioritizing your time and energy can be tough, but by understanding which of your actions connect with your core values, you can start to make decisions that will help you achieve your goals.

Delegation

As an entrepreneur, you are constantly pulled in a million different directions. You have to wear a lot of hats and juggle a lot of balls. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and bogged down in the details.

One of the most important things you can do to save time and energy is to learn to delegate. Outsourcing tasks is a critical skill that every successful entrepreneur and Fortune 500 CEO has to master.

When you delegate, you are essentially hiring someone else to do a task for you. This can be anything from hiring a virtual assistant to handle your email to hiring a web designer to create your website.

The key to successful delegation is to find someone who is reliable and whom you can trust to do a good job. Once you find that person, it’s important to give them clear instructions and then let them do their job.

If you try to micromanage every task, you will quickly become bogged down and frustrated. But if you learn to delegate, you will free up your time and energy to focus on the things that are most important to you.

There are a few key things to keep in mind when delegating tasks:

Be clear about what needs to be done. When you delegate a task, be sure to provide clear instructions on what needs to be done. The more specific you can be, the better.Choose the right person for the job. Not everyone is suited for every task. When delegating, be sure to choose someone who has the skills and ability to complete the task successfully.Set clear expectations. Be sure to set clear expectations for the person you’re delegating to. This includes deadlines, deliverables, and any other important details.Provide feedback. Once the task is completed, be sure to give feedback, both positive and constructive. This will help the person you delegated to learn and improve for future tasks.

So, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, take a step back and ask yourself if there are any tasks you can delegate to someone else. You may be surprised at how much of a difference it can make.

Conclusion

The five simple time management skills mentioned in this article can help you complete tasks quickly and efficiently.

However, these are just some of the many time-management skills that you can use to improve your productivity. There are many other time-management skills that you can learn and use to your advantage.

Experiment with different time management techniques and find the ones that work best for you.

If you really want to know more about the power of time management, then check out the featured resource below for a free report; download, read it and take action

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Waste Time To Be More Efficient

It seems counterintuitive to state that you could be more efficient by wasting time. But, the truth is, when you allow yourself some flexibility in the process, you have the potential to make efficiency happen.

This is not to say that you can spend six hours out of an eight-hour day wasting your time. You need to keep the ratio skewed to being productive. But, trying to get too much done without having some “you time,” is going to burn you out.

The phrase wasting time is actually a misnomer in this case. What you are doing is setting aside some time to be creative or to get some exercise, etc. It could even be a time that lets you clear your head by taking a walk or sitting in a room by yourself to get away from the grind.

People make proclamations that they are too busy to waste time in the manner specified. But, that could be a huge mistake. When you set aside that time to do something out of the ordinary or spontaneous, you often discover ways to do your main tasks better.

For instance, suppose you went to the gym during your lunch hour, and you took a class. In the class is someone who is involved in the same kind of business you are in but works for a different company.

You both get to talking and become friends. Then, you exchange ideas and in the process discover information that you incorporate into your work.

This exchange may not have happened in your workspace. Sometimes, it takes outside entities to get our creative juices flowing. Therefore it’s always a good idea to look for different ways to accomplish the same tasks or talk to people you wouldn’t normally talk to on a routine basis.

You will need to make sure this time-wasting process if it can be called that, is limited to a small percentage of your day or your to-do list. You still need to get your work done.

But, there is a reason why companies don’t harp onto their employees when they take some time to socialize in the coffee room, etc. Even within different departments, you can expand your knowledge base, and that is good for the company as a whole.

Some people will go overboard with this and end up being late on their deadlines. Avoid this at all costs. Set goals for the day that give you a certain amount of time for yourself after completing a large portion of your daily routine.

Can Being More Efficient Lower Stress?

When you learn how to be more efficient, you get more work done, and you tend to do it better, all things being equal. This makes your boss happy which means you won’t get in trouble for not getting your work complete. You may be given more responsibilities as a result, but as long as you maintain your efficiency, you should be able to add those to your workload.

Efficiency also means getting others to help you out. As you prove your effectiveness and your responsibilities increase, you should be able to get support for having others pitch in.

When you get support from your boss, it will be more difficult for your colleagues to resist your authority. Besides, when you show them how to be more efficient, it will get them on board. They will likely ask others for help when that happens.

This increase in efficiency is going to mean more work gets done, but it will take less time. You will constantly look for ways to do things better, whether it be via automation, or use delegation, etc.

Since you are getting more done with less, your stress levels will decrease, and you will be happier at work.

There will be some managers who don’t see the forest for the trees and the more work you get done, the more they see it as an opportunity to increase your workload.

This can get to the point of adding to your stress levels if they don’t support you. For instance, if they discourage you from delegating these new responsibilities, or they don’t give you the tools you need, this will overwhelm you and add to your stress. If talking it out with your manager won’t help, it may be time to look elsewhere.

The good news is your increased skills in being efficient will help you land a new job quicker.

When you learn how to be more efficient, you have greater control of your workload. Most people find they actually free up time when this happens due to economies of scale.

This free time gives you breathing room, and you won’t be so flustered all the time. You won’t be scrambling to get your work done by the deadlines.

Efficient people tend to have more opportunities available to them, in their current employment situations as well as outside the organization. They will always be in more demand. The great part about this is it won’t add to their stress levels.

How To Make Your Workouts More Efficient

One of the reasons people hate going to the gym is because they have to spend hours there to get any benefits. But, there are ways to make your workouts more efficient, which means you won’t have to spend as much time at the gym.

Do some of your exercises at home. If you have some dumbbells lying around, keep them in your family room or whatever room you spend most of your time. While watching television, stand up and use the dumbbells for one set. Do this on commercial breaks.

You can also do a set of sit-ups while watching television or whatever you do in your spare time. If you can get several sets in while you are home, you will have less to do at the gym. By staggering these exercises, you will be more inclined to do them.

Consider using the services of a personal trainer. These people go through a certification which means they learn the best exercises to do in the shortest time possible.

They will also show you how to do them right and correct you when you are not. The downside to this is they tend to be expensive and require you to work with them on a weekly basis.

You should also consider working out with a friend. It’s much easier to keep after each other than it is to try to motivate yourself. A friend may also help to motivate you into going to the gym when you start losing that drive.

It’s probably a good idea to keep the number of people you work with small. The larger a group is, the more they become distracted with talking too much, etc. This can still happen when you work with one person. If it does, you can try to choose someone else as your workout partner.

Another way to make your workouts more efficient is to come up with an actual plan for your workout. You could choose to hire a personal trainer just to come up with your plan and then do the workouts on your own.

But, there is also plenty of information on the internet that can help you structure your own plan. Try out different plans you may find and write them down. Make sure you are consistent in working your plan and have a way to measure your success.

Make sure that you factor in your diet when you are working out. Many people believe they can eat whatever they want since they are working out. This is false, and you will not get as much out of your workout when you do this.

Want to learn more about increasing efficiency and productivity? Then check out the featured resource below to grab a free report; download, read it and take action 😊

Manage Time With A Success Mindset

So, you’re anxious to reach those goals you’ve set for yourself and your online business, but you quickly realize that there’s only so much time in the day. No matter how hard you try, you feel as though you’re always one step behind.

One thing becomes very clear: You need a plan.

No matter what business or industry you’re involved in, learning how to effectively manage your time is one of the most important skills that will set you on the path towards ongoing success.

Without a system designed to place a value on each hour you spend working on your business, you’ll find yourself frantically scrambling to meet deadlines, follow through on launches and prioritize what is most important to your business.

This article has been written to help you get more done in less time by levelling up your productivity score quickly and easily.

The strategies contained in this article are designed to help you learn to value your time, make informed decisions about the kind of work you’re focused on and ultimately, beat the clock.

Let’s begin. There’s no time to waste. 😊

Lose The Employee Mindset!

One of the reasons so many people seem to struggle to gain traction in their business is entirely due to the way they manage their daily activities.

This typically points to one major problem: People are stuck in an employee mindset!

They’re so used to that 9-5 grind that they aren’t equipped to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset, which will help them make the transition so they can train themselves to focus on the most important tasks: prioritizing their time and assigning value to the time they spend building their business.

When you work for yourself, your time is more valuable than it has ever been. You’re no longer an employee, paid for each workday regardless of the outcome. If you aren’t ruthless with focusing on the most important tasks, you can easily fall behind or find yourself constantly treading water trying to stay afloat.

As an entrepreneur, you’re solely responsible for your business, so your ability to value your time and make every minute count will have a major impact on how successful you’ll be.

Fail to make this important shift in the way you spend your time, and you’ll always struggle to get to where you want to be.

Thankfully, it’s not all that difficult to break that cycle and transition your way of thinking from that of an employee to a boss. It starts with preparing yourself for the realities of being an entrepreneur.

This means you need to:

Set Realistic Goals. You must be honest about what you’re capable of getting done on any given day. Then you need to determine how many hours you’re willing to invest in your business and then assign those hours to specific projects.

Break tasks down into smaller, focused projects. Tim Ferris, author of “The 4-Hour Work Week”, refers to this as “chunking”. We’ll talk more about the importance of this in a bit because it’s a great way to boost your productivity and get more done in less time.

Cut out Distractions. Your work environment will change drastically from what you may be used to as an employee, and you need to optimize your workspace so that it’s supporting a focused, productive workflow.

Identify the Truth Behind Procrastination. This is one of the hardest things to acknowledge at times, especially if you’ve gotten into the habit of procrastinating for reasons you aren’t aware of.

We’ll talk more about this in an upcoming chapter because it deserves a section of its own. It’s that important.

Be Ruthless in Prioritizing. Does your email really need to stay open while you work so that all those notifications cause you to continuously check your inbox?

Cutting out distractions, as we just mentioned, plays a huge role in your ability to prioritize. Every hour needs to count, and you’ll get a lot more done if you focus each segment of your time on only one task. No outside interference!

Now let’s take a closer look at how you can learn the chunking technique, which will immediately boost your daily output and keep you focused on meeting your goals.

Time Chunking 101

For years, I would fire up the laptop and start my day doing several different things at once. I’d check email, then maybe do some writing, then head over to social media, and then back to email yet again.

This cycle cost me valuable time, and while I thought I was proficient at multi-tasking, the truth is even the most seasoned go-getter will struggle to get everything done if they’re trying to tackle all things at once. Time management needs to be more purposeful to be effective.

Chunking is where you decide to focus on just one major task at a time (or even per day). Depending on the type of business you’re involved in, this might include one day exclusively focused on graphic design, then one day dedicated to marketing.

Consider creating a detailed task list of all the important aspects of your business; the things that keep it all afloat and absolutely require your time.

This can be tricky because we tend to things all things are important, but the reality is, they’re not.

When it comes to any business, there are a handful of critical tasks that need to be taken care of daily, and the rest just adds a little more gas to the tank. They can be done later once the main tasks are out of the way.

You need to learn to place a value on every ounce of “fuel” you have left. That’s where chunking comes into play.

By focusing on one main task a day, or at least per segment of allocated time, you are not only able to focus strictly on getting it done on time, but the quality of your work will likely be much better because you’re not being constantly derailed. Give it a try!

Don’t be tempted to multi-task because this is a productivity killer! So many people make a big deal of being able to multi-task, but all you end up with are a number of tasks that are partly done and an increasing amount of frustration because you never seem to be able to clear things off your to-do-list; sticking to one task at a time is much more productive, believe me!

And remember, one way to stay productive is to be focused and many people struggle with this. If you want to learn more about staying focused, check out the featured resource below for a free report; download, read it and take action 😊

manage time