How to manage your time like a pro?

I would not pretend to have the perfect ingredients for brewing up a magical potion of time management. I learned through my challenge of keeping up with the time that no one has the perfect recipe. Everyone makes their own recipe based on their own strengths and weaknesses.

The biggest challenge I faced with time was that it moved very fast for me which affected most of my life decisions for better and for worse. Likewise, you may have struggled with time in a similar or different way. Today, I will not dictate the hard and fast rules of time management, instead I will guide you to find your perfect time-management recipe.

Be self-aware

The key ingredient for being a good time manager is self-awareness. I used to schedule most of my school work on weekends, but I was never able to complete it no matter how hard I tried. I realized that holidays were not the most productive part of my week so I stopped scheduling any work on the weekends. You should try to schedule your major tasks around the most productive time of your day or week. Do not enforce a timetable if you know that you would not be able to follow it. Otherwise, you will just waste time with no end result.

De-clutter your brain

Secondly, de-clutter your brain as much as possible! The easiest way to free up your mind is to write down any important task or idea that comes up and then forget about it for a later time. This will help you remain attentive and focused on the goals of the day instead of worrying about unimportant work.

Timetable is time-waste

Thirdly, do not bother making a timetable because it never works out. All you need is clarity in your long-term goals based on which you can plan your daily activities. You can set these goals at the start of each month and plan your to-do list around these goals daily. The best time for making a task list is either before going to sleep each night or before starting the day each morning. Once you have completed a certain task, mark it down because it creates a sense of relief and achievement.

Don’t let emotions play you

You should not let emotions get the best of you since you may end up spending a lot of time hung over on things that do not matter. We all face ups and downs in our life which result in happy, sad or angry feelings. It is these times when we make the worst decisions in our life. Whenever you are in such a scenario, think of this simple line; “This shall pass too” and move on. If you have achieved success, be humble about it and think of ways for further improving yourself. If you have failed to achieve the goal, take note of your mistakes and try not to repeat them the next time around.

Learn to say ‘No’

You should never say ‘Yes’ to each and everything that life throws at you. If you are clear about yourself and your goals then it is easy to say ‘No’ to the right thing at the right time. It is always better to polish few skills rather than to be a jack of all trades. I have found it the hard way that saying ‘No’ can be beneficial and sometimes, saves a lot of time.

Charles Dugg in his book “The Power of Habit” said,

“Habits, scientists says, emerge because the brain is constantly looking for ways to save effort…….The brain will try to make almost any routine into a habit because habits allow our minds to ramp down more often.”

This quotation and the book itself proves that if you stick to a routine long enough you can embed anything in your brain wiring even time-management.

Let us know in the comment section if this article was helpful for you.

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