assignment of time management

The 26 most effective time management techniques

The right time management technique can really help you boost your productivity. Here are the 26 most effective (and most popular) time management techniques you can start practicing to improve your productivity.

What are time management techniques?

Time management itself revolves around choices — you decide what you need to do, when you need to finish, and what tasks you need to tackle in order to reach your goals.

If you choose to make high-value, goal-oriented tasks a priority, finish them before the deadline, but also leave time for leading a healthy life, you'll be able to say that you've managed your time successfully. But how do you do that?

Well, by using the right time management techniques.

Time management techniques are a set of rules and principles you need to follow in order to be more productive and efficient with your time, make better and faster decisions, as well as accomplish more in less time and with less effort.

There are plenty of time management techniques based on approved time management best practices:

• Writing down what you need to do today
• Working on important and urgent tasks first
• Saving time for priority tasks, routine tasks, but also breaks
• Proper stress management
• Proper team management
• Tracking project progress and identifying lags

Most time management techniques deal with one or more of the listed points, and you can make the choice for your time management techniques by looking over what you want to improve in your routine.

Apart from that, you'll also need to consider the time management skills you need to improve and your personal time management style. Moreover, you can choose particular time management techniques for work, so that you better organize your workdays, too.

Time management skills

Effective time management skills include:

• Setting SMART goals — make sure the goals you set for yourself are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
• Effective planning — make sure you have clear objectives, as well as defined tasks and resources in order to make a clear plan that will lead you to your goals.
• Stress management — make sure you manage your stress with stress relieving strategies and tactics, in order to feel more relaxed while doing your work.
• Proper task delegation — delegating tasks helps you ease the workload and share it with competent colleagues and employees.
• Avoiding distractions — distractions take away from the time you should be working (or even relaxing), so you should learn how to avoid them.
• Single-tasking — focusing on one task at a time helps you deliver quality end results much better than when you multitask.
• Saying "No" — this little two-letter word will help you save more time for your own priorities.
• Setting priorities — Investing time into the right tasks will ask for less effort, but bring better results. This is also known as the 20/80 rule, or the Pareto principle.
• Beating procrastination — Identify the causes of your procrastination and tackle them.

In order to improve your time management efforts, you'll need to practice these skills.

Apart from the benefits of managing time at work better, efficient time management is also a vital skill for students.

Here are the most crucial time management strategies for students:

• Making a master schedule. Once you have a clear studying agenda, you can make time blocks for particular exams or subjects. This will help you prepare for exams more effectively.
• Setting deadlines for each study session/task. For example, set a clear time limit for writing an essay — such as Friday by 5 p.m. — so that you don’t procrastinate.

Time management styles

Not all time management techniques are suitable for everyone — we don't all work the same, so we don't all face the same time management issues. Everyone has a prevailing time management method of dealing with work, i.e. a time management style, one that brings its own time management issues - if you think about it, you may find that you're a:

Time Martyr

Procrastinator, underestimator, firefighter, perfectionist.

Let’s review each time management style in more detail.

You fill your schedules with requests from others, instead of focusing on what's important to you. Your own tasks feel like too much responsibility, so you jump at the chance to take on anything else - you gain validation from others, but neglect the tasks that would bring you self-validation.

Issues : multitasking, missed deadlines, ineffective scheduling, skipping breaks

Time Martyrs at least tackle other people's tasks — Procrastinators delay work on everything remotely important to anyone. Some claim they work better under pressure, but the results they get are often dampened by the stress and anxiety this practice brings.

Issues : missed deadlines, ineffective scheduling, multitasking

Your heart's in the right place, but you're easily distracted. A random request from a colleague is as likely to catch your fleeting attention as is a 20-minute phone call from your proprietor.

Issues : multitasking, missed deadlines, ineffective scheduling

You estimate that handling a task will take you much less than it actually does — you rarely live up to your optimistic deadlines.

Issues : missed deadlines, ineffective scheduling

You try to tackle everything on your own, right now — you're constantly putting out "fires" left and right, and don't feel fulfilled unless you're working on 10 tasks at once, and feeling "busy". Once you're done with that, you simply ask: "What's next?" — which is a practice that will lead you to burnout , sooner or later.

Issues : missed deadlines, skipping breaks, ineffective scheduling

You're similar to the procrastinator and distractor, but your inability to finish a task at least has a noble cause — you want everything to be perfect. You'll work overtime , and invest all your efforts into delivering a high-quality project — but you often don't know how to quit while you're ahead, so you may miss your deadlines and risk burnout.

Issues : missed deadlines, skipping breaks

All the issues listed alongside your time management styles can be solved, and all the necessary time management skills can be perfected, if you only choose the right time management techniques.

Best time management techniques

Which technique is best to help you manage time better?

That depends mostly on your needs — whether you need to organize your work time, study time, or track your goals .

In the following section, we covered the 26 most effective time management strategies you can try.

You parse your work into 25-minute work sessions (pomodoros), and 5-minute breaks. After 4 cycles, you take a 20-minute break.

Developed by Francesco Cirillo, the Pomodoro technique got its name after the Pomodoro-shaped kitchen timer Francesco used to track progress in his work.

• Effective planning
• Stress management
• Avoiding distractions
• Single-tasking
• Setting priorities
• Saying "No"
• Ineffective scheduling
• Skipping breaks
• Multitasking
• Missed deadlines

How Pomodoro works

• Set your timer for 25 minutes.
• Focus on your work during these 25 minutes.
• Stop as soon as the alarm goes off.
• Take a 5-minute break.
• Resume work for another 25 minutes after the break.
• After four 25/5 minute cycles, take a 20-minute break.
• Repeat the process until finished with task or project.

For this purpose, you can try the Pomodoro Timer in Clockify, or learn more about how to start using Pomodoro .

• Better time estimates for your work.
• Fixed work time — you'll be more likely to focus.
• Regular breaks help eliminate burnout and improve performance.
• Pomodoros are an easy way to track profitability and productivity.

You have to stop working once the 25 minutes run out — If you're doing particularly well, this is counterproductive.

Following fixed intervals — the prescribed 25/5 minute sessions may not work for you.

A visual time management technique that helps you follow the progress with your projects — you track how the tasks move across differently labeled columns.

This technique was adopted in the 1960s in Japan by Taiichi Ono, for Toyota Automotive , to help increase their productivity, and effectiveness in manufacture.

• SMART goal setting
• Proper task delegation

How Kanban works

You can use project management software , a pen and paper, or a whiteboard and sticky notes.

Determine the number of stages in your project or task, and create the columns. For example, you can create four columns, and move tasks within a project across these stages:

• Backlog — you brainstorm, and define all your tasks here. You then decide what tasks you're supposed to move to the To Do column, and what tasks can wait their turn.
• To Do — these are the tasks you'll work on.
• In Progress — these are the tasks you are currently working on.
• Done — tasks you've finished.

• No one-size-fits-all template, which means you can customize the principles to fit your own needs.
• Clear visual representation of your entire work situation: straightforward representation of your progress with a project.
• You can break the project into small, manageable tasks, and track their progress across the board.
• The team is likely to focus on progressing with their tasks, in order to reach the "Done" column.
• No one-size-fits-all template, which means creating a Kanban board can be time-consuming, as you have to decide how many columns to include and how to name them.
• Kanban doesn't help your order tasks directly, in terms of importance and urgency.
• May be difficult to predict when your team will finish the tasks (and project) because the only measure of progress is moving across columns; there is no time component.

Getting Things Done

A five-step method that allows you to brainstorm your tasks, and make them into a straightforward to-do list.

Getting Things Done (GTD) was introduced by David Allen in his book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity .

How Getting Things Done works

• Capture — note every task that springs to mind.
• Clarify — determine whether the task is actionable and whether it has concrete steps you can lay out and follow.
• Organize — file tasks under different labels, and provide them with context (eg. home, office, request from Tom).
• Reflect — from time to time, review your tasks: What is the next step for the task? Do you really need to finish it this week?
• Engage — once you have noted, identified as actionable, properly filed, and reviewed your tasks, simply start working on them.
• You'll keep all your tasks, assignments and projects in perspective.
• You'll clear your head once you lay out every task you can think of in front of you
• You can use GTD to boost both your personal, and professional productivity.
• You have to use your willpower to progress with your work — GTD doesn't provide guidelines for dealing with distractions.
• Organization of tasks happens by context, and not by project, which may be unhelpful for people who are used to parsing tasks in relation to their project.
• Too many items on the list can render it ineffective, as you'll be less likely to structure your day properly.

Eat that Frog

This time management technique is aimed at prioritizing tasks. You pick out your most important, or worst task (this is your "frog"), and tackle it first thing tomorrow. Once you have finished with your "frog", you can move on to other tasks for the day, but not before.

This may be a task that requires all your attention (due to its importance or difficulty), one that you've been avoiding (because it's boring, demanding or difficult).

The "Eat that Frog" premise was developed by Brian Tracy, in his book Eat that Frog! 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time. .

How Eat that frog works

You have to identify tasks based on their priority, and label them accordingly:

• Task A — most important task, the one you should tackle first, or suffer the consequences.
• Task B — second most important task, the one you should tackle after Task A. Less important, but still vital.
• Task C — a task you could do, but you wouldn't suffer consequences if you didn't do it.
• Task D — a task you should ideally delegate to someone else, and allocate this time to Task A.
• Task E — a task you don't really need to do, so you're free to eliminate it.

• Doing the most important or worst task first thing in the morning guarantees the rest of the items in your daily schedule will be easier to accomplish — this will motivate and energize you.
• Prioritizing tasks becomes easier.
• You'll have the rest of the day left for more enjoyable tasks.
• A difficult and demoralizing start of the day.
• It may be rigid and impractical if your most important task changes during the course of the day.

You allocate time periods (timeboxes) to activities; you work within this time period, and then stop once the set time runs out. Timeboxing often includes fixed deadlines, so it's used in project management.

Timeboxing works as a more general approach to the Pomodoro technique — instead of 25-minute sessions (timeboxes), the period of time within a timebox isn't as fixed.

James Martin was the first to explain the technique in more detail, in one of the chapters of his book Rapid Application Development .

How timeboxing works

• Lay out all your activities and tasks on a list.
• Decide what you want to accomplish with these tasks — define your goals
• If a task is important and requires great focus, allocate a longer time period to it (for example, 1 or 2 hours).
• If it's a difficult task, parse it, and allocate shorter time periods (for example, 20-30 minutes) to parts of it, to make the task easier to manage.
• Start from your first task, and work your way down.
• When the allocated time for a task is up, stop working on it.
• Take a break.
• Review what you've managed to accomplish.
• Turn your attention to other time boxes in your schedule.

• Great for a large number of small tasks — it'll be easier to keep track of them and tackle them, once you have them laid out in timeboxes.
• Deadlines are an important component, so you'll be focused on achieving as much as you can until the timebox expires.
• Natural perfectionists will have less time to tweak every detail, as they'll have to move on to the next task in the schedule.
• Timeboxing doesn't allow multitasking, so you'll be able to focus on one task at a time.
• You have to stop working on a task when the time for it expires, which is counterproductive when you find yourself immersed in a task.
• It may be challenging to stick to a strict schedule determined by timeboxes, when you consider unavoidable interruptions, such as phone calls.
• Your timeboxing calculations may be off. Too short timeboxes — you may have to stop before you're even immersed in a task. Too long timeboxes — you may lose focus, or start procrastinating to pass the time until the end of the timebox.

Time blocking

You block out time for a specific activity or task and work on it during this time period.

This time management technique was made popular by Elon Musk.

How time blocking works

There are 4 stages to Time Blocking:

• Define your tasks and activities, identify priorities
• Assign each task with a specific time block — number of minutes or hours, with specific days, start and end times noted in your calendar.
• The time block can be shorter, for example, 10 minutes, or longer, for example, 90 minutes. This depends on the priority level of the task.
• Block more time for priority tasks; also, allocate these tasks to the time of day when you're the most productive.
• Block your less productive time of the day for less important tasks.
• Note everything in a calendar: the day, the start time, and the end time.
• Start working on the first daily task (usually your priority task).
• Work your way down your schedule.
• Take breaks between time blocks, and schedule these breaks.
• Hold a flexible view on your time blocking schedule: if you receive an urgent task, block an appropriate amount of time for it, and start working on it as soon as possible.
• If you see a task takes longer or shorter than you estimated, revise the schedule for other tasks you've planned for that day.

• A comprehensive way of keeping track of your work day.
• Works great with Cal Newport's idea of deep work , as you have to stick to a fixed schedule for when you'll focus on a task.
• You'll feel like you have better control of your workload.
• Unexpected interruptions may disrupt your schedule.
• Same as with Timeboxing, your time calculations may be off — you may procrastinate while waiting for a too long time block to end or rush to beat the time during a too short time block.
• Time-consuming to plan time blocks in your calendar for all your activities, every day.

This is an approach for managing your email inbox — you aim at keeping your email inbox empty, or close to empty.

The approach was developed by Merlin Mann , an expert in the field of productivity.

How Inbox-Zero works

To reach inbox zero, you have to:

• Determine the time of day you'll work on managing your inbox — stick to this time.
• Silence notifications, and don't leave the email tab in your browser open.
• Respond right away to most important emails, and emails you can answer quickly
• Move emails that'll take you longer to answer to a "needs a response" folder (allocate some of your "manage inbox" time to these responses)
• Decide what messages you can delegate, and then forward them to other team members
• Delete and archive unwanted, or old messages

• A great method for managing an inbox with a lot of traffic.
• Decreases the number of unread messages, those stopping you from finding your important emails.
• Focused on allocating inbox management only to a specific part of the day, so you won't be distracted by emails throughout the day.
• Time-consuming, considering you have to forward, archive and delete a lot of the messages.
• Only deals with inbox management, so it has to be combined with other time management techniques, ones that focus on managing tasks and projects.
• Problematic for people who converse with clients and colleagues through email — important emails may get lost.

Who's Got the Monkey

The emphasis of this method is on delegating tasks and is mostly aimed at project managers, though others can make use of it as well. Monkeys are tasks, and you have to consider how to deal with them.

There are 3 types of "monkeys" and managed time:

• Boss-imposed time: activities the boss required.
• System-imposed time: colleagues' requests and questions.
• Self-imposed time: the actions you decide to undertake. You may use it for your own tasks and ideas (discretionary time), or to tackle subordinates' problems and requests (subordinate-imposed time).

You aim to eliminate subordinate-imposed time, control system and boss-imposed time, and increase discretionary time.

The principle is based on William Oncken's book Managing Management Time: Who's Got the Monkey. .

How Who’s Got The Monkey works

• Recognize and describe the "monkey" — specify what the task is, and what actions are needed for its completion.
• Assign the "monkey" — allocate the "monkey" to a person.
• If a monkey is important and allows no mistakes, then you should recommend what should be done and act if needed.
• If you're certain the person assigned with the monkey can handle it, act and then provide advice.
• Checking on the "monkey" — Specify when you'll provide follow-up for the monkey, to make sure everything is on track.

• Managers can effectively use their time.
• It gets easier to solve employee problems.
• Gives a clear perspective on who is assigned with what.
• A straightforward way of delegating tasks.
• Deals only with management and delegating tasks — should be combined with other time management methods for better productivity results overall.

Action Method

The Action Method is based on the premise that everything is a project: you view all your activities as projects, parse, and manage them accordingly. These projects can be:

• Managing your finances
• Administrative work
• Whatever you want

How Action Method work

When using the Action Method, you organize your activities, tasks, and events as a project. Then, you parse your activities into three categories:

• Action Steps : these are the tasks that you need to complete. Such assignments help you progress with your work. For example, these are tasks like — redrafting a proposal, sending out a finished software, and debugging your latest app.
• References : these are notes, a list of links to relevant research, and outlines that help you tackle your Action Steps. In other words, it’s everything that doesn't directly make you progress, but serves as a reference point.
• Backburner items : all ideas and plans you're not currently working on, but may put into motion someday.

• Viewing all your daily activities as projects means you'll have steps laid out for each activity, so you're likely to be faster and more efficient.
• Time-consuming and potentially overwhelming — viewing everything as a project means you'll spend a lot of time planning.
• No schedule for reviewing backburner items — no clarity on when, or whether you should tackle these items.

The Eisenhower Matrix

A time management technique in which tasks are prioritized is known as the Eisenhower Matrix — this technique is based on labeling each task as: important / not important, and urgent / not urgent.

You assess the tasks according to their importance and urgency and tackle them in relation to this.

The Eisenhower Matrix is named after the American president Eisenhower, who was known for productivity during his time in Office.

How the Eisenhower Matrix works

List all your tasks, and divide them into 4 quadrants:

• The 1st quadrant — Tasks that are important and urgent. You should do them immediately.
• The 2nd quadrant — Tasks that are important, but are not urgent. You should make a plan when you'll tackle them.
• The 3rd quadrant — Tasks that are not important, but are urgent. You should delegate these tasks to your colleagues.
• The 4th quadrant — Tasks that are not important and not urgent. You should eliminate them altogether from your schedule.

• A straightforward principle to prioritizing tasks.
• Allows you to consider what tasks you can delegate or eliminate.
• May be difficult to determine the importance and urgency level of tasks.
• Present bias may stop you from implementing this technique in full — you'll feel an urge to focus on urgent tasks, which are not necessarily important.

Biological Prime Time

Your Biological Prime Time is the time of day when you have the highest energy levels, so you're most likely to be productive with your work.

Once you determine your biological prime time, you'll be able to allocate your most important, priority tasks to this time.

The term "Biological Prime Time" was first introduced by Sam Carpenter in his book Work the System.

How Biological Prime Time works

• You'll have to experiment with your work across several days, say 20 days.
• Track your focus, energy, motivation, and attention span during these days.
• It's best that you track these variables within a fixed time period, say, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day.
• Chart your results every hour, and every day.
• After 20 days, analyze your results — you're bound to notice that a certain time of day stands out as the time when you were able to perform the most work.
• Once you have identified your most productive hours of the day across these 20 days, start allocating your future priority tasks to this time.
• Allocate less important tasks to the time periods you've noticed that your focus, energy levels, and attention span are low.

• You'll identify when you're the most productive and be able to allocate all crucial tasks to this time period.
• You'll identify when you're less productive, and be able to allocate less important, but still vital activities, such as managing your emails and making phone calls.
• You'll have to tweak and change your routine often, and track it for a longer time if you want to identify your biological prime time right.
• If you're subordinate to someone and have to adhere to deadlines, knowing your prime biological time won't be of use - you'll have to work according to your bosses' requests and deadlines.

The Productivity Journal

The Productivity Journal is somewhat similar to a regular journal, only you don't note in your personal thoughts in it, you mostly note in your actions — activities you can complete and later reflect on.

This technique is versatile in the actions you note in, so you can:

• Record your ideas and work thoughts — you may bring them into action later.
• Record all the tasks you've finished within a day — actions you've completed and you can reflect on.
• List all the tasks you're supposed to tackle the next day — actions that await you.

How the Productivity Journal works

• Each day, define your to-do list in a notebook, or appropriate software — keep the items simple, clear and achievable.
• Track the amount of time it takes you to finish each item — you can use Clockify for this purpose and store items from your to-do list as time entries.
• Analyze your time results and tweak your future to-do lists accordingly.
• Self-rate your productivity for each item on a scale from 1 to 10.
• Make a list of distractions (social media, YouTube, your phone), so you'll be more likely to avoid them.
• Break each item on your to-do list into smaller, more manageable tasks.
• In addition to tasks, set goals you wish to accomplish with these tasks or groups of tasks.
• What tasks you've accomplished with success
• What issues you've encountered
• Whether you were able to overcome them

• Holds all your entire productivity history — you'll have all your ideas, to-do lists, deadlines for tasks and projects in one place.
• Writing down your issues can relieve you of stress .
• The journal can get unstructured — a lot depends on your own ability to structure the journal, as there are no clear rules for this.
• Perhaps a too extensive account of your productivity results — you may have to spend some time searching to find a past to-do list, comment on a specific task, and similar items in the journal.

The Seinfeld Method

A specific calendar system claimed to be inspired by Jerry Seinfeld's productivity quote: "Don't break the chain".

Each day you work on a skill, you mark that day with red, and form a chain of "red" days. If you don't work for a day, you don't mark it with red, and you "break the chain".

How the Seinfeld method works

For example, you want to improve your coding skills:

• You get a red marker and a big calendar, one that shows all the days in the year.
• Each day you code, even for a short time period, you mark that day with the red marker.
• The days marked red continue to grow as you continue coding each day, and they form a chain.
• If you miss a day of coding, you don't mark that day with red, and you "break the chain".
• Code each day so you "don't break the chain".

• As you watch the chain of days marked red grow, you'll feel motivated to continue the chain and work on your skill every day.
• You'll aim to work and progress every day, so you'll be less likely to procrastinate as you race to do some work before the day ends.
• Each day, you have to select a task that is relevant enough for your skill, but also achievable, which can get tricky.
• Some days, it'll be hard for you to find any time for your work, due to other priorities and obligations, so you may have to "break the chain".

The 10-Minute Rule

You tell yourself you'll work on a task for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes are up, you determine whether you'll stop or keep going.

How the 10-Minute rule works

• Select a task.
• Start working on it immediately.
• After ten minutes have passed, reflect on your focus and patience: do you want to stop working on the task, or do you wish to continue for 10 minutes more?
• Work for 10-minute time periods until you want to stop working on this task for the day.

• Parsing your task into small time chunks will help you gain a sense of momentum because you're only obliged to work on it 10 minutes at a time.
• When you work only 10 minutes at a time, you don't feel overwhelmed, even with bigger tasks.
• Considering 10 minutes is a small amount of time, chances are you'll continue working for more 10-minute sets after the first one.
• Starting work immediately after you've selected the task means you'll have no time for negative thoughts and predictions.
• Less chance for procrastination — you'll make it a habit to dive right into work.
• From a psychological point of view, it's easier to tackle a 90 minutes task as 9x10 minute chunks.
• Stopping every 10 minutes to consider whether you're up for another 10 minutes of work can get distracting, especially if you've immersed yourself in a task.

To-Done List

Instead of listing what you need to do, you list your accomplishment and the tasks you've finished so far, within a certain time period.

How To-Done list works

• At the end of each work week, take 10-15 minutes to note down everything you've accomplished.
• Next to each item include what you've learned while working on it.
• Also for each item, note what you could do differently next time, to improve your results.
• Gives you perspective on the amount of work you've done, and the amount of work you have left to do.
• It's motivating to see how much you've accomplished within a certain time period.
• An easy way to track your progress.
• Knowing what you've finished so far gives you a general idea on what amount of work you have for the upcoming period, but you get no details — no set deadlines, no specific number of tasks and projects.

To-Don't List

A contrast to the classical To-do List — you list all the tasks and activities you won't do.

How To-Don’t list works

• You make a list before each workday.
• Note in all the tasks, ideas, and habits you'll aim NOT to do, or think about.
• These can be distractions, overly ambitious ideas you objectively have no time to work on or bad habits you want to quit.
• Include the word "Don't" in front of each listed item.
• Cross over each item at the end of the day if you've managed to avoid it.

• By listing all the activities you'll no longer focus on, you'll mentally let go of them, and free more time for important matters.
• Keeps you in check regarding your bad habits, such as spending time on social media when you should be working.
• Makes delegating tasks easier, as you'll be able to identify what tasks you perform, but should delegate instead.
• Gives no specifications on the tasks you should do.

Flowtime Technique

You set a specific time period, between 10-90 minutes, and use it as an experimental timeframe for your work. If you find that you can focus after the time period has expired, you continue working. If you find you cannot focus anymore, take a break.

Flowtime technique stems from the Pomodoro technique , but it's less rigid in terms of time for work sessions and breaks. It's also similar to the Timeboxing technique, only you're encouraged to consider whether you'll continue working once the time has expired, not forced to stop.

Flowtime was developed by a software engineer, Dionatan Moura, in 2015.

How Flowtime technique works

With a preset number of minutes for your initial work session:

• Decide to work for a certain amount of time (for example, 30 minutes), and set the timer.
• You work until the timer stops.
• Then, you consider whether you can focus on the task for some minutes more. For example, if you find you can focus for 10 minutes more, set the alarm to 10 minutes.
• When the 10 minutes expire, ask yourself whether you can maintain focus for more time.
• At any point, when a given time period expires (after the 30 minutes, or after the additional 10 minutes) if you find you can't focus any longer, take a break.

You can start the timer in Clockify as soon as you start working. Stop the timer, to see how much time you've spent on this work session. When you feel you need a break, stop working.

• You get the benefits of Pomodoro's work sessions/break time routine + more freedom in deciding how long the work sessions and breaks will last.
• If you find your initial choice for the number of minutes for the work session is too long, you can change it next time.
• By using a time tracker to see you when you're most productive, you can know when you are able to focus the longest.
• No prescribed time for the length of work sessions may lead you to forget about breaks and risk burnout.
• Parsing tasks is entirely up to you — you may prove unsuccessful in parsing them into manageable chunks.
• General lack of rules.

You identify your most important goal and allocate time each day to work on it specifically.

Greg McKeown was the one who clarified the concept in his book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less .

How Top Goal works

• You pick your Top Goal.
• Schedule 2 hours to work on it every day.
• It's best that you schedule these 2 hours for the early time of day, when most people are asleep, to make sure no one interrupts you.
• Stick to the schedule.
• Avoid social media, YouTube, and other distractions during this time.
• Only work on your Top Goal during these 2 hours.
• Leave the rest of the day for other activities.

• By working on a task continuously for 2 hours you practice your deep work capabilities.
• You're likely to make great progress with the tasks that lead to your Top Goal, as you'll be allocating time specifically to them each day.
• No specifications on how to avoid distractions, which are a big threat to your 2-hour work bubble.
• When just starting out, 2 hours of focused work may be too much to handle.
• In contrast, seasoned practitioners may find 2 hours to be too little time, yet they are only allowed to work on their Top Goal within this fixed time frame.

Pareto Analysis

The Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto created this technique.

The gist of the Pareto Analysis (also known as the 80/20 rule) is that 20% of our actions are responsible for 80% of outcomes.

The idea is to find your key activities — the 20% ones that make a difference — and focus on them. This way, you’ll be able to achieve as much as 80% of your desired outcomes.

How Pareto Analysis works

• First, note down all the problems you are facing. For example, you can't seem to finish your tasks on time.
• Next, find the cause of this problem. You may discover that you get easily distracted while working, which is why you don’t complete tasks before the deadline. So, what are these interruptions? Do you get distracted by social media or because you’re chatting with colleagues?
• Then, assign a score (a number) to each problem — give higher numbers to more important problems. For example, you can use numbers from 1 to 10 to assign a score to your issues. Your most important problems should be labeled with the number 10, and your least important issues should be labeled with the number 1.
• Next, batch your problems by cause. For instance, group all your problems caused by spending too much time chatting with colleagues.
• Then, assign a score to each group of problems. The groups with the highest score are the ones you need to solve first.
• Get to work.

• It helps you prioritize your tasks better.
• It helps you improve your problem-solving skills, because, with Pareto, you batch similar issues together — which will allow you to solve them easily.
• A great method for learning how to single-task instead of multitask.
• This method only relies on your past activities — your performance so far and issues you had in the past.
• Scoring may be inaccurate — if you make a mistake by assigning higher scores to some less important tasks, you might neglect other, more important tasks.

Rapid Planning Method (RPM)

One of the best time management techniques is also the Rapid Planning Method (RPM) . The acronym RPM also stands for “result, purpose, and massive action plan”.

This time management technique was created by motivational speaker Tony Robbins.

The idea behind this method is to train your brain to envision what you want in order to make it real.

In general, this technique is practical for setting long-term goals.

How Rapid Planning Method works

• Capture — First, note down all the assignments you need to complete this week. Be realistic — write down from 5 to 9 tasks for the week.
• Chunk — Group similar tasks together. You can use categories such as “Work tasks”, “Non-work tasks”, “Career”, “Health”, etc.
• Make your own RPM blocks. Remember to focus on your most important area and create an RPM block for it. Let’s say that this week, you’d like to focus on “Career”. Use a piece of paper, and create three columns:
• Results: Think about the results you’d like to accomplish in this area. Let’s say you want to improve your copywriting skills.
• Purpose: Why do you want to achieve this result? For example, you want to enhance your copywriting skills because you’d like to apply for a copywriter job.
• Massive Action plan: Then, think about the activities that will help you complete the task and achieve desired results. In this case, you can find relevant copywriting courses and finish 1 course by the end of the month.
• Take action.
• Review your work by questioning yourself:
• Did I follow all the steps from my massive action plan?
• Did my purpose act as a motivation to help me achieve desired results?
• Did I accomplish desired results?

• This method allows you to think about your long-term goals and align them with short-term targets.
• It helps you envision your goals, the purpose of such goals, and write down steps for accomplishing these targets.
• It’s time-consuming to plan all your weekly activities, create blocks, and review your results.
• There’s no way of differentiating important tasks from less important ones, so you won’t be able to set priorities.

Pickle Jar Theory

If you’re searching for some practical time management techniques for work, the Pickle Jar Theory might be a great fit for you.

The key advantage of using the Pickle Jar Theory is that it allows you to differentiate useful from unuseful tasks in your schedule.

This way, you’ll be able to set priorities clearly and plan your assignments.

How Pickle Jar Theory works

The goal of this technique is to imagine a jar that contains sand, pebbles, and rocks. The rocks are at the top, while the sand is at the bottom.

Here’s the meaning of each element:

• The sand: These are tasks and activities that usually disturb you during the day, such as emails, social media, and phone calls.
• The pebbles: These are important assignments that should be completed, but someone else can tackle them, or you can complete them some other day.
• The rocks: These are your significant tasks, and you have to complete them by the end of the day.

So, when planning your day, think about your tasks:

• Categorize them by importance — figure out which ones are rocks, pebbles, and sand.
• Next, make a to-do list by focusing on rocks first since these are your most significant assignments for the day.
• Make sure to write down time estimates for each task. The total amount of time should be up to 8 hours.
• Then, if you still have some time to tackle your tasks from “the pebbles” and “the sand” categories, now is the time to complete them.

• This technique helps you take control of your time and organize your day easily so that you have enough time for your private life, too.
• It keeps distractions away since it allows you to plan only your important tasks for the day.
• It can be difficult to figure out the importance and urgency levels of your tasks.
• It can be risky because, if you focus too much on urgent tasks, you may miss out on finishing your essential tasks.

The Deep Work method is a popular technique created by Cal Newport, the author of Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World.

According to Newport, deep work includes “…professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit” .

In general, these assignments improve your skills and create value.

During deep work, you should avoid any distractions.

How Deep Work works

Newport separates deep work from shallow work, which can be defined as less demanding activities — for example, attending meetings and answering emails.

In general, you can perform shallow work even when you’re distracted, which is not the case with deep work.

Here’s how to apply the Deep Work method:

• Schedule time for deep work: During this phase, you need to focus only on your important tasks. At the same time, you should avoid distractions at any cost. Remember to schedule deep work tasks during the times of the day when you have high energy levels.
• Leave some time for shallow work: On the other hand, leave any recurring tasks and assignments that are less demanding for periods of the day when your energy levels are low.
• This method ensures that you focus on high-quality work while ignoring any distractions.
• It helps you improve your ability to complete demanding tasks and solve complex problems.
• If you work in an office, you may find it difficult to achieve deep work because you may get interrupted by colleagues.
• You won’t be able to take frequent breaks, which may affect your productivity.

ABCDE method

In his book How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life , Alan Lakein talks about the ABCDE method.

Thanks to this technique, you can learn to prioritize your tasks better and finish them before the deadline.

The ABCDE method is similar to the Eisenhower Matrix — but, unlike the latter, the ABCDE technique doesn’t categorize tasks by urgency.

How ABCDE method works

When using this technique, you should organize your assignments into five categories by their importance:

• A — most important tasks
• B — important tasks
• C — nice to do (tasks)
• D — delegate these tasks
• E — eliminate these tasks

This way, you’ll find it easier to prioritize assignments and activities.

Start by tackling the tasks from the A and B categories first, then continue with other groups.

• It allows you to consider what tasks you can delegate to others or simply delete from the list.
• Prioritizing tasks will become much easier, especially if you use this method every day.
• This method does not categorize tasks by urgency — so you might forget to work on the assignments that need your immediate attention.
• Sometimes, you might find it difficult to figure out what tasks are most important (A category) and what are important only for the day (B category).

The 1-3-5 Rule is a technique that helps you manage your tasks.

The idea behind this method is that every workday, you need to focus your attention on:

• 1 big thing
• 3 medium things
• 5 little things

Once you complete your big task, you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment, which will motivate you to continue.

At the same time, medium tasks allow you to progress with your larger projects.

Finally, little tasks are easy to complete, so they’ll also inspire you to move forward.

How 1-3-5 Rule works

As we mentioned earlier, you need to categorize your assignments into three groups.

Here’s how you can plan your day with the 1-3-5 Rule:

• Rank your tasks. Note down your assignments for the day, then label them as “big”, “medium”, and “small”. If you have more than one big task, figure out which one is more important and finish it today. The other tasks can wait until tomorrow.
• Get to work. First, tackle your big task because, as soon as you complete it, you’ll feel accomplished and good about yourself. Then, continue with other tasks. You should keep the list of tasks nearby at any time.
• Remember to be flexible. On the days when you’re super busy, you’ll probably have less time to tackle your tasks — in this case, focus on one big thing and cut down on medium and little things.
• This method helps you learn how to prioritize and have a balanced to-do list that’s simple to follow.
• It also allows for flexibility, so you can modify the number of tasks when needed.
• It can be difficult to decide how much time you’ll dedicate to each task, especially if you’ve already spent too much time working on your one big thing.

POSEC method

This method was created by Steven Lam, the author of The Posec Method of Time Management. The POSEC method stands for:

• P rioritize by
• O rganizing,
• S treamlining,
• E conomizing, and
• C ontributing.

This technique is rooted in Maslow’s theory of the hierarchy of needs.

The gist of this theory is that there are five types of needs you have to satisfy, and their order of importance is:

• Physiological needs — the need for water, food, shelter, etc.
• Safety needs — our need to protect ourselves from physical danger
• Social needs — the need to belong to a social group
• Esteem needs — our need to retain our self-esteem and self-respect
• Self-actualization needs — the need to actualize our potential.

According to Maslow's theory, to fulfill your secondary needs (i.e. safety), you first need to take care of your primary needs (i.e. physiological). The same applies to the rest of Maslow's pyramid — to achieve your self-actualization needs, you can't skip any steps along the way.

The POSEC method relies on a similar hierarchy:

• Prioritizing — goals and time
• Organizing — family and finances
• Streamlining — work and chores
• Economizing — hobbies and socializing
• Contributing — social obligations

For example, to be able to dedicate quality time to your family, you first need to commit to achieving your personal goals.

• Minimizing low-value activities and tasks

How POSEC method works

Here’s how to use the POSEC technique:

• Prioritizing (goals and time). First, you need to figure out what your goals are and how much time you need to accomplish them (whether they are long-term or short-term).
• Organizing (family and finances). Think of all activities in your personal and professional life. Aside from the activities that are related to achieving your goals, you have to keep an eye on your family's well-being and take care of your finances.
• Streamlining (work and chores). Now, you need to figure out the most efficient way to perform your work tasks and your chores. For example, try to automate as many tasks as you can.
• Economizing (hobbies and socializing). This level includes activities you enjoy doing, like socializing with friends and doing hobbies. But, sometimes, these activities don’t contribute to achieving your overall goals.
• Contributing (social obligations). Once you have attained all your previous levels, you can help others in your community. For instance, you can volunteer or help your friends or neighbors with a household chore.
• This method helps make time not only for your work-related tasks, but also for your personal activities and leisure time.
• The POSEC method isn’t very practical for organizing your daily tasks.

BuJo — The bullet journal

The bullet journal (BuJo) is a method developed by Ryder Carroll — a digital product designer.

According to the creator of this method, the BuJo method helps you:

• Track the past,
• Organize the present, and
• Plan for the future.

With the bullet journal, you can organize your:

• Daily to-do lists,
• Weekly or monthly calendars, and
• Track your short-term and long-term goals.

How the bullet journal works

To try the bullet journal method, you’ll need a pen and notebook.

The BuJo contains these components:

• Monthly log

Here’s how to fill this journal out:

• Index page — two blank pages that you’ll title “Index”:
• Think of the Index page as a key — a legend that contains information about page numbers for your Future, Monthly, and Daily log.
• The Index page helps you easily find your Future, Monthly, or Daily log — by checking their page numbers.
• Future log — two blank pages that you’ll title “Future log”:
• The Future log helps you make plans for the future. For instance, you can plan the next six months, and add them to your Future log pages.
• Now, since you use two pages for the Future log, the first one can cover the first 3 months and the second one can cover the next 3 months.
• Create a box for each month and add a month label. Here, you can add important notes, appointments, and meetings for each month. The Future log helps you note down crucial dates too, such as birthdays and anniversaries.
• Add the page numbers and include these numbers in your Index page.
• Monthly log — two blank pages that you’ll label as the name of the month:
• On the left page of your Monthly log, you’ll have a monthly calendar. This is where you’ll note down all the dates of the month and the first letter of each day.
• On the right page, you’ll have your monthly task list. Make sure to include all the essential tasks for the month here. Once again, add the page numbers and include these numbers in your Index page as well.
• Thanks to your Monthly log, you’ll have an overview of everything you need to tackle by the end of the month.
• Daily log — two blank pages that you’ll title as “Daily log”:
• Write down the day’s date.
• Then, add your entries — we can categorize them into three groups:
• Tasks (add a dot bullet next to each one)
• Events (add a circle bullet next to each one)
• Notes (add a dash bullet)

Now, if you have some very important tasks, you can note down an S (Signifier) next to them. That way, you’ll know these are your priorities.

At the end of each month, you should review your tasks. For instance, you can delete some tasks, or migrate some assignments from your Daily log to a new Monthly log.

• The BuJo method helps you plan your long-term goals (for the next six months) and align them with your short-term goals (your weekly and daily goals).
• It allows you to plan your tasks, events, and notes.
• This technique can be too time-consuming — to make an effective BuJo journal from scratch, you’ll need to invest time, so it won’t be quite practical if you’re a busy person.

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Time Management Is About More Than Life Hacks

• Erich C. Dierdorff

Your productivity hinges on these three skills.

There is certainly no shortage of advice — books and blogs, hacks and apps — all created to boost time management with a bevy of ready-to-apply tools. Yet, the frustrating reality for individuals trying to improve their time management is that tools alone won’t work. You have to develop your time management skills in three key areas: awareness, arrangement, and adaptation. The author offers evidence-based tactics to improve in all three areas.

Project creep, slipping deadlines, and a to-do list that seems to get longer each day — these experiences are all too common in both life and work. With the New Year’s resolution season upon us, many people are boldly trying to fulfill goals to “manage time better,” “be more productive,” and “focus on what matters.” Development goals like these are indeed important to career success. Look no further than large-scale surveys that routinely find time management skills among the most desired workforce skills, but at the same time among the rarest skills to find.

• Erich C. Dierdorff is a professor of management and entrepreneurship at the Richard H. Driehaus College of Business at DePaul University and is currently an associate editor at  Personnel Psychology.

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9 Strategies to better manage your time

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What is time management?

Why is effective time management important, benefits of effective time management.

Time management strategies and tactics

Time management skills

How to strengthen your time management skills.

We want to complete everything important to us in a timely fashion. But sometimes, it doesn’t seem like there are enough hours in the day. Especially in this new normal , people feel the strain on time and seek effective time management strategies as they’re pulled in more directions than ever before.

Thankfully, good time management can help to make your days more efficient and effective. Essentially, it can help you feel like you have more hours in a day.

But for many of us, time management is an aspiration –– it’s something we’re all working to improve. And there’s no ideal solution for every person. So we provided a list of some actionable time management tips to boost your productivity as you find the right strategies that work for you.

Let’s explore effective time management and the skills necessary to use your time constructively in the long term.

Time management is the deliberate process of deciding how to use your time and allocating it across tasks and activities. With planning and control, effective time management enables you to do more of what is important to you while meeting your responsibilities and commitments.

Time management is certainly not a new concept.

From Henry Ford’s introduction of the assembly line to the current rainbow of organizational tools and apps, the modern age revolves around time. 

As individuals, our time is a limited resource. We treat it like currency. We spend it, guard it, waste it, and trade it for value. Yet we struggle to control it. 

We don’t have an easy solution to poor time management. And many factors cause it. 

Let’s look at what we do know and dive into some new ways of viewing how we (and our teams ) use time.

Doing more with less is a strategy that many companies encourage. Be it a smaller workforce, fewer resources, or leaner budgets. Many workers have experienced some type of “belt-tightening” in the last few years.

But doing more with less can also be a shorthand for understanding and executing priorities.

Time management is how you demonstrate your priorities and your ability to act on them.

Showing practical time management skills can be a way of demonstrating your worth to a company — worth that just might save your job or earn you a promotion .

Managing your time well comes with a long list of benefits. Let’s take a look at four of them.

1. More time to spend where you need (or want) it

Not to belabor the obvious, but if you’re using your time more effectively, you’ll free up time in the day or week. And here’s something that might not be so obvious: you don’t have to use that extra time to work. Time management lets you do more of what matters to you .

Try to create a better work-life balance for yourself . Head out for a walk, schedule a coffee with a friend or colleague, or take a class you’ve been curious to try. The choice is yours!

2. Ability to realize goals

Simply put, setting and realizing goals feels terrific.

Once you’re managing your time better, you can make goal-setting a part of your routine. Then you’ll get to experience the satisfaction that comes with accomplishing them regularly. 

Plus, sharing the goals you’ve set and your achievement of them is a great way to earn kudos from your manager and the whole team. 

If you aren’t sure where to start when building out your goals, try creating a personal vision statement . This declaration can act as a compass to help guide you in the right direction.

3. More growth opportunities 

Do you want to gain a new skill at work ? Are you ready to expand your reach into a new territory or be considered for a promotion? 

Becoming a great leader and learning a new skill require time.

You’re more likely to be afforded these opportunities if you’re consistently seen as a good manager of your time.

4. Reduced stress 

Perhaps the most significant benefit to using your time more efficiently is the potential to lower your stress . This could be finishing a project before it becomes a crisis, keeping your work hours at a reasonable amount, or even being able to carve out time for fulfilling activities. 

These are all ways that an effective time management technique can help with stress and overall mental health .

Time management strategies and tips

Here are  elements that can assist you in improving how you manage time:

• Create the right environment
• Prioritize again
• Set some goals
• Build good habits
• Perform a time audit
• Create a stop-doing list
• Stop multitasking

1. Create the right environment.

Have a physical space that is organized, uncluttered, and convenient.

It can save you undue time searching for files or papers, shuffling unneeded materials out of the way, or even tracking down a paperclip. Taking some time to master your organizational skills will save you more time in the long run.

Be particularly aware of additional challenges that you might face when working remotely .

2. Prioritize

Deciding where to spend your time can be a task in itself. But by prioritizing upfront, you can get the urgent tasks out on time and the essential tasks completed as well.

3. Prioritize again

On the flip side of tackling the critical things is that you may also need to identify tasks or distractions that are neither urgent nor important.

Ask yourself: Does it need to be done by you? Can you delegate the task ? Does it need to be done at all? 

If the answer is no, take action to clear the decks (and your mind) to tackle the most important, pressing items first.

4. Set some goals

Charging ahead on a project — or a workweek — without setting goals is like zooming out of your driveway without knowing where you’re headed. 

It may seem counterintuitive, but spending time on goal setting will likely save you time in the long run. It’s a concept known as “go slow to go fast.”

Try stepping up your organization skills so you clearly understand where you’re going and what will be most vital to help you get there. This consideration enables you to focus on what truly matters.

5. Build good habits

Some people prefer to plan the next day before they leave work, while others prefer to plan within the first 30 minutes of the day.

Some find it productive to block large chunks of time to think/write/design, while others work best in short sprints . The primary takeaway is to spend 5 minutes at the end of each day reflecting on what worked and what didn’t . This will help you understand what works best for you and your situation.

Once you figure out how you work best, stick with it. Build your habits into your workday to get the most out of your self-management skills .

6. Perform a time audit

Do you know where your workday goes? Are you confident in your perception of how you spend your time each day and week?

A time audit can be an illuminating activity to show you just how you are spending your time. You’ll learn what is consuming your days and where you might be able to claim some time back.

Does this feel like a risky activity? No one other than you needs to know that you’re auditing your own productivity .

7. Create a stop-doing list

If a to-do list hasn’t been effective for you, maybe you’ll benefit from flipping it on its side. A stop-doing list is an intentional look at the time wasters that you want to stop.

These could be in the form of a digital detox including social media scrolling and video watching, or even meetings that don’t pertain to your work. Being more intentional about the “don’ts” could help you concentrate more on the “dos.”

Block your time differently. With so much to accomplish, it might be tempting to separate your daily schedule into tightly structured blocks of time.

But it might be more effective if you round up your time estimates for each important task.

Add additional time (10–25%) to how long you think each task will take. Then, when the inevitable delay or glitch happens, you’re not automatically running behind.

This time management technique could be particularly useful for people who chronically overestimate how quickly they work or those who underestimate potential delays.

You can also create a weekly schedule to get a high-level overview of what you need to complete.

8. Stop multitasking

It’s a fallacy that highly effective people constantly juggle multiple minor tasks. Research has shown that multitasking hurts our performance and our well-being.

Ineffective multitasking could be keeping on top of emails while creating a slide deck. Or taking work calls during a commute . You will be much more effective, move through your projects more quickly, and do far better work if you concentrate on one thing at a time. Turn off your email and text notifications, mute your phone, and dig into the task at hand. It will pay off in both the short and the long run.

According to Erich C. Dierdorff , professor of management and entrepreneurship at the Richard H. Driehaus College of Business at DePaul University, it takes more than these activities to gain ownership of our time. There are three primary skills needed to implement the strategies listed above and gain long-lasting benefits from them:

• Awareness : how you see and value time and its limitations
• Arrangement : the tactile part of time management, including planning and scheduling activities and goals
• Adaptation : how you pivot as time runs out or priorities shift 

Though these skills are often overlooked, Dierdorff states that they’re crucial to effective time management.

Strengthening these skills isn’t as straightforward as opening an app. But by investing your time in developing self-awareness , understanding your habits, and building new ones, you can increase your chances of managing time more effectively.

Develop self-awareness of your time management abilities

To improve your time management skills, you must first understand how you currently function. Building self-awareness around how you manage your time will set a baseline for you to improve upon. 

Try the activities below to grow your awareness of how you manage your time:

• Garner feedback from coworkers, a boss, or your peers
• Use a time-tracking tool to measure the activities you spend your time on and use this as a baseline
• Get to know yourself with a few questions:
• What time of day do you work best?
• Do you tend to over or underestimate how long tasks will take?
• Do you stay busy but less productive?
• Are you more effective or efficient?
• What kinds of projects do you tackle head-on, and which cause you to procrastinate ?

Get to know yourself and your relationship to time

Without getting too meta, ask yourself how your personality relates to time. Do you consider yourself more of a go-getter who likes to get a jump on things early? Or do you prefer to divide your time between multiple tasks?

Understanding how your personality and habits relate to time will help you identify the time management skills you should invest in first.

To get a better idea of how your personality relates to time, ask yourself the following questions:

• Do I tend to complete a task before moving on to the next one?
• Do I work better under pressure and leave projects until the last minute?
• How do I prioritize?
• How do I delegate?
• How do I approach a new task?

This is not a finite list, but questions like these can help you identify your areas of focus.

Identify the time management skills you want to work on

Deciding which area requires the most improvement first could jump right out at you, or you might need to do a little digging. But knowing whether you should address your prioritization skills, or your ability to adapt to change, is vital to improving your overall time management.

You may discover that you want to improve more than one area. If that is the case, try starting with one area first and then progress once you’ve gotten the hang of the first skill.

Signs of poor time management

Just as there are benefits to effective time management, drawbacks come with poor time management skills. Let’s take a look at six of them.

1. Wasted time

If good time management skills can score you more time, it should be no surprise that the opposite is also true. If you’re off-task — jumping from one project to another or otherwise using your time inefficiently — your work is going to take longer to complete. Less time will be available for other work projects or time away from the job

2. Lack of delegation

There’s often going to be more on your plate than you can do. And if you’re not managing your time well, you probably aren’t staying very organized either. Because of this, you may struggle to use the readily available help.

It isn’t easy to delegate if you aren’t clear about the task at hand and exactly how others can help. So it’s inevitable that the work will keep piling up.

3. Loss of control

Simply put, if you aren’t in control of your time, it is in control of you.

Poor time management skills can make it difficult for you to predict when you will complete a project or be available to take on something else. Then, you aren’t in control of your time or your work .

What usually happens when we don’t feel in control? We can become stressed , frustrated, unhappy, and dissatisfied with our lives. When you don’t have control, you also don’t have time and attention to give yourself entirely to other parts of your life: relationships , health , goals.

4. Poor quality of work

If poor time management leads you to complete projects in a rushed manner, likely, the quality of your work will also suffer.

Effective collaboration and communication are required to deliver the best final product. So, while it may feel like you do your best work when up against a deadline, here’s the reality: without the opportunity to give your work a final edit or run it past the eyes of a colleague, chances are errors will slip by you. 

5. Poor reputation

If you look at this list so far, you can see that the employee it describes isn’t going to be highly regarded in the company. Have you become an employee that can’t be counted on during a rush? Is your project management ineffective? Do you want your coworkers to view you this way? 

As your reputation suffers, so will your chances for advancement and growth.

6. Failure to achieve goals

How you spend your hours is how you spend your days. Ultimately, it’s how you spend your life.

Sure, we all have days that are chaotic or consumed by endless tasks that we don’t love and would prefer not to do. But if this is the norm, rather than the exception, looking at how you spend your time can offer a helpful check. 

The next question is: is the way you are spending your time within your control or outside of it? 

If it is within your control, developing your time management skills can get you closer to living the life you want to be living.

3 steps to managing your time better

Managing your time is possible with proactive reflection and by developing fundamental skills. Here are the first three steps we recommend taking to jumpstart your journey and improve your time management:

• Start by building self-awareness and understanding how you view your time and which skills need improvement
• Perform a time audit to see where and how you’re spending your time
• Experiment with the strategies above to develop your time management skills

Start managing your time better today

Now you know how important time management is and what some of its many benefits are.

It’s time to start making minor changes to your time management strategies.

Try to catch yourself when you’re multitasking and choose to focus on one task. Perform a time audit to see where all of your time is going. Or attempt one of the other strategies that we discussed.

Are you struggling with getting your time management under control? Reach out to BetterUp for personalized coaching that will help you save time in no time.

Boost your productivity

Maximize your time and productivity with strategies from our expert coaches.

Elizabeth Perry, ACC

Elizabeth Perry is a Coach Community Manager at BetterUp. She uses strategic engagement strategies to cultivate a learning community across a global network of Coaches through in-person and virtual experiences, technology-enabled platforms, and strategic coaching industry partnerships. With over 3 years of coaching experience and a certification in transformative leadership and life coaching from Sofia University, Elizabeth leverages transpersonal psychology expertise to help coaches and clients gain awareness of their behavioral and thought patterns, discover their purpose and passions, and elevate their potential. She is a lifelong student of psychology, personal growth, and human potential as well as an ICF-certified ACC transpersonal life and leadership Coach.

8 time management skills to help reclaim your work-life balance

Make the most of your time with the best time management tools, using the eisenhower matrix to make the most of your time, eat the frog meaning: why finish complicated tasks first, manage your energy, not your time: how to work smarter and faster, the pomodoro technique: how a break can improve productivity and well-being, 9 project management (pm) tools that help you get the job done, what is an action plan how to become a real-life action hero, mastering time blocking: tips & tricks to conquer your day, similar articles, manage stress and regain control with 20 tips to better living, avoiding procrastination in 3, 2, 1: learn about the 2-minute rule, multitasking isn't working: a science-backed approach to a better day, the 7 best strategies to help you empower your team, stay connected with betterup, get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research..

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Time Management: Conquering Long Assignments

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Time management is a struggle for students of all levels. Long assignments can make this issue worse because procrastination can compound over time, especially when the assignment has several components. Rushing to finish at the last second may be impossible. Even if it's not, opting for this strategy can drastically decrease the quality of your work and increase the likelihood of making an embarassing error (like misinterpreting your teacher's directions).

Thus, when dealing with a long assigment, time management becomes crucial. Working at a manageable pace over a long stretch of time minimizes stress and maximizes the quality of your work. Below, we've provided some tips that can help you stay on-task over the long haul.

Make a realistic plan of action...

• When you receive your assignment, make sure to highlight when any due dates your instructor has specified. Some longer assignments will have specific sections due throughout the semester, so be sure to mark these in your calendar.
• Is there a rubric (and if so, can you see it/have a copy)?
• What will your instructor pay most attention to when grading? What elements are weighted the highest?
• What can you do to succeed on the assignment?
• Does your instructor have any tips for specific practices you can implement to do well on the various components?
• What does your instructor most want you to learn from this assignment?
• You may even consider making checklists to help you out. If your teacher hasn’t given specific due dates for different chunks of the assignment or doesn’t require a draft, when does it make most sense for you to have a draft completed, given your upcoming schedule? Put some deadlines in place for yourself now so you’re not scrambling later.

Take advantage of every resource at your disposal…

• Clarify any questions you have with your teacher as they come up; don’t assume you know the answer if you aren’t sure. Some mistakes, like using the wrong kinds of sources, can compound over time and create more problems for you later on in the assignment.
• Talk to research librarians about your work, if you’re doing a research project. Explore the different resources available through your library, and learn about how to use your library’s search tools; you will need more than just the first few sources that show up, and talking to another person who has expertise in the area you’re looking at will help you not only find the appropriate sources, but learn how to search later when you’re working alone.
• If your university has a writing center, it doesn’t hurt to make an appointment to speak with someone there as well. It’s a good idea to book an appointment for the longest time slot they have available so that you can have all your questions answered and concerns met. Don’t be afraid to use the writing center no matter what part of the writing process you’re on (drafting, citing sources, proofreading, editing, etc.).

Pace yourself, make a schedule, and follow it…

• Many writers of all kinds (creative, journalistic, academic, etc.) recommend a daily writing practice. Writing just a little every day will help continue to move you toward your goal. Not everyone can accomplish that, though — whatever works for you is great. The most important thing is to be consistent (e.g., "I will write half an hour every day;" "I will write an hour on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday;" etc.).
• Make a point to mention your goals (e.g., deadlines you've set for yourself) to your buddy early on. This will help keep you accountable, as you'll feel compelled to accomplish your goals in order to avoid embarassing yourself.
• This will also help you make progress, since the sense of accomplishment you'll get from meeting minor milestones (like completing a page) will make larger ones seem less daunting.

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Time Management: 10 Strategies for Better Time Management

The term Time Management is a misnomer. You cannot manage time; you manage the events in your life in relation to time. You may often wish for more time, but you only get 24 hours, 1,440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds each day. How you use that time depends on skills learned through self-analysis, planning, evaluation, and self-control. Much like money, time is both valuable and limited. It must be protected, used wisely, and budgeted.

• Are more productive.
• Have more energy for things they need to accomplish.
• Feel less stressed.
• Have more free time to do the things they want.
• Get more things done.
• Relate more positively to others.
• Feel better about themselves. (Dodd and Subdheim, 2005)

Finding a time management strategy that works best for you depends on your personality, ability to self-motivate, and level of self-discipline. By incorporating some, or all the ten strategies below, you can more effectively manage your time.

1. Know How You Spend Your Time

A time log is a helpful way to determine how you use your time. Record what you are doing in 15-minute intervals for a week or two. Evaluate the results:

• Did everything you needed to do get done?
• Which tasks require the most time?
• What time of day when you are most productive?
• Where is most of your time is devoted (i.e. job, family, personal, recreation)?

Identifying your most time-consuming tasks and determining whether you are investing your time in the most important activities can help you to determine a course of action. Having a good sense of the time required for routine tasks can help you be more realistic in planning and estimating how much time is available for other activities. Many apps exist to help you keep track of your time, as mentioned in Strategy 3.

2. Set Priorities

Managing your time effectively requires a distinction between what is important and what is urgent (MacKenzie, 1990). Experts agree that the most important tasks usually aren’t the most urgent tasks. However, we tend to let the urgent tasks dominate our lives. Covey, Merrill, and Merrill (1994) categorize activities into four quadrants in their Time Management Matrix: urgent, not urgent, important, and not important. While activities that are both urgent and important must be done, Covey et al. suggests spending less time on activities that are not important (regardless of their urgency) to gain time for activities that are not urgent but important. Focusing on these important activities allows you to gain greater control over your time and may reduce the number of important tasks that become urgent.

Creating a "to do” list is an easy way to prioritize. Whether you need a daily, weekly, or monthly list depends on your lifestyle. Be careful to keep list-making from getting out of control. List manageable tasks rather than goals or multi-step plans. Rank the items on your “to do” list in order of priority (both important and urgent). You may choose to group items in categories such as high priority, medium priority, or low priority; number them in order of priority; or use a color-coding system. The goal is not to mark off the most items, but to mark off the highest priority items (MacKenzie, 1990). A prioritized “to do” list allows you to set boundaries so you can say “no” to activities that may be interesting or provide a sense of achievement but do not fit your basic priorities.

3. Use a Planning Tool

When using a planning tool:

• Always record your information on the tool itself. Jotting notes elsewhere that must be transferred later is inefficient and wastes more time.
• Review your planning tool daily.
• Keep a list of your priorities in your planning tool and refer to it often.
• Keep planning tools synchronized. If you keep more than one, make sure your phone, computer, and paper planning tools match.
• Keep a back-up system.

Apps on your phone can be great planning tools. Apps typically fall into one of the following categories:

• Time Trackers – Gain an awareness of how you spend your time.
• Time Savers – Increase productivity and break time-wasting habits.
• Task Managers – Prioritize and organize tasks to improve time management.
• Habit Developers – Create healthy habits to encourage time management.

4. Get Organized

Disorganization leads to poor time management. Research has shown that clutter has a strong negative impact on perceived well-being (Roster, 2016). To improve your time management, get organized.

Set up three boxes (or corners of a room) labeled "Keep," "Give Away," and "Toss." Sort items into these boxes. Discard items in your “Toss” box. Your "Give Away" box may include items you want to sell, donate, or discard.

The next step is to improve the time you spend processing information. For example, tasks such as email can eat up your day. To combat wasted time, implement an email organization system that allows you to process the information in each email as efficiently as possible. Use folders, flagging, or a color-coded system to keep track of what’s what.

5. Schedule Appropriately

Scheduling is more than just recording what must be done (e.g., meetings and appointments). Be sure to build in time for the things you want to do. Effective scheduling requires you to know yourself. Your time log should help you to identify times when you are most productive and alert. Plan your most challenging tasks for when you have the most energy. Block out time for your high priority activities first and protect that time from interruptions.

Schedule small tasks such as drafting an email, creating a grocery shopping list, reading, watching webinars or listening to podcasts for long commutes or when waiting for a call or appointment. Capitalize on what would otherwise be time lost. Avoid nonproductive activities, such as playing games or scrolling through social media. Limit scheduled time to about three-fourths of your day to allow for creative activities such as planning, dreaming, and thinking.

6. Delegate: Get Help from Others

Delegating means assigning responsibility for a task to someone else, freeing up your time for tasks that require your expertise. Identify tasks others can do and select the appropriate person(s) to do them. Select someone with the appropriate skills, experience, interest, and authority needed to accomplish the task. Be specific. Define the task and your expectations while allowing the person some freedom to personalize the task. Check how well the person is progressing periodically and provide any assistance, being careful not to take over the responsibility. Finally, reward the person for a job well done or make suggestions for improvements if needed. (Dodd and Sundheim, 2005). Another way to get help is to “buy” time by obtaining goods or services that save time. For example, paying someone to mow your lawn or clean your house, or joining a carpool for your children’s extracurricular activities frees time for other activities. The time-savings from hiring someone for specialized projects is often worth the cost.

7. Stop Procrastinating

People put off tasks for a variety of reasons. Perhaps the task seems overwhelming or unpleasant. To help stop procrastination, consider “eating the big frog first.” A quote commonly attributed to Mark Twain says, “If it’s your job to eat a frog today, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the big frog first.” Unpleasant tasks we procrastinate completing are “big frogs.” Complete these tasks as your first action of the day to get them out of the way. Another option is to “snowball” your tasks by breaking them down into smaller segments, completing preparatory tasks, and eventually completing the larger task at hand. Whether you choose the “big frog first” or “snowball” method, try building in a reward system for completed tasks to help stay motivated.

8. Manage Time-Wasters

Reduce or eliminate time spent in these activities by implementing some simple tips.

Handheld Devices

• Take advantage of voice-to-text features such as transcribed voicemails or to make notes or draft emails and text messages when you are on the go.
• Avoid small talk. Stay focused.
• Take any necessary action immediately following a call.
• Impose screen time limits and regularly monitor your digital wellness (see Strategy 10).
• Schedule breaks from your devices.
• Set aside a specific time to view and respond to email, but don’t let it accumulate to the point it becomes overwhelming to sort.
• Turn off notifications for email.
• Handle each item only once if possible.
• Immediately delete or unsubscribe from junk emails.
• Keep address books up-to-date and organized.
• Utilize built-in shortcuts to sort email.

Unexpected Visitors

• Schedule time for face-to-face visits.
• Inform visitors of your time constraints and politely offer to reschedule.
• Set a mutually agreeable time limit for the visit.
• When someone comes to the door, stand up and have your meeting standing to help keep it brief.

In-Person and Virtual Meetings

• Know the purpose of the meeting in advance.
• Arrive early.
• Start and end the meeting on time.
• Prepare an agenda and stick to it. Use a timed agenda, if necessary.
• Don’t schedule meetings unless they are necessary and have a specific purpose or agenda.
• Use recording software or designate a note-taker.

Family Obligations

• Use and sync virtual calendars for easy sharing between busy family members.
• Make each family member responsible for consulting the master calendar for potential conflicts.
• Create a central area or agreed upon app for posting communications such as appointment reminders, announcements, and messages.

9. Avoid Multi-tasking

Psychological studies have shown that multi-tasking does not save time. In fact, the opposite is often true. You lose time when switching from one task to another, resulting in a loss of productivity (Rubinsteim, Meyer, and Evans, 2001). Routine multi-tasking may lead to difficulty in concentrating and maintaining focus. Do your best to focus on just one task at a time by keeping your area clear of distractions, including turning off notifications on your devices, and set aside dedicated time for specific tasks.

10. Stay Healthy

The care and attention you give yourself is an important investment of time. Scheduling time to relax or do nothing helps you rejuvenate physically and mentally, enabling you to accomplish tasks more quickly and easily. Be sure to monitor your screen time as a part of your digital well-being, setting boundaries to stay healthy. A study conducted by Google showed that four out of five study participants who took steps to improve their digital well-being believe their overall well-being was positively impacted as well (Google, 2019). To improve your digital well-being, set time limits or utilizing built-in software on electronic devices such as phones and tablets to help maintain your digital wellness. Blue light blockers and grayscale mode may also help you improve your digital well-being. Set a time each night to shut off all digital devices to give your mind time to relax; this can also help improve your sleep schedule.

Unfortunately, poor time management and too much screen time can result in fatigue, moodiness, and more frequent illness. To reduce stress, reward yourself for time management successes. Take time to recognize that you have accomplished a major task or challenge before moving on to the next activity.

Whatever time management strategies you use, take time to evaluate how they have worked for you. Do you have a healthy balance between work and home life? Are you accomplishing the tasks that are most important in your life? Are you investing enough time in your own personal well being? If the answer is “no” to any of these questions, then reevaluate your time management strategies and transition to ones that will work better for you. Successful time management leads to greater personal happiness, more accomplishments at home and at work, and a more satisfying future.

Previously updated by: Roxie Price, University of Georgia Extension Dana Carney, University of Georgia Extension Rachael Clews, K-State Research and Extension

Originally written by: Sue W. Chapman, retired, UGA Extension Michael Rupured, retired, UGA Extension

Covey, S. R., Merrill, A. R., & Merrill, R. R. (1994). First things first: To live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy . Simon & Schuster.

Dodd, P., & Sundheim, D. (2005). The 25 best time management tools and techniques: How to get more done without driving yourself crazy . Peak Performance Press, Inc.

Google, Global (DE, ES, FR, IT, PL, U.K., U.S.). (2019). Digital wellbeing survey (General population, 18+ years, n=97).

MacKenzie, A. (1990). The time trap (3rd ed.). American Management Association.

Roster, C., Ferrari, J., & Jurkat, M. (2016, March 16). The dark side of home: Assessing possession ‘clutter’ on subjective well-being. Journal of Environmental Psychology , 46 , 32–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2016.03.003

Rubinsteim, J., Meyer, D., & Evans, J. (2001). Executive control of cognitive processes in task switching. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 27 (4), 763–797. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.27.4.763

Status and Revision History Published with Full Review on Apr 25, 2014 Published with Minor Revisions on Aug 26, 2020 Published with Full Review on Feb 19, 2024

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Related publications.

• Peterborough

Time Management Strategies

Short-term and long-term planning, general expectations.

• 24/7 Schedule

To-Do Lists

• 4-month calendar

Assignment Analysis

Your daily planner.

• Keys to Successful Time Management

The schedule of a university student varies from week to week and day to day. With little structure and a lot of independence, it can be difficult to know how to balance all the parts of your life: school, work, family, friends, sports, volunteering, and more.

Many university students quickly learn the paradox of time management: the more time you have available, the more difficult it is to manage your time.

By developing good time management strategies, you can work to define and achieve your goals, reduce your stress, and improve your marks!

The course syllabus will tell you a lot about your professor’s expectations and the time and work you will need to commit to the course. What the syllabus may or may not say is this: for students to be successful, they must engage with the course material. You are expected to analyse materials, not consume them. So, you will need to take time and make an effort - perhaps more than you have with your past schoolwork - to actively engage with the course.

As a general rule, full-time students should treat their studies like a full-time job, spending 40-50 hours per week in class, doing lab work, reading, reviewing, writing, and thinking.Some weeks, the workload may be light, while in others, you may have multiple assignments or tests.  It is important to plan by day, week and month to manage the ebb and flow of the term.

Short Term Planning

Short term planning involves creating a weekly schedule that allows you to complete your work. Creating a 24-hour schedule is an excellent way to start your planning; it helps to create structure to your days and illustrates how you use your time and how much time you have available. A 24-hour schedule sounds daunting, but it allows you to be flexible and to work at times which suit you best, whether you prefer the moonlight or early morning sun for study. Download a blank template to make your own schedule.

How to Create a 24/7 schedule

• Block off all of your class, seminar, and lab times. Consider time getting to and from classes if you have to commute or take public transit.
• Block off your paid work hours, volunteer commitments, training schedule, or program placement.
• Block off times for sleeping, eating, exercise, household tasks, and socializing.  If you know you will be spending Friday nights out with friends, block it off – don’t try to plan to do work at a time when it is unlikely to happen.  (Also consider how early you will rise the following Saturday.)
• Read the syllabus for each course and identify the weekly workload. Estimate the time you need to complete readings or practice questions, to review, or to do an online quiz. Expect to spend two to four hours per week per course for these tasks, which can be in one large block or in a few smaller blocks of time (for example, you might find it easier to focus on your psychology text book if you read it in a few 45-minute blocks instead of a 3-hour slog). Enter blocks of time for this work where there is time available (and when you are likely to do the work) in your schedule.
• Schedule in “major assignment” time each week; this may vary based on your course requirements, but many students find they need 8-10 hours weekly for research, writing, and preparation for essays, labs, projects, or exams. Each week, you can decide which major assignments you need to focus on based on your long term planning.

Two approaches

Standard Routine: You may wish to establish all of these academic and personal activities in specific blocks of time (i.e. laundry on Wednesdays, 4-6pm; reading for Bio on Thursdays 8-10pm). 

Flexible Schedule: You may find it more useful to know, based on the space available in your 24/7 schedule, that you have 3 hours available on Tuesday afternoons and 4 hours on Tuesday evenings; you can then decide, on a weekly basis, what tasks fit in those time slots (i.e. this week: research for Psychology Tues. aft.; math problem set and bio pre-lab Tues. eve.). 

To plan your week, day, or work period, to-do lists can be a great tool. First, take an inventory of tasks by making one big "empty the junk drawer" list. Next, prioritize and map out tasks for different days of the week. A to-do list can quickly become long and overwhelming, so d ownload a blank template (Word doc) to try and consider the tips below to help you make a doable to-do list!

Tips for Making Your To-Do List

• When prioritizing your tasks, consider urgency and importance as well as "need-to" and "want-to" tasks. Aim for a balance to help you find sustainable progress and avoid losing focus and burning out.
• Try your best to be honest and realistic to keep your list achievable. Overestimating the time a task takes to complete can help you build in buffer time. 
• Consider when you typically feel most energized during the day; try working on your toughest task at that time. For some of us, that means starting with a challenging task to get it out of the way whereas others prefer starting with a low effort-task (an "easy win"!) to spark motivation.
• If feeling overwhelmed and having trouble starting, break down tasks into small, specific steps. For example, instead of "write essay", try "read instructions, choose topic, find 3 sources".
• Consider tasks that enhance your own wellbeing and include them on your list: going for a walk, enjoying a snack, cleaning your space, etc.

Long-Term Planning

In addition to having a weekly schedule, it is essential to create a long term plan that will allow you to know when your major assignments are due and whether you have crunch periods during which you have many assignments due at once. A 4-Month Planner can be an excellent tool to use; it allows you to see all the months of a term without turning a page or changing screens.

You can download a term-at-a-glance calendar or use a four-month wall calendar, whichever is more convenient for you.

Using a Term-at-Glance Calendar Effectively

• Go through the course outline for each class and carefully note all assignment due dates and exams. Put these dates onto your 4-month calendar. You can use a different colour for each course if this helps. Keep this calendar in plain view for quick reference.
• Be sure to include important birthdays and planned trips home as you often need to work around them.
• Identify your “crunch times,” periods when you have multiple assignments or exams. Plan for these times by deciding when you need to start each assignment in order to get it done in time.
• Don’t forget to note Reading Week in your calendar; it’s a great time to catch up or get ahead!
• Make intermediate deadlines for different stages of each assignment and put these on your calendar. You can determine your intermediate deadlines (or mini deadlines) by following our steps for Assignment Analysis.
• Remember that learning to make and follow a plan takes time. Be flexible. If a week looks full, try to move some work to an earlier week. Don't worry if you need to adjust your calendars a few times. That's part of the trial-by-error process, and it's useful.

We often put off fa task because we don’t appreciate how much time it will take to complete or we don’t know where to start. By breaking down an assignment into smaller steps, you can better understand where to begin your assignment and when you should start (and complete) it.

In the example below, the assignment is broken into specific tasks and these tasks are spread out over the course of 18 days. This breakdown allows a student to approach the assignment thoughtfully and provides them to complete work for other courses without the stress of completing the assignment. You can download a template to help you with this task.

The final step in your time management process is to record all of the critical information in your daily planner or in daily to-do lists. Referring to your 24/7 schedule to identify blocks of time for school work and using your deadlines and mini-deadlines to prioritize your work, you can effectively plan your week and your day to keep up with your readings, stay on track with essays and assignments, and maintain your personal interests and social life.You may wish to use a planner you buy, a calendar application you like, or you can download this two week planner.

Sample To-Do List

Make time to manage your time: Plan your week on the same day every week

Tips for Planning Your Work Week

• Use your time wisely: don't plan to spend too long on one task. Establish a comfortable time span during which you can focus. Take lots of small breaks to re-energize.
• Vary your tasks: don't spend all night just reading or just writing. Do some research, some thinking, some editing.
• Plan your tasks so that you blend more enjoyable tasks with less pleasant ones. Don't leave all the things you don't want to do until the end.
• Consider your habits.  If you are not normally at your best first thing in the morning, schedule an activity that is more active or that you are motivated to do (perhaps you enjoy reading for History or writing essays for ERS – do this at times when it might be difficult to convince yourself to tackle readings for Philosophy or Chemistry).
• Reward yourself for staying on track, but also take time to re-assess if you think things are derailing.

The Keys to Successful Time Management

Forget what you "should" do or what you think others are doing or what you wish you could do; stick to what you actually do. Remember, no one is judging you- this process will work only if you are completely honest with yourself. Everyone approaches time management (and life!) differently, so you are the best judge of how to adapt these strategies to you and your work.

Be Realistic

Unless you are superhuman, it is best to stick with what you know about yourself. If your approach to these time management tools is unrealistic, you won't use them. Don't try to take on too much, but don't sell yourself short either. Above all, get to know your own capabilities.

Build in Personal Time

Everyone needs to take care of non-school things too. Be sure to build recreational, social, and personal time into your schedule. Do this first, not as an afterthought.

Be Flexible

Review your plan constantly; update it often. If you fall behind, don't worry - simply rearrange your schedule. If something unexpected happens, go with it and rearrange your plan later. Remember, you control it; it doesn't control you.

Stick with Your Plan

The best plan in the world will fail if you don't use it. Get in the habit of using the daily/weekly planner for everything, every day. Be sure to record all of your appointments and activities in the appropriate place.

Give it Time

If you need to change what you do or how you do it, try to change one thing at a time. Things will get better as you get better. After all, that's why you are at university - to learn.

Having a time management plan can give you control over your work and your life. Review your plan constantly; update it often. If you fall behind, don’t worry, simply rearrange your schedule. If something unexpected happens, go with it and rearrange your plan later. Remember, you control it; it doesn’t control you.

How to make a time management plan in 6 easy steps

Many people tend to work for long hours due to distraction, procrastination, and poor time management.   

And the only way to revert to healthy work hours and get things done efficiently is to master the skill of time management.

But how do you start managing time? Simple: by creating a solid time management plan .

In this article, we’ll discuss how to create an effective time management plan for your needs. We’ll also reveal nine simple tips for better time management.

This article contains:

(Click on the links below to jump to a specific section)

Step 1: List down your tasks

Step 2: prioritize tasks, step 3: schedule tasks, step 4: schedule discretionary time, step 5: note your distractions, step 6: invest in time management tools, 1. time yourself, 2. practice time blocking, 3. employ rapid planning method, 4. spend your mornings on mits, 5. learn to say no, 6. stop multitasking, 7. adopt the swiss cheese method, 8. master the 80-20 rule, 9. stick to an early deadline.

Let’s begin!

6 steps to develop a great time management plan

Here’s a 6-step guide to create a good time management plan that’ll help you make the most of your time:

Every time management plan starts with the fundamental step of listing down all the tasks that need your attention. 

While doing this, have a clear idea of what you’d like to achieve from your daily and weekly schedule.

If you have a complex task, you can use project management tools such as a work breakdown structure (WBS) to help you out. The tool takes into account project costs, deliverables, and team coordination while breaking down large projects into manageable tasks. 

This way, you can break and divide your complex tasks into smaller tasks among your team members. With WBS, teams can work in tandem, ensure their project is within budget, and identify milestones.

Additionally, the task list should also include tasks that would help you achieve your long term goal.

For example, if you’re an employee and art is your hobby, your to do list should contain work projects as well as your creative sessions. This way, you can create an effective time management plan that’ll give you enough time to follow work and personal life goals without tiring yourself.

Also, remember to keep updating the task list throughout the day as you come across new tasks. 

Not all tasks share the exact due dates or difficulty levels. That’s why it’s important to prioritize tasks according to their urgency or complexity levels.  

The Eisenhower Matrix is a framework you can follow while prioritizing tasks to help distinguish important tasks from unimportant ones.

According to the matrix, you can define activities into four categories:

Another time management technique to prioritize tasks is to follow the Mark Twain-inspired ‘ eat the frog ’ method. Some challenging tasks may take more time than necessary and tackling them first thing each morning is the best way to move forward in the project. 

This technique will rewire your brain to believe that you can easily handle complex tasks. So every time you take one on, you become better at dealing with challenges! 

To create a daily or weekly schedule that you’re most likely to follow, set a time limit for every task on your list. 

For example, you can schedule 10 minutes to return important calls, an hour for project research, 20 minutes for meetings, and so on. 

When you finish a task under a specific time duration, even the most unpleasant one becomes easier to do. So scheduling tasks into time slots will help you stay organized, efficient, and focussed on your work – without getting overwhelmed by your long to-do lists.

Additionally, take note of your productive hours. For instance, some people are most productive in the morning while others work better post-noon. If you too have a specific window, schedule important tasks in those hours to get them done faster.

Discretionary time refers to the free time that’s not assigned to any task. It includes the planned discretionary time and time gaps in your planner.

For example, if your meeting ends an hour earlier than predicted, you have a discretionary time of one hour. You can either schedule this extra time to complete your tasks or use it to take a break, meditate, review your schedule, check emails, etc.

But always remember, unexpected events are bound to happen. Setting aside some free time will prepare you for the unanticipated task. 

Distractions can keep you from giving your best at work. They can be small habits that go unnoticed, like frequently checking notifications or social media , procrastinating, etc. 

As a result, it’s important to anticipate and list your distractions, including unavoidable personal commitments, while you schedule your project task. 

This way, you can create an efficient time management plan around these commitments and mindfully eliminate your distractions. 

With the right tools, you can check your progress on a project task without manually tracking time, helping you focus fully on work. 

Time management tools like Time Doctor can help you time and track your working hours to ensure you’re using it productively.

What is Time Doctor?

Time Doctor is a powerful productivity and time management tool preferred by large businesses like Ericsson as well as small ones like Thrive Market. 

Here are Time Doctor’s unique features that’ll help you create a time management plan:

• The time tracker tracks how much time you spend on monthly, weekly, and daily tasks. Time Doctor’s idle time tracker will also alert you on your inactive minutes.
• The comprehensive reports and analytics provide detailed insights into how you spend your scheduled hours and automate administrative tasks like billing, attendance, etc.
• The work scheduling feature lets you create and edit work schedules within the app.
• The app and website report feature show the applications and sites used during work hours.
• The Chrome extension offers integrations with other platforms such as Asana , ZohoProjects , GitHub , etc. The extension inserts a button in the third-party app for you to start tracking time.

Now, let’s check out some helpful tips and tricks to enhance the effectiveness of your time management plan.

9 simple and effective time management tips

Here are some time management tips and fixes to improve your management skills:

Time your daily tasks to estimate the duration of each activity instead of scheduling them blindly.   

This’ll also tell you if you’re spending too much time on certain projects. You can then consciously reduce your time to accommodate more tasks.

If you aren’t sure about your time estimates, compare similar tasks from the past to get an idea.

For example, if it takes you an hour to make a 30-minute presentation, you can predict that it’ll take around two hours to make an hour-long presentation.

Time blocking is a management technique that lets you divide your day into small blocks of time. Each time block is assigned a specific task from the to-do list on a priority basis. And you should only focus on the planned activity during a time block.

To employ this technique, you’ll need a complete list of prioritized tasks from which you can schedule work to different time blocks. 

You’ll not only schedule tasks but also have the motivation to finish them since each time block acts as a deadline – pushing you to work faster. 

Besides, this technique also eliminates procrastination and distractions as you have a defined start and finish point for a task, helping you focus better.

The Rapid Planning Method (RPM) calls for a result-oriented, purpose-driven, and massive action time management plan.

According to the RPM process, you need to ask yourself these three questions before taking up an assignment:

• What do you really want?
• Why does it matter to you?
• How will you achieve it?

These questions will help you manage time, sharpen your time management skills, and work strategically towards achieving the desired goal in your life.

MIT refers to the Most Important Task that requires immediate attention.

Most people finish smaller tasks first, thinking it’ll save time. But this only drains them before they even get to the important task of the day. As a result, they’d take more time to complete their task lists.

Instead, start your workday with at least three MITs from your to do list. This way, you can complete your priority tasks, avoid last-minute rushes, and be more productive.

Many believe it’s selfish to say ‘no.’ But it’s an invaluable time management skill that’ll give you enough time to focus on important tasks.

Saying yes to more work, meetings, family gatherings, etc., than you can take on may seem the easiest option. But you’ll be overwhelmed due to the heavy workload, experience increased stress levels, and suffer burnout . 

For example, if you already have back-to-back meetings to attend and your colleague asks you to take one of theirs too, say no. If you say yes, you’ll have to prepare for both in less time, compromising the quality of the tasks at the last minute. 

Instead, request your colleague to find someone with extra time to spare to take over the new meeting. 

Multitasking may sound like a good time management strategy to get more done within a period. 

However, research shows that multitasking affects your productivity by decreasing your workflow, attention span, and overall performance.

Most of the time, when you think that you’re getting many things done simultaneously, you may be blindly shifting your focus from one task to another. 

Multitasking will take your focus away from important tasks that need your full attention and affect your problem solving skills, thereby reducing your productivity.

Psychologists call this the ‘ task switch cost .’ 

It refers to the negative effects of switching between tasks, such as a distraction, increased stress levels, slower working pace, etc. – resulting in poor time management.

For instance, if you’re trying to read a book while talking on the phone, you may likely have to reread the book if you’re focusing on the call and vice-versa.

So take a few minutes at the start of each workday to create an effective time management plan and tackle your scheduled tasks one by one to work efficiently.

You often come across high-priority tasks that overwhelm you, forcing you to avoid them or procrastinate. 

The best time management technique to counter this problem is the Swiss Cheese Method. If you have an important task, make small holes in it by breaking it down into smaller tasks – just like the Swiss Cheese.

These instant tasks should take no longer than five minutes. And before you know it, you would’ve completed the entire task!  

The 80-20 rule (or the Pareto Principle) is the minor imbalance you need to create a good time management plan. 

According to the rule, 80% of your results come from just 20% of your efforts or time. 

For example:

• 80% of your sales may come from 20% of your products.
• 80% of decisions are made in 20% of your meeting slots.

This means that 20% of your tasks contribute around 80% of your success. But the key is in finding the right tasks to prioritize to achieve the results you want.

It may be difficult to distinguish such critical tasks from the urgent but unimportant ones that give us a fake feeling of progress. These tasks take a significant amount of time, giving us little time to tackle the important things. 

Instead, use the 80-20 rule while prioritizing each weekly or daily schedule to help filter out the unimportant tasks. You can then employ the additional resources to focus on a specific task that’ll create a real impact.

Sometimes you may miscalculate the time needed for an activity, making it difficult to complete tasks on time.

To avoid this, set yourself an early deadline or create a good time management plan where you complete your tasks a day before the due dates.  

At the end of the day, it’ll save you from unnecessary pressure and help you achieve your goal.

Wrapping up

Nobody wants to work around the clock. 

So, to enjoy that much-deserved me-time, you need a well-prioritized time management plan to help you focus and enhance your productivity. 

Use the tips covered in this article to create a solid time management plan and take control of your time. And finally, combine your plan and techniques with the right time management tool like Time Doctor. 

Sign up for Time Doctor’s free trial today and save time, hit deadlines like a pro, and maintain a healthy work-life balance!

Book a free demo of Time Doctor

Vaishali Badgujar is a Content and SEO specialist at Time Doctor, an employee-friendly time-tracking system that boosts productivity.

10 wildly effective time management systems

9 powerful tips to improve time management in the workplace, related posts, effective prioritization in business for sustainable growth, 10 essential factors for boosting employee retention, effective communication practices for increasing team cohesion, 10 employee retention metrics you need to know, 10 effective employee retention models to keep your best talent, the essential guide to crafting an effective employee retention policy.

Table of Contents

Why is time management important for students, 10 time management skills and techniques for students, working smarter to enhance productivity, the benefits of good time management, how well do you manage your time, general time-management tools, time management in practice, implications of poor time management, how to better manage your time at work, choose the right program.

Effective time management is all about achieving the right balance between your homework, university/college life, and your free time. As a student, organizing your days will eliminate stress and ensure that you are productive. The general time management tips for students, such as sleeping well, scheduling, and prioritizing, are some important tips that can help students in the long run. A more strategic approach is required to optimize the time a student has in a day.

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Time management for students (and everyone else) is about making your day purposeful. It is about taking control of the time you have and optimizing it for focus, productivity , and above all, balance. Before we list out the time management tips for students, it is crucial for students to understand why time management is important.

All of us should make the most of the limited amount of time we have in a day. It is very easy to get wrapped up in a fury of various activities and accomplish less. Managing time effectively enables students to become more confident, and organized, and learn more efficiently. Effective time management skills are particularly essential for high school students, as they have to deal with more subjects, tests, assignments, and extracurriculars. Time management techniques can help students be on track and cope with the stress of added responsibilities. 

Following are a few more reasons why time management is important for students:

Enables You to Accomplish Your Goals Faster

Appropriate time management makes one more effective and encourages you to give your best to what you are doing and what you can, thus helping you achieve your goals much faster.

Enables You to Prioritize Your Work

When creating a timetable, you prioritize and arrange essential tasks that need immediate attention. For example, students have to complete assignments before attending a session. A student can fit in time to work on the assignments before attending a study group with correct time management.

Enables You to Get More Done in Less Time

Dedicating a specified amount of time to a particular task helps you focus on it. Instead of working on a given task with no predefined time assigned, you can complete the same task by sticking to a time plan. Without a time plan, you might completely forget to finish a task.

Reduces Stress Levels 

Time management skills can help you prioritize the time required for essential tasks; prioritizing tasks and having enough time to accomplish those tasks means reduced stress levels.

Helps You Become More Efficient

Effective time management helps you to be more focused at school/college/university, thus increasing your efficiency and enabling you to accomplish more within less time.

So, how can students learn to manage time more effectively? We have collated a list of the best time management tips for students to beat procrastination, stay focused, and be more productive.

Efficient time management is one of the primary keys to success, and thus, it is worth learning. Following are time management strategies for students to help them manage their time in the best possible manner.

1. Make Use of a Daily Schedule Template to Plan Your Day

Seminars, classes, and workshops may take up a chunk of your day, but how one schedules their own time makes all the difference. It is essential to master your schedule.

A daily schedule template helps you manage and control your time each day. It will enable you to stay organized and focus on what matters most and even help you overcome procrastination. The method that most successful people from Elon Musk to Bill Gates use is “time blocking”. Time blocking is creating a template for how you intend to spend every minute of your day. Students should therefore follow this method to manage their time more fruitfully.

2. Understand How You are Currently Spending Your Time (And Where You Are Losing It)

Your schedule will offer you an ideal version of your day, but you need to analyze how you spend your time to develop better time management habits. Without understanding how you are spending your time each day, it is impossible to build better time management strategies for students to stay focused.

3. Set Proper Goals to Measure Your Progress

Goals are an excellent way to get you motivated to do school work. However, the problem is that goals are just the result, with you not knowing how to achieve them. So, focus on what needs to be done to achieve that goal by focusing on constant progress and developing better habits. For example, if you need to write a 5,000-word essay in a month, set a daily goal of writing 500 words. If you continue this, you can complete your essay in a week.

4. Break Large Projects Into Smaller, Actionable Tasks

A part of proper goal-setting is to segregate large goals from smaller daily tasks. Doing this will help you stay focused and stop you from procrastinating. It is easy to procrastinate when a project feels like a huge task. However, taking that first step is all you need to build momentum.

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5. Be Realistic About the Time You Need to Complete a Task

Once you begin to schedule your tasks for the day, you may get overly optimistic about how much you can achieve. Psychologists also have a name for this – The Planning Fallacy. One of the most effective time management tips for students is to counter the planning fallacy. Students should add a buffer to their schedule depending on how familiar they are with the task. If it is something that has been done before, then 1-1.5X time must be allocated to the time they think it may take to complete the project.

6. Pay Attention to Your Body’s Natural Energy Highs and Lows

We all have moments in the day when we are more energetic and alert. And if you want to exploit the time you have each day to its maximum, you cannot fight against your body’s natural state. What does this mean in terms of time management tips for students ? Simply put, students should do their most essential work when they feel most energetic. This means scheduling intense projects during energy highs and scheduling passive activities when the body is at its natural low.

7. Take Breaks at the Right Time

Take more breaks to manage your productivity over time. But when exactly is the right time to take a break? Sleep researcher Nathaniel Kleitman states, “our minds naturally crave breaks after every 90 minutes of intense work. Even if you do not have a timer going, your body will let you know that you need a break by turning sleepy, fidgeting, hungry, or losing focus”. When you begin to feel this way, you know it is time to take a break.

8. Remove Distractions

Between social media, cell phones, and friends, there are so many activities that can distract students from their school work. When it is time to get down to doing school work, students need to turn off their cell phones and sign out of social media accounts. Any amount of time that is devoted to school work must be television and cell phone free!

9. Avoid Multitasking

It may be tempting for students to feel that they can multitask when their schedule is jam-packed. But the more one tries to do it at once, the longer each thing takes. Instead, studies have found that deeply focusing on one task at a time can be around 500% more productive.

10. Build Better Routines and Habits for Long-Term Success

We are what we repetitively do. One of the best time management strategies for students and everyone else is to develop routines and habits that endorse the kind of actions you would like to do more of, for example, following a morning routine that concentrates on getting an early win and prepping yourself for a productive day. Or, ensure your evening routine preps you for an effective next day by setting your goals and schedules the night before.

When planning, prioritize the more extensive, more complex, and time-consuming chores at the beginning of the week (or day), so you may complete them first and relax more as the week progresses. Front-load your week to maximize your chances of success. This is similar to Eat That Frog, a productivity strategy that recommends performing the most important or influential activity first every day to ensure it gets done.

Constant meetings, social media, and an endless stream of emails may make it challenging to create a productive day. Developing effective habits at work will enable you to accomplish your best job regularly. You have two options for increasing your productivity. You may work longer hours if you bring your job home with you. You may also work smarter by boosting efficiency without sacrificing quality. Let's look at some significant benefits of good time management are: 

Stress Relief

One of the primary causes of increased stress is poor time management. When you have a lot to accomplish and are unsure how to do it, you usually perform a rush job under pressure. However, with proper time management, you can schedule your daily chores so that you work smarter rather than harder. For example, you may prepare critical tasks for when you're most productive or set aside additional time for things you suspect will take longer than expected. So, even if you work longer, you will have enough time to complete everything while being calm.

By identifying task completion time, you can use less energy and worry less about whether you can achieve everything you need to do today. Instead, make time to take a break from your typical routine. You may preserve energy for your spare time since time management helps you to plan when your task will be completed before you begin it. Having more free time can help you achieve a better work-life balance and ensure you make time for yourself.

More Opportunities

Effective time management may help you achieve more success by improving the quality of your work. When you manage your time well, you not only provide excellent work on schedule, but you also work without stress. This displays improved decision-making abilities and potential for leadership . In other words, you exhibit traits that are necessary for job advancement. This will provide you with greater and more chances.

Ability to Realize Goals

You may simplify your day and spend less time selecting what to do or how to accomplish it if you use time management to arrange what you need to complete each day. For example, deciding what to do for each step before commencing the project may be beneficial if you have a complex project with an outline that requires several yet unclear phases. The project is then reduced to a short set of activities that give guidance. You save time by preparing your objectives rather than finding them out as you go. This might mean spending less time pondering what you should be doing and more time doing it.

There are several approaches you may use based on your time management abilities and experience, but the goal is to explain a system that works for you and makes sense in the position you're going for. In other words, if you're working in a team atmosphere, discuss an efficient time management approach for teamwork, such as getting everyone acquainted with project management software. Then, discuss the advantages of employing this method for time management. Going into depth about how this technique has worked for you demonstrates to the interviewer that you have real-world experience adopting this way to manage your time and aren't simply making it up.

Time management is critical to your success. You may achieve any goal you set your mind to by using an excellent time planner and master list. These are common time management tools and practices that you should employ to maximize productivity and personal organization. Each of these takes some effort to learn and perfect, but they will pay you back in increased efficiency and effectiveness for the rest of your life.

Prioritization

The 80/20 rule was developed by the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto. It's believed that 20% of activities are accountable for 80% of results. The purpose of Pareto analysis is to assist you in prioritizing tasks that are most successful at issue resolution. List some of the difficulties you are experiencing. Determine the fundamental source of each issue. Assign a score to each problem and arrange them by cause. Add the scores from each group: The topic should be addressed first in the group with the highest score. Take some action.

Scheduling is the art of preparing your activities so that you may accomplish your goals and prioritize your priorities in the time you have available. When done correctly, it can assist you in realizing what you can do with your time. Ensure you leave adequate time for import duties and only take on what you can do.

Goal Setting

Smart goals enable people to plan and attain their objectives in a reasonable amount of time. It can also aid in improving time management in professional contexts such as school and the workplace. Smart goal planning may give direction for your aims and help you build practical measures to attain those goals if you want to manage your time wisely.

Concentration and Focus

Distractions are a major impediment to personal time management. Close the door to avoid as many distractions as possible. Only pay attention to what you're doing right now.

In terms of significance, describe your top two distractions over the next two weeks. Remember that staying focused during the day necessitates proper sleep habits and enough fluids.

Effective time management entails completing more vital tasks in a single day. Effective time management is more important than efficient time management. The most successful time managers are also the most efficient. Try some time management software. The first time management tool you require is a time planner, which provides all the information you need to plan and arrange your life. The most excellent time planners, whether looseleaf or electronic, allow you to prepare for the whole year, the month, the week, and each day.

We all know that there never seems to be enough time in the day, and as a result, things slip by the wayside. While this occurs to the best of us from time to time, students who battle with time management regularly are doing themselves no favors.

Poor Workflow

Poor efficiency results from a failure to plan and keep to goals. For example, completing related chores concurrently or sequentially is an intelligent approach if many significant tasks need to be accomplished. However, if you plan, you may be able to bounce back and forth, or backtrack, in your job. This equates to decreased efficiency and output.

Wasted Time

Wasted time arises from poor time management. For example, chatting with pals on social media while working on an assignment is a distraction and a waste of time.

Loss of Control

You will lose control of your professional life if you do not know the next assignment. This might lead to increased tension and worry.

Poor Quality of Work

The quality of your work could be better when you manage your time well. Quality is often degraded when things are rushed at the last minute.

Poor Reputation

When clients or your company cannot rely on you to finish things on time, their expectations and impressions of you suffer. A client who needs to trust you to complete a task on schedule will likely look for another service provider.

Your ability to manage your time affects how productive you are each day. You can accomplish more in less time with effective time management, which also helps you feel less stressed and advance in your profession. Instead of just using the following tools as a timetable to complete more tasks, make them represent your values—what is most important to you. When you arrange and calendar your time and make the split-second decisions essential to efficient time management for balance and well-being, remember these principles.

1. Know How You’re Spending Your Time

You need to keep track of what you do with your time to identify any activities or routines preventing you from achieving your desired objectives. You must start and end each day with a purpose to make the most of your time.

You have two choices for keeping track of your time:

• Spend a day or two manually recording your activities in a "time log."
• To automatically log your time, use a free program like RescueTime.

2. Stick to a Daily Schedule

While making a to-do list is a common theme in time and productivity management advice for students, mastering your daily schedule is even more crucial. 

Time blocking is the strategy of choice for many of the most successful people in the world, including Bill Gates and Elon Musk. But time blocking is planning how to spend each minute of your day.

• Create Realistic Timelines: A schedule must be practical to be effective. Plan your study time wisely to increase your study skills. The study techniques of the students vary from one another. This entails scheduling time for breaks, meals, exercise, social interaction, phone calls to loved ones, and all other "non-school" activities that keep you content and motivated.
• Give your undivided Attention: Your best friend in this situation is "self-discipline" and "self-control." If you must take a break, do so, but try to avoid sneaking away to other websites while working. Turn off your phone or put it away until it's time for a scheduled break.

3. Prioritize

1440 minutes make up one day. Within these hours, you must set practical priorities. Setting suitable priorities for your study goals is one of the sage study advice. If you have a lot of material to learn, start breaking it down into manageable chunks and choose what is most crucial. One of the best study strategies is making the most of your morning hours when nobody is awake to disturb you since they are asleep.

• Do immediately: Tasks that are crucial and have clear deadlines, or ones you've put off so long they're past due.
• Schedule for later: Crucial assignments with no set deadlines.
• Delegate: Those tasks that others can execute.
• Delete: Activities you can skip since they are optional to achieving your objectives or carrying out your mission.

4. Tackle the Most Difficult Task First

You should complete your most crucial tasks when you're most energetic. This entails arranging writing or other demanding tasks for when your energy levels are at their highest and reading or other passive pursuits for when they are at their lowest.

Brian Tracy's renowned Eat That Frog productivity technique is quite effective for those who delay or find themselves procrastinating frequently or who may have difficulty avoiding distractions. It suggests starting with the task that is the hardest, most complicated, and most critical, i.e., the one you're most inclined to put off for later. Once you've "devoured that frog," only then should you move on; that too without much stress.

5. Batch-Process Similar Tasks

Task batching is when you organize related jobs or tasks into groups and finish them all at once. Using this method, you can easily cut down on multitasking and extend your time to give all your projects your full attention.

For instance: At around 10 to 11 a.m. daily, organize and respond to emails and organize your digital study materials simultaneously.

6. Set Reasonable Time Limits

Focus on what has to be done to reach and surpass the objective instead of starting at the end and moving backward. You might take a full day to finish two different tasks that could be completed in only three hours if you had a full day to do so. There's a good possibility you'll still reach the earlier deadline if you give yourself a shorter window.

What can you do every day to further your ultimate aim? This entails putting an emphasis on steady improvement and forming improved routines. Even better, seeing daily progress will spur you to do more. Work "expands to occupy the time given to do it," according to Parkinson's law.

7. Learn When to Say No

Our energy levels are limited each day and tend to decrease with time. It is wise to know your limits and be prepared to say no to prevent doing subpar work. Understand your advantages and disadvantages. It is ideal for concentrating on one's strengths and delegating tasks that others can complete more quickly and effectively.

8. Avoid Multitasking

Concentrate on one item at a time to manage your time and commit it to study effectively. Nothing gets accomplished when you attempt to perform too many tasks at once. So, starting with one activity, finishing it, and moving on to another is one of the greatest study- focus- ideas .

When your schedule is packed, believing you can multitask is tempting. But everything takes longer the more you try to complete it at once. Instead, studies show that concentrating intently on a single activity can increase productivity by up to 500% . The American Psychological Association claims that mental juggling comes with "switching costs" that reduce your output. Changing tasks may take a few seconds each, but it adds up if you multitask regularly. Your potential for error also increases.

9. Keep Things Organized

Efficiency will rise if your workspace is tidy and organized because you won't have time to look for paper. Learning how to be organized is a talent that can be known. Start with these fundamentals.

• Maintain a clean work desk: The office's physical surroundings greatly impact how you operate. When your environment is chaotic, you are too. You can also be affected by clutter in less direct ways. Research has demonstrated that your physical settings substantially impact your cognition, emotions, and behavior, affecting how you make decisions and interact with others.
• Coordinate your computer files and shared drives: Loss of files and decreased productivity might result from improperly arranging shared files. Nothing is more confusing than spending most of your working hours searching your system for files. Create distinct folders for your files according to their categories to save yourself the hassle.
• Use a calendar: Using a well-organized calendar, you can manage your time to keep on top of your to-do lists and maintain focus throughout the workday. Although many executives have secretaries who work their calendars, anyone may utilize the same procedures to become more productive.

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Program Name PMP® Certification Training Course PMP Plus Post Graduate Program In Project Management Geo All Geos All Geos All Geos University PMI Simplilearn University of Massachusetts Amherst Course Duration 90 Days of Flexible Access to Online Classes 36 Months 6 Months Coding experience reqd No No No Skills you wll learn 8+ PM skills including Work Breakdown Structure, Gantt Charts, Resource Allocation, Leadership and more. 6 courses including Project Management, Agile Scrum Master, Implementing a PMO, and More 9+ skills including Project Management, Quality Management, Agile Management, Design Thinking and More. Additional Benefits -Experiential learning through case studies -Global Teaching Assistance -35PDUs -Learn by working on real-world problems -24x7 Learning support from mentors -Earn 60+ PDU’s -3 year course access Cost $$ $$$$ $$$$ Explore Program Explore Program Explore Program

Time management for students is highly intimidating, especially when you have multiple things on your to-do list. It is one of the most challenging tasks for students as they are expected to fare well and produce good results while handling the pressures of school assignments, homework, projects, and maintaining a social life. However, with our list of time management tips for students, we are confident that students will be able to come up with an arrangement to ensure that every day is as productive as possible. 

As you know, there is never an end to learning. To make your day more effective, you can always take up courses as a student to boost your career. A PMP® Certification Training  from Simplilearn will help you master core project management tools as a strategic tool for business transformation.

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29 time management templates and examples to enhance efficiency

From daily to-dos to monthly editorial calendars, we’ve rounded up 29 time management templates and examples to get you started managing your time efficiently. Find out how each template can help you complete your to-do list.

Take a look at 29 time management template options and examples to find the one that fits your busy schedule. From daily agendas to monthly goals, these templates cover just about any situation. 

Ready to get started? Here are the 29 most helpful time management worksheets. 

Personal schedules and lists

Stay on top of your daily and weekly tasks with these time-management strategies.

1. Daily to-do list example

Best for: Daily goal-setting and prioritizing micro-tasks.

Daily to-dos are action items that you write down in a notebook or check via your to-do list software tool at the beginning of each day. Tracking your to-dos can help you ensure you’re getting all of your important work done for the day and that nothing is falling through the cracks. 

The act of writing down your daily deliverables helps you visualize the work you need to complete. Because everything is written down, you can easily understand each task’s priority and see which tasks you need to complete when.  At the end of the day, check your to-dos for tomorrow so you can start the day with your best foot forward. 

2. Checklist example

Best for: Ordering daily deliverables in sequential order. 

The way you organize your to-do list can impact how and when you complete tasks. By creating a checklist, you can ensure your deliverables are clearly defined and in sequential order by priority.

A checklist time management template can be categorized from most important to least important, so you can ensure your highest-priority tasks are completed first. Plus, the act of checking off each to-do can bring relief knowing that one less task is on your to do list.

3. Daily planner example

Best for: Planning daily activities to prevent unfulfilled goals. 

A daily planner is great if you frequently get overwhelmed by your daily to-dos and like to have a plan of action for your day. A daily or weekly planner is different from a to-do list because it accounts for more than just deliverables. It includes all moving parts of your day, including meetings, breaks, deliverables, and anything else that consumes your workday.

A study done in 2011 found that creating a plan can help offload the mental burden of unfulfilled goals. By planning your day around meetings, tasks, and project deliverables, you can have a daily roadmap that helps you time block and accomplish your action items.

4. Weekly schedule example

Best for: Planning your workload a week in advance to hit deadlines.

Beyond daily to-dos, it can be helpful to plan your work for the week ahead. This involves making a schedule of tight deadlines like daily tasks, open-ended deadlines like larger projects, and everything in between. 

You’ll then want to prioritize these tasks based on deadlines and importance as it pertains to team objectives. This way you can align goals to the work needed to complete them.

5. Simple example

Best for: Staying on track with micro-tasks.

When it comes to time management, simple is often better. If you already have a strategy in place but need a little more structure to the chaos a simple time management worksheet might be the solution for you.

A simple template might include a brief overview of weekly task lists and deadlines to hit. A checklist format would suffice for this option, but for those who prefer to visualize their work you can use a whiteboard calendar to make it fun. The difference is that a simple template only includes the next few tasks on your agenda, which keeps the layout straightforward.

Time tracking tools

Before you can manage your time, you need to understand how you're spending it. With these strategies, you can reclaim each minute of your day.

6. Time log example

Best for: Tracking task duration and workload allocation.

Logging your time is one of the most difficult parts about managing a structured plan. Between working on important tasks and responding to teammates in real time, where does the time go? 

Keeping a time log template can help you track how long it takes to complete work and allows you to analyze your daily, weekly, and monthly time allocations. Time log templates are useful for tracking how much time you’ve spent on past work, but they also help with future planning as well. Once you have a sense of how long each task takes, you can plan for future projects based on the estimated time it takes for each task to be completed.

7. Activity log example

Best for: Teams who work on multiple projects at the same time.

In a perfect world, your time would be spent only on completing your assigned tasks. Unfortunately, that’s not always the world we live in and many teams suffer from busywork which impedes on their overall efficiency. In fact, the average knowledge worker spends 60% of their time on work about work—things like searching for documents, chasing approvals, or attending status meetings. 

An activity template helps you track all activities you do in a day so you can identify and reduce work about work. For example, while you may only have two tasks to complete that day, you may also have two meetings to attend, a fire to put out with a past project, or miscommunication that needs to be cleared up with a teammate. Logging these activities can give you a clearer picture of where your time is being spent and present opportunities to improve your current processes.

8. Time budget example

Best for: Analyzing time allocations and budget details.  

You may be familiar with the saying “Time is money,” but how exactly can you ensure your time is being utilized efficiently? While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach, tracking your time in correlation with your budget can help put your time allocation in perspective. 

You can do this by first tracking the time it takes you to complete each task within a project. Then assign a budget number to each entry by taking the project budget and dividing it by the time it took you to complete each task. While it may not be 100% accurate every time, you can get a rough idea of where your time is going and share it with stakeholders to increase visibility. 

9. Pomodoro technique example

Best for: Individuals that struggle with procrastination and are easily distracted.

If creating a daily or weekly to-do list makes you feel overwhelmed, you may want to try using the Pomodoro technique . This technique involves pairing focused work sessions with frequent short breaks, with the objective of boosting your productivity and reducing mental fatigue.

A common working time ratio is 25 minutes of working to 5 minutes of break. You can begin using this technique by scheduling your daily tasks around these 25-minute working blocks to have peace of mind that your to-do list will be complete at the end of the day.

Task prioritization techniques

When it comes to productivity, prioritization is key. Here are some tools to help you decide which tasks are urgent, and which ones can wait.

10. Priority example

Best for: Categorizing tasks based on importance for efficiency needs.

When you have a long to-do list ahead of you and back-to-back meetings, it can sometimes seem impossible to manage your time effectively while completing your tasks. That’s where priority planning comes in. 

A priority template can help you rank each task on your list by importance, ensuring your most important tasks are completed first. This can help organize your to-do list on even the busiest days. Try ranking each project on a scale of one to three, or color coding based on highest priority. 

11. Procrastination example

Best for: Teams that struggle with procrastination and efficiency issues.

We’ve all been there before—you have a long list of to-dos but find yourself putting them off until the last minute. Procrastination is something many of us struggle with, but there is a way to combat the negative effects. 

Creating a procrastination template can help you prioritize the top tasks needed to get done one day at a time. This will keep you from becoming overwhelmed by the longer weekly to-dos. You may also want to try a time management strategy like the Pomodoro technique where you work for short intervals of time and take frequent breaks to alleviate stress. The key is to try different methods and find the right one for you. Start by prioritizing the most important tasks, and move on to taking short breaks if you’re still struggling.

12. Someday example

Best for: Planning future projects that are lower in priority but still important.

We’re all guilty of keeping our focus on short-term tasks at least some of the time—after all, there are deadlines to be met. But it can be helpful to spend time considering long-term tasks you’d like to tackle some day. 

You can use a someday time management template to make a list of future projects you’d like to take on—either as a team or as an individual. That way, the next time you have a little extra free time you can work on your someday tasks. You can start by listing out project descriptions and then assigning teams that would be involved to get the ball rolling.

13. Free time example

Best for: Proactively prioritizing long-term projects. 

If you’re ever in a situation where your workload is light and you want to work on proactive action items, try using a free time template by listing out tasks on your someday list. You can start by breaking your someday tasks into their own work breakdown structure , where you’ll begin planning out smaller deliverables. 

These tasks can be larger business wants like an improved process or team wants like organizing a team bonding activity . Save these free time tasks for the end of the week when your priority tasks are finished and use it to catch up on projects you’ve been wanting to tackle. 

Team planning templates

Managing a team requires organization. With these templates, you can keep your team members aligned and make the most of everyone's time.

14. Team goals template

Best for: Aligning smaller tasks to larger project goals.

One of the biggest challenges when it comes to time management is connecting tasks to larger project goals. This is especially true for teams that typically work in silos and don’t have a connected platform for time management tracking. 

A way to combat this is by using team goal templates so all stakeholders understand the necessary project objectives and how their work connects to the larger picture. 

15. SMART goals example

Best for: Proactive goal-setting and task roadmapping.

If setting goals and tracking progress helps your productivity, then using a SMART goals template might be for you. SMART is an acronym that stands for S pecific, M easurable, A chievable, R ealistic, and T ime-bound. SMART goals help you hit ambitious goals with clear communication and alignment.

Communicating your goals ensures that you have transparency when it comes to aligning tasks and objectives. Plus, you can start each day with a clear roadmap and trackable metrics.

16. Action items example

Best for: Organizing daily or weekly action items by priority.

Another way to organize your workload is to highlight the most important action items of your day and accomplish those tasks first. This is called an action items template.

Scheduling your day around action items will ensure your priority tasks are accomplished by the end of the day. This will also allow you to work on important tasks for the rest of the week. 

17. Team brainstorm template

Best for: Creative teams that need help ideating effectively. 

Team brainstorming is a creative way to ideate new business opportunities. That said, without the right time management skills, your brainstorming meeting could end up being unproductive . That’s where a team brainstorm template comes in.

With a plan in place, everyone can add their ideas collaboratively in one shared document. Then, you can get together to talk through the top ideas and key action items. You can also try out different brainstorming techniques to find the meeting activity that best fits your team dynamic. 

18. Workflow example

Best for: Refining internal processes and procedures.

A workflow is an end-to-end process that connects the right people to the right data at the right time. Workflows are incredibly valuable, but they take time and effort to build.

Even with the right workflow management software , it may take some time to gain effective time management skills since it can be a challenging endeavor. But with the right template, you can plan, customize, and track the success of your workflows with ease. 

19. Employee onboarding template

Best for: Organizing new hire documents and training materials.

The hiring process is a crucial element in establishing group norms , setting company culture , and optimizing internal efficiency. But it can be a time-consuming task with new team members being onboarded continuously. Without the proper procedure, your new team members could be left without the resources needed to do their jobs effectively. 

An employee onboarding template standardizes your processes, aligns stakeholders, and creates an inclusive community from day one. By supporting your HR team and hiring managers, you can ensure your team has everything they need for the new hire’s first day of work . Then, pair the employee onboarding template with a 30-60-90 day plan and an actionable new hire checklist to streamline the process.

20. Meeting agenda template

Best for: Teams who struggle running efficient meetings.

Most of us have experienced a meeting in our professional careers that didn’t have an agenda. Without a proper meeting agenda, team members could be stuck wondering about the objective, and ultimately, it could end up as wasted time. 

With a meeting agenda template , you can keep your meetings focused and on track with clear objectives, action items, and post-meeting tasks. 

21. Sprint planning template

Best for: Development and product teams that work on tight deadlines.

Sprint planning is a project management methodology for product and engineering teams that breaks work down into smaller chunks. This helps prioritize work and plan for team capacity needs.

In order to effectively plan your sprints, you should use a sprint planning template which can help you better manage Agile projects by creating structure, assigning task owners, and planning sprint meetings.

Project planning templates

Projects contain lots of moving pieces. These templates and examples can help you stay on top of who's doing what, when.

22. Gantt chart example

Best for: Tracking project progress and task milestones. 

Gantt charts are horizontal bar charts used to illustrate a timeline of a project, program, or task. They provide a better way to track task progress, dependencies, and milestones . 

A Gantt chart template can significantly decrease the amount of time spent on daily task planning. By visualizing all of your work on a timeline, you get a clear sense of what’s coming up and how long each task will take. Think of a Gantt chart as an interactive approach to time management. 

23. Event planning template

Best for: Visualizing event deadlines and managing communication.

Event planning can be a stressful endeavor. You likely have dozens of deadlines and details to track at any given moment leading up to the event. This can wreak havoc on your usual time management strategy.

Using an event planning template can help you budget, visualize, communicate, and manage vendor requests all in one place. This can help you reach goals and turn emails into actionable tasks.

24. Design plan template

Best for: Connecting design deliverables to larger project milestones.

Designers may have a variety of tools to help them design, but what about a tool that helps plan the actual work? From initial concept to cross-team communication and ultimate approval, there are many moving parts.

With a design plan template , you can keep tasks organized and on time all while receiving approvals in one organized place. This helps you hit deadlines and keep creative milestones on track.

25. Editorial calendar template

Best for: Teams that have a robust content schedule and struggle with miscommunication.

Whether you’re creating blogs or press releases , if you work on a creative team, you have an editorial calendar to plan for upcoming content. This could be a literal calendar view or an organized list separated by weeks or months.

Visualizing your upcoming work in an editorial calendar is a great way to get a bird’s-eye view of what’s going live when. Not only does it give you a chance to plan ahead, but it also allows you to schedule your editorial needs around important company events or seasonal changes. 

26. Social media template

Best for: Organizing your social content around events and trends.

Social media can be complex to plan. From managing multiple profiles to staying up-to-date with new trends, having a strategic plan is key. A social media content calendar is a combination of your editorial plan and your upcoming social posts—all in an easy to visualize way that your cross-functional stakeholders can quickly access.

Using a social media template can make it easy to manage your publication schedule, schedule posts, and communicate with team members in a shared space. This prevents miscommunication and allows your team to stay on the same page.

27. Product launch template

Best for: Product teams that need help juggling multiple launches.

Successful product launches take careful planning and diligence. From creating goals to messaging and implementation, a lot can go wrong. Luckily, a product launch template can keep you organized and help expand your product portfolio. 

Whether you’re juggling a new product development process or need clearer directions, a product launch template can help you visualize your timeline, share goals, and keep communication all in one place. 

Business planning templates

When it comes to business planning, organization is key. Check out these templates to plan ahead and maximize efficiency.

28. Business strategy template

Best for: Connecting individuals to business goals and preventing silos.

A business plan is a roadmap that tells the story of who and what your business is. It’s often shared with executives, team members, and even investors. That’s why it’s so important to have a professional-looking document that helps communicate your strategy in as little time as possible.

There are many different elements you can choose to include in your business strategy template , such as processes, expenses, and overarching programs—all of which can be time-consuming to refine without the proper template. To jump-start the process, look for a strong business strategy template to help your team ideate and present your business strategy with your best foot forward. 

29. Sales pipeline template

Best for: Organizing sales opportunities and sharing them across teams.

Managing your sales pipeline is a tricky task that involves maintaining and tracking potential sales team opportunities. While this sounds simple enough, there are many moving parts that go into tracking your sales pipeline including opportunities, lead status, priority, stage, and estimated value, and more. 

With a sales pipeline template , your sales team can easily track account data and action items while prioritizing opportunities and sharing your pipeline with other team members. Plus, you can zero in on new leads, top accounts, and at-risk opportunities to build your pipeline.

Manage your time with templates

Managing your time can be a complex task, but with the right time management template you can better organize your daily, weekly, and monthly goals. 

If you’re looking to implement better time management for your entire team, consider trying task management software to track tasks in one shared place.

Related resources

How to track utilization rate and drive team profitability

Fix these common onboarding challenges to boost productivity

How to align your team with a work schedule template

How to prioritize tasks in 4 steps (and get work done)

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The Key Time Management Tips for Even the Most Distracted People You have a task or assignment to complete that should only take 20 minutes of your time. You begin to work on it, but your phone chimes with a text...

By Angela Ruth May 13, 2024

This story originally appeared on Calendar

You have a task or assignment to complete that should only take 20 minutes of your time. You begin to work on it, but your phone chimes with a text message from a friend. Then, a Slack message from a coworker asks you to share a document with them. You then start organizing your desktop after noticing all the documents you have yet to file away. Before you know it, that 20 minutes is long gone, and you’ve been reminded to hop on a Zoom call.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone! Being distracted is a common problem that many people experience day-after-day. And with more companies going remote, you may find yourself distracted by things that used to grab your attention while at the office. After all, taking the dog for a walk or doing a load of laundry isn’t possible when you’re away from home.

Rather than forcing yourself to stay on task 24/7 and avoid distractions altogether, the key is to set yourself up for success through time management tips. These tips will steer you towards being as productive as possible, lessening the chance of you becoming distracted in the first place. Ahead are four time management tips to consider.

Turn Off Alerts and Notifications

You’re working up against a deadline and see a new email from your boss come through. Or, you’re out to lunch with a client, and a pop-up will appear for someone commenting on your latest LinkedIn post. Or, a Slack thread about a project you’re assisting with is pinging you during a one-on-one meeting with a direct report. If this sounds like your typical day, it may be a good sign that you must turn off your alerts and notifications.

Because while these notifications may be necessary, you don’t always need to know about them immediately. They will still be there when you’re ready to give them your full attention. Turning off notifications can help you prioritize what matters, allowing you to set the agenda for the day. It may lessen your stress levels, too, especially if you already feel your heartbeat increase with each email alert.

But before you snooze all your notifications, consider whether any need your urgent attention. If you’re a parent, you’ll likely want to keep email alerts on from your child’s school, for example. Once these are set aside and you’ve turned everything else off, take a week or two to observe. With fewer alerts on, you may recognize others that you can turn off as well. And the less things grabbing your attention, the more time you have to check items off your own to-do list.

Try the Pomodoro Technique

Don’t let the spelling of “Pomodoro” keep you from trying out this time management method! The Pomodoro Technique is actually a straightforward way to manage your day, breaking it up into sizable intervals. It can help you make the most of your time, which can help increase your sense of self-worth and value. It can also help you plan and think ahead, setting aside more time for the tasks that typically take longer to complete.

Sold? Here’s how to try out the Pomodoro technique for yourself. First, select a task from your to-do list for the day. Then, set a 25-minute timer and work on the task for this chunk of time. When time is up, take a 5-minute pause to stretch, grab some water, or go to the bathroom. Then, start on your next 25-minute task and repeat this process for the next hour before taking a longer break.

The Pomodoro Technique is similar to time blocking but on a smaller scale. While you plan out your entire day with time blocking, the Pomodoro Technique allows for room to pivot and schedule focus time for specific tasks. This can be great if you find yourself with a free morning without meetings and want to cross some items off your to-do list. Use your calendar of choice, whether that’s Apple iCal, Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, or Calendar.com , to set 25-minute blocks. Doing so will help you stay on track with your working and rest periods.

Allow for Breaks Throughout the Day

Nobody expects you to sit at your desk for eight hours straight. Most workers tend to only give themselves a lunch break, and even many will admit they eat at their desks. Setting aside time for structured distractions can help you remain focused when you really need to be. These micro-breaks can refuel your tank, reenergizing yourself for whatever is next on your schedule.

How do you find the time for these breaks? Look at your schedule at the start of the day and locate when you think you’ll need to reset. A quick walk around the block may be required after a morning when you’re heads-down and working on an upcoming presentation. Or an afternoon of meetings may benefit from a quick snuggle session with Fido.

Speaking of meetings, you may want to consider shortening them if yours are pre-set for 30 or 60 minutes. That way, you can have five to 10 minutes to reset yourself before diving into your next meeting or your next scheduled work block. This can be set up automatically on Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook.

If you use Google Calendar, go to “Settings” and then “General” and then “Event Settings.” Select “Speedy Meetings,” so all of your meetings are reduced — 30 minutes becomes 25, and 60 minutes becomes 50. If you use Microsoft Outlook, go to “File,” then “Options,” then “Calendar. Select “End Meeting Early” to reduce each meeting time. Like Google Calendar, your 30-minute meeting will become 25 minutes, and your 60-minute meeting will become 50.

Schedule Your Meetings Around Your Productive Hours

Nobody can be 100% productive without any distractions for the entire workday. The key to staying productive is to find the times in your day when you tend to be the most focused. If you’re a morning person, perhaps the first few hours of your workday should be dedicated to solo projects. Rather than waking up and hopping on calls immediately, you can reserve the afternoon hours for meetings.

Alternatively, if you’re a night owl maybe you get a wave of energy as the rest of your team is winding down for the day. Using the 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. block for concentrated work may be most advantageous for you. Once you know the hours in which you thrive, block off your calendar accordingly.

If you’re a manager, let your team know your preferred meeting hours. Sharing this information can motivate others on your team to set aside time for concentrated work, too. Setting meeting times into your calendar will also help group them together. It’s easier to get distracted when you have 30-minute gaps between meetings than having them scheduled back-to-back. Of course, flexibility is also important, so when a client needs to take a call when you’re typically blocked, schedule the call and move on from there.

There are so many things pulling your attention these days that it’s all too easy to get distracted. Once you figure out what is distracting you most, you can set yourself up to avoid or eliminate them as much as possible. Taking structured breaks, including a designated lunch hour, is important and can help you be as productive as possible.

Featured Image Credit: Photo by Andrea Piacquadio; Pexels

The post The Key Time Management Tips for Even the Most Distracted People appeared first on Calendar .

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Essential Study Skills

• Introduction to Time Management
• Getting Things Done
• Creating a Weekly Schedule
• Creating a Semester Plan
• Planning an Assignment
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• Putting it all together
• Additional Resources
• Coping With Stress
• Changing Your Perception of Stress
• Problem Solving To Manage Stress
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• Exploring the Labour Market
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• Setting Goals
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Time Management

Every program at Algonquin involves completing a long list of challenging tasks. Keeping track of those tasks, and their deadlines, is a common source of stress for college students. Many struggling students don’t plan to fail; they simply fail to plan. This unit can help you learn to manage your time more effectively.

Every program at Algonquin involves completing a long list of challenging tasks. Keeping track of those tasks, and their deadlines, is a common source of stress for college students. Many struggling students don’t plan to fail; they simply fail to plan. This unit can help you learn to manage your time more effectively

• Use your time wisely. There are 168 hours in a week. Use idle time to complete smaller tasks. This will free up time for the big things.
• Devote more time to important assignments. Be prepared to invest an average of 2 solid hours for every 5% an assignment is worth.
• Prioritize your assignments. Be prepared to invest an average of 2 solid hours for every 5% an assignment is worth.
• Start planning your time early in the semester. The earlier you start managing your time, the easier it is. Get into good habits early so you don’t fall behind.
• Create a semester plan. Write down your deadlines for the semester so that they don’t catch you by surprise.
• Plan out your week. Create a weekly schedule and use it every day.
• Give yourself enough time. Budget at least 1 hour of homework for every hour of class time.
• Prioritize your tasks. Make a task like and do the most important and urgent things first.
• Develop an assignment tracker. Plan how you will complete your assignments by breaking big tasks down into manageable steps.
• Start early. Don’t get sucked into the procrastination trap. Give yourself enough time to complete your assignment properly.
• Plan some down time. Make sure to include time for fun or relaxing into your schedule every day.

Time Management: 4 sub-modules

Study tools.

• Managing Time Robbers Tool (PDF)
• Semester plan template (Excel)
• Weekly Schedule Template (PDF)
• Assignment Tracker Template (PDF)
• To do list template (PDF)

Need help with Time Management?

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Time Management Skills: Performance Review Examples (Rating 1 – 5)

By Status.net Editorial Team on August 9, 2023 — 8 minutes to read

Performance Review Phrases and Paragraphs Examples: Time Management

5 – outstanding, example phrases.

• Consistently meets all deadlines and often delivers ahead of schedule
• Skillfully balances multiple projects while maintaining a high level of organization
• Demonstrates exceptional prioritization abilities and focuses on high-impact tasks
• Always punctual and effectively manages time to complete all assigned tasks
• Goes above and beyond to complete tasks efficiently without sacrificing quality
• Consistently prioritizes tasks and uses time effectively to complete them ahead of schedule
• Demonstrates exceptional organization and planning to ensure goals are met in a timely manner
• Consistently completes tasks ahead of schedule
• Effectively prioritizes tasks to maximize productivity
• Demonstrates exceptional organization skills

Paragraph Examples

“Jane consistently meets all deadlines and often delivers work ahead of schedule. Her ability to effectively manage her time and prioritize high-impact tasks has led to exceptional performance on various projects. As a result, she has been a valuable asset to the team.”

“John’s skillful balance of multiple projects is noteworthy. He maintains a high level of organization and ensures all tasks are completed efficiently without sacrificing quality. His time management skills have proven to be an essential advantage for the company, contributing to increased productivity and customer satisfaction.”

“Susan has always been punctual and dependable, making her a trusted team member. Her time management skills enable her to focus on the tasks at hand while balancing competing priorities. As a result, she consistently meets expectations and often exceeds them, demonstrating her strong work ethic and dedication to success.”

4 – Exceeds Expectations

• Consistently prioritizes tasks effectively and ensures deadlines are met.
• Successfully balances multiple projects by allocating time efficiently.
• Proactively develops and utilizes time management tools and strategies.
• Anticipates obstacles and consistently finds solutions to prevent delays.
• Arrives early for meetings and regularly completes tasks ahead of schedule.
• Frequently meets deadlines, often finishing tasks ahead of schedule.
• Exhibits strong planning skills and effectively allocates time to tasks according to their importance.
• Frequently meets deadlines with time to spare
• Successfully balances multiple tasks at once
• Maintains an organized workspace and calendar

“Jane, a team leader in our organization, consistently showcases her ability to manage time effectively. She can prioritize her tasks and ensure that all deadlines are met without fail. With her proactive nature, she develops time-management tools and strategies which not only aid her but also help her team members in staying organized.”

“John, a marketing specialist within our company, demonstrates an exceptional ability to balance multiple projects simultaneously. He allocates his time in an efficient manner, allowing him to meet all project deadlines and maintain high-quality work. His anticipation of potential setbacks and implementation of appropriate solutions prevent any delays in project completion.”

“Susan, a customer service representative, consistently arrives early for meetings and finishes her tasks ahead of schedule. Her excellent time management skills allow her to perform at an exceptional level, exceeding expectations and making a positive impact on our organization. With her proactive attitude and ability to foresee obstacles, she continually finds ways to improve her performance and support the team’s objectives.”

3 – Meets Expectations

• Consistently meets deadlines for projects and tasks.
• Demonstrates effective time management skills by prioritizing tasks appropriately.
• Reliably balances multiple tasks and responsibilities without sacrificing quality.
• Shows solid organization skills, ensuring all tasks are completed in a timely manner.
• Sets realistic goals and follows through on commitments without micromanagement.
• Generally uses time wisely to complete tasks on schedule.
• Shows an ability to balance workload and prioritize tasks to meet deadlines.
• Generally meets deadlines and completes tasks on time
• Prioritizes tasks and allocates time appropriately
• Demonstrates adequate organization skills

“Julia consistently meets deadlines for her projects and tasks, demonstrating effective time management skills. She prioritizes her work appropriately and reliably balances multiple responsibilities to ensure timely completion. Julia’s organization skills contribute to her solid performance in meeting expectations.”

“Dan sets realistic goals and follows through on his commitments. His ability to work independently without micromanagement is a testament to his strong time management abilities. As a result, Dan consistently meets the expectations set for his role and demonstrates his value to the team.”

2 – Needs Improvement

• She struggles to prioritize tasks and frequently misses deadlines.
• He often over-commits to projects, leading to unfinished tasks and poor time management.
• They are consistently late to meetings and appointments.
• She frequently misjudges the time it takes to complete tasks, resulting in missed deadlines.
• He underestimates the importance of punctuality and consistently arrives late to work.
• Occasionally struggles with meeting deadlines and managing multiple tasks.
• Sometimes fails to prioritize tasks effectively, leading to missed deadlines or incomplete work.
• Struggles to meet deadlines on a regular basis
• Faces difficulty in prioritizing tasks and managing time
• Lacks organization in personal workspace and schedule

“Jane often experiences difficulty in managing her time effectively. She has repeatedly been observed struggling to prioritize tasks, causing her to miss deadlines and negatively impact team performance. In addition, Jane frequently over-commits to projects, which invariably results in incomplete tasks and stretched resources. It is essential for Jane to improve her time management skills in order to better support the team’s goals and deadlines in the future.”

“John’s time management skills consistently need improvement, as he is often late to meetings and appointments. This lack of punctuality not only affects the efficiency of the team but also sends a negative message regarding his commitment to his role. Furthermore, John regularly misjudges the time it takes to complete tasks, leading to missed deadlines and increased pressure on his colleagues. To better fulfil his responsibilities and contribute to the overall success of the team, John must focus on developing effective time management strategies.”

1 – Unacceptable

• Struggles to complete tasks on time, consistently missing deadlines.
• Procrastination often leads to a backlog of work and unnecessary stress.
• Frequently fails to prioritize tasks effectively, causing delays in projects.
• Time management skills have not improved despite multiple coaching sessions.
• Difficulty in making adjustments when faced with unexpected changes in workload.
• Consistently misses deadlines and fails to manage time effectively.
• Lacks the ability to prioritize tasks, often leading to incomplete projects and additional work for others.
• Consistently fails to meet deadlines
• Unable to manage time effectively
• Personal workspace and schedule are disorganized and inefficient

“(Employee Name) consistently demonstrates unacceptable time management skills. They often fail to prioritize their tasks effectively, resulting in missed deadlines and delays in projects. Despite multiple coaching sessions, their skills in managing their time and workload have not improved.”

“(Employee Name)’s procrastination often contributes to a backlog of work, causing additional stress for the team and contributing to missed deadlines. Their inability to effectively manage their time has had a noticeable impact on the overall productivity and timeliness of projects.”

“In addition to struggling with prioritization, (Employee Name) regularly fails to adapt when faced with unexpected changes in their workload. This inability to adjust and reorganize their schedule to accommodate new tasks or challenges has led to a decline in their overall performance and effectiveness in their role.”

Performance Review Questions: Time Management Skills

1. How does the employee prioritize their tasks and responsibilities? 2. Does the employee complete their work on time and meet deadlines consistently? 3. How does the employee handle unexpected or urgent tasks that arise? 4. Does the employee use their time effectively and efficiently to accomplish their goals? 5. Does the employee have a system in place for managing their time and staying organized? 6. How does the employee handle interruptions or distractions during their workday? 7. Does the employee communicate effectively with their colleagues and superiors about their workload and time constraints? 8. Does the employee take ownership of their time and proactively seek out ways to improve their time management skills? 9. How does the employee balance their workload and avoid overcommitting themselves? 10. Does the employee take breaks and prioritize self-care to avoid burnout and maintain productivity?

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some impactful phrases to assess time management skills.

• “Consistently meets deadlines and maintains a high level of productivity.”
• “Demonstrates effective planning and organizational skills.”
• “Prioritizes tasks efficiently and focuses on important tasks.”
• “Balances multiple projects and tasks without compromising quality.”
• “Struggles with managing time well and frequently misses deadlines.”

How can you rate employees on time management during performance reviews?

Ratings for time management skills can be assigned as follows:

• 5 – Outstanding: Consistently exhibits exceptional time management skills and always meets or exceeds deadlines.
• 4 – Exceeds Expectations: Displays strong time management skills and usually completes tasks ahead of schedule.
• 3 – Meets Expectations: Adequately manages time and meets required deadlines with quality work.
• 2 – Needs Improvement: Has difficulty managing time effectively and requires guidance to meet deadlines.
• 1 – Unacceptable: Continually fails to manage time well, leading to missed deadlines and poor-quality work.

What are some positive and negative examples for time management evaluations?

Positive examples:

• Completes tasks efficiently and accurately without sacrificing quality.
• Effectively delegates tasks to team members based on their strengths.
• Balances long-term projects and short-term priorities with ease.

Negative examples:

• Consistently misses deadlines and struggles to stay on track.
• Overwhelmed by multitasking and demonstrates difficulty prioritizing tasks.
• Responds poorly to urgent requests, resulting in delayed or incomplete work.

Which self-performance review goals can be set to improve time management?

Employees can set the following goals to improve their time management skills:

• Create and follow a daily to-do list to prioritize tasks.
• Learn to delegate tasks and empower team members.
• Set realistic deadlines and allocate sufficient time for essential tasks.
• Regularly review and adjust workload based on priorities.
• Seek training or guidance in time management techniques.

What should a manager include when evaluating an employee’s time management skills?

A manager should consider the following criteria when evaluating an employee’s time management skills:

• Ability to meet deadlines and deliver quality work.
• Efficiency and effectiveness in managing tasks and priorities.
• Adaptability to changes or urgent requests.
• Capacity to multitask and allocate time to various projects.
• Collaboration with team members in managing and delegating tasks.

What are examples of quality and quantity of work in regard to time management skills?

Quality of work examples:

• Produces error-free, well-researched, and thought-out projects.
• Offers clear, concise, and thorough work, reflecting attention to detail.
• Develops innovative and creative solutions that exceed expectations.

Quantity of work examples:

• Consistently completes assigned tasks ahead of schedule.
• Manages and successfully delivers multiple projects simultaneously.
• Maintains a steady pace of work without sacrificing quality.
• Problem Solving Skills: Performance Review Examples (Rating 1 - 5)
• Planning Skills: Performance Review Examples (Rating 1 - 5)
• Teamwork Skills: Performance Review Examples (Rating 1 - 5)
• Decision Making Skills: Performance Review Examples (Rating 1 - 5)
• Listening Skills: Performance Review Examples (Rating 1 - 5)
• Supervision Skills: Performance Review Examples (Rating 1 - 5)

11 Free Time Management Worksheet for Students & Adults

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Do you find yourself constantly rushing to get important tasks done at the last minute? Have you ever missed important deadlines? Do you have a reputation for being constantly late for meetings, classes, or other important events?

At work, you probably find it a challenge to keep on top of all the tasks you need to finish. Your productivity may have taken a nosedive, and you’re not the only one who has noticed.

If you’re a student, you might be having difficulties meeting the demands of academics and extracurricular commitments. Perhaps you are even dissatisfied with your academic performance.

At home, you are probably faced with a seemingly endless parade of chores, and no longer have quality time for your family and yourself.

If any of the above scenarios resonate with you, it could be that you need some help managing your time.

Table of Contents

How Can I Effectively Manage My Time?

Effective time management requires two things: planning and organizing.

Time management involves a three-step process:

Step 1: Assessing how you currently use your time.

Step 2: Creating a schedule.

Step 3: Following the schedule.

It is important that you establish your daily schedule around your activities and commitments.

Make sure that you identify which activities are flexible and which are fixed. For instance, work hours are usually set to eight hours each day, so that’s a fixed schedule. Meanwhile, sleep and recreational activities are usually flexible.

As much as possible, be specific in your schedule-making. For example, if you just write “do chores” for Saturday morning, that could mean anything from a few minutes spent washing the dishes to half a day’s work of organizing the hallway closet. Estimate the time you need for the activity and block that time out in your timetable.

In addition, you can use some time-management tools and techniques to become more organized.

The Pomodoro Technique helps increase your productivity. Meanwhile, the Pareto Principle teaches you how to get maximum results in the least amount of time. Finally, the Eisenhower Matrix helps you identify which activities are urgent and important so you can act on them appropriately.

Applying all these strategies can help you manage your time more effectively.

To get you started on the habit of managing your time well, we have listed 11 time management worksheet examples. These worksheets are all downloadable and printable, free of charge.

Let’s check them out.

11 Time Management Worksheet Examples

1. daily time management log.

Download the PDF

Are you hard-pressed to finish several daily tasks and not sure where to start? Our time management log can help keep you from becoming overwhelmed by everything you need to accomplish. This template features a section for specifying your top three goals for the day. Then, a large section of the template is dedicated to supporting activities and to-dos that help achieve the top three goals. A column in the template lets you tag an activity’s level of importance (0 = Not Important to 3 = Urgent!).

Most importantly, through colored dots, this log allows you to track how productive you are by identifying your energy level while doing an activity. You can indicate whether you’re very energized (green), moderately energized (yellow), or low on energy (blue) while doing any of the activities you’ve logged for the day into the template.

2. Weekly Time Management Log

Looking for an appropriate time management log for all your weekly activities? We designed this template just for that purpose. Near the header is space for writing your top three goals of the week. An eight-column table offers enough space to record your schedule for the week and plot out how to manage your time well.

You can use colored highlighters to highlight specific activities and indicate your energy level while doing this activity. As a suggestion, green can mean highly energized and very productive; orange can represent moderately energized and moderately productive; and blue can mean low energy or did nothing.

3. Time Manager

via Humboldt State University

College life can be hectic, especially when it comes to your schedule.

It takes some strategic planning to stay on top of everything. That’s why it’s essential to find the right time-management tool.

A time manager like this one ensures that students don’t miss classes and important events. It also helps keep track of priority tasks.

This worksheet also has space where you can write down to-do items that you need to accomplish for the week.

The worksheet features a time block with one-hour intervals for the weekdays. There isn’t any time blocking for the weekend schedule, which is meant to encourage students to take time off from academic work and focus more on self-care .

4. Time Tracking Worksheet

This worksheet helps you track your activities. It features a column for the estimated duration of your task, and another column for recording the actual time you spent on the activity.

Furthermore, it has space for recording the frequency of the activity, which is useful for tracking your weekly schedule.

Finally, there is a column for identifying whether the task is important or not. This way, you can pinpoint which of your activities are significant or merely time sinks.

5. Where Does My Time Go?

Need support for your new time-management habit? This worksheet applies several strategies and principles for effectively managing your time.

The worksheet has 30-minute intervals to keep track of the precise time you spend on every activity. It also has an Eisenhower Matrix to help you identify if a task is your highest priority or if it can be done later in the day. ( Check out this post for an in-depth discussion and helpful tips on how to effectively use the Eisenhower Matrix .)

With this template, you also have the opportunity to reflect on how your schedule for the day went. The template has space where you can list “activities that deserve more time,” as well as those that deserve less. Lastly, a space is also provided where you can write initial plans for the following day.

6. Weekly Time Management Tracker

This time tracker has been designed to work with your schedule. Once printed out, it gives you a clear view of your daily schedule so you can identify which activities are consuming most of your time.

To maximize this tracker’s potential to help manage your time better, you can use categories to track how you spend your day . Examples of categories include:

• Self-care activities (massage, meditation, etc.)
• Work-related activities (including meetings, special assignments, etc.)
• Health and fitness activities (time at the gym, meal preparation, etc.)

7. Daily Time Blocking Worksheet

Schedules can be hectic, so we need a system to help us stay on top of things. This time-blocking worksheet helps keep the stress at bay when you need to get a lot of things done.

Although effective time management is a serious matter, we can still infuse it with fun elements. One way to do this is by using colorful pens when filling in your timetable. Moreover, stickers and printables can add visual interest and give you an amusing way of categorizing and tracking your schedules.

8. Bullet Journal Time Tracker Printable

This time tracker serves you well as a daily or weekly time log.

The heart at the beginning of each line represents the category of the activity you list down. This tracker’s creator suggests color coding the hearts to represent each category of activity.

Space for the color code “key” is also provided at the top right part of the tracker page to help you navigate this worksheet.

There is also a space where you can write down notes, reminders, and other information you want to keep a record of about your day.

9. 31-Day Time Tracker

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kate | Plan To Succeed (@plantosucceed)

This time tracker lets you track how you spend your 24 hours every day for 31 days. You can use a color-coded system to identify the activities that you do throughout the day.

Mildliners and Stabilo highlighters work well for this type of time tracker.

10. Your Time Buttoned Up

This worksheet has a time-blocking feature with 30-minute intervals. The template lets you track your schedule for the whole week, from 7 am to 2 am.

However, the standout feature here is color-coded dots that correspond to how productive your activity is. Green is very productive; orange is moderately productive; and red is wasted time (perhaps it’s time to admit that Facebook addiction and kick the habit).

11. Daily Time Log

Logging all of your activities trains your mind to consider time a valuable commodity. It encourages you to engage in activities that are of value to you.

The advantage of having a tracker like this is that, over a certain period, you will be able to see a pattern of how you use your time.

Is it for something that enriches you? Or do you spend a huge chunk of the day on time-sink activities like excessive social media use ?

With this information, you can adjust your priorities and manage your time more effectively.

Final Thoughts

There you have it—time management worksheet examples to inspire you as you work your way toward improved productivity and better health and well-being.

When you use a time-management tool such as the worksheets featured today, avoid dwelling on the things you fail to achieve. You always have the option of rescheduling them. Instead, focus on celebrating the tasks you do accomplish.

For more ideas, read our post on effective time management activities and exercises . If you're using the Pomodoro Technique, check out our favorite time blocking templates here . And if you need more guidance, check out these SMART goals examples for time management .

Remember to reward yourself when you’ve achieved your goals. We’ve got some awesome suggestions on how you can reward yourself in this post .

Furthermore, remember to take a break after accomplishing important activities. Allow yourself to decompress.

Always take your health and well-being into consideration when implementing time-management strategies for productivity. Make sure that you do not sacrifice sleep in an effort to get things done.

Here’s to a more organized and productive year!

Finally, if you want to level up your productivity and time management skills, then watch this free video about the 9 productivity habits you can build at work .

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Importance of Time Management - The Ultimate Guide

Explore the significance of Effective Time Management in this insightful content. From understanding the basics of time management to recognising its importance and the benefits it brings, discover practical strategies to optimise your time utilisation. Unlock the key to enhanced productivity and work-life balance.

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Table of Contents  

1) Introduction to Time Management 

2) The Importance of Time Management 

3) The benefits of Time Management 

4) Practical Time Management strategies 

5) Conclusion 

Introduction to Time Management  

Time Management is the process of planning, organising, and prioritising tasks to make the most efficient use of available time. It involves setting goals, breaking them down into manageable steps, and allocating time for each activity. By implementing effective Time Management Strategies , individuals can enhance their productivity, reduce stress, and optimise their use of time. 

The Importance of Time Management for students is particularly vital. Juggling academic responsibilities, extracurricular activities, and personal commitments can be overwhelming without proper organisation and prioritisation. By efficiently allocating time to studying, assignment completion, and revision, students can improve their learning outcomes, reduce last-minute cramming, and cultivate a healthy work-life balance. 

The Importance of Time Management in the workplace plays a crucial role in professional success. With numerous tasks, deadlines, and responsibilities, employees need to manage their time effectively to boost productivity, meet project goals, and enhance their reputation for reliability and efficiency. Moreover, effective Time Management enables individuals to maintain a healthy work-life integration, leading to increased job satisfaction. 

Want to master your time and unleash your potential? Join our Time Management Training Course today!  

The Importance of Time Management  

1) Increased productivity: Time Management allows individuals to prioritise tasks and allocate their time efficiently. By focusing on high-priority activities, individuals can make the most of their productive hours, accomplish more in less time, and achieve better results. Effective Time Management prevents wasting time on non-essential tasks or getting overwhelmed by a heavy workload. 

2) Reduced stress levels: Poor Time Management often leads to increased stress levels. Procrastination can be avoided, as well as missed deadlines, and last-minute rushes, which create unnecessary pressure and anxiety. By effectively managing time, individuals can plan and organise their tasks, stay ahead of deadlines, and approach their responsibilities with a calmer and more composed mindset. Reduced stress levels contribute to better mental and emotional well-being. 

3) Improved decision-making: Time Management allows individuals to allocate sufficient time for critical thinking and decision-making. Rushed and impulsive decisions can lead to negative consequences. With effective Time Management, individuals have the space to evaluate options, weigh pros and cons, gather information, and make informed decisions. This applies to both personal and professional choices. 

4) Enhanced goal achievement: Time Management is instrumental in setting and achieving goals. By breaking down larger goals into smaller, manageable tasks, individuals can create a roadmap for success. Effective Time Management helps allocate dedicated time slots for specific tasks, ensuring steady progress towards the desired outcome. Regular progress boosts motivation and creates a sense of accomplishment as goals are achieved step by step. 

5) Healthy work-life balance: Time Management is essential for maintaining a healthy balance between work and personal life. Without proper Time Management, work can encroach on personal time, leading to burnout and strained relationships. By allocating time for work-related tasks as well as personal activities, hobbies, and self-care, individuals can nurture a balanced lifestyle, improving overall well-being and satisfaction. 

6) Increased effectiveness: Time Management allows individuals to identify and eliminate time-wasting activities or unnecessary distractions Individuals can work more efficiently and effectively by organising tasks and streamlining processes. Prioritising tasks, setting deadlines, and managing resources optimally contribute to improved efficiency in completing tasks and achieving desired outcomes. 

7) Accountability and discipline: Effective Time Management cultivates a sense of accountability and discipline. By setting deadlines and creating schedules, individuals hold themselves responsible for completing tasks within the allocated time frames. This accountability fosters discipline, commitment, and a proactive approach to managing responsibilities and meeting deadlines. 

8) Improved quality of life: Time Management enables individuals to balance their various responsibilities and commitments, resulting in an improved quality of life. Individuals can dedicate time to their passions, hobbies, relationships, and self-care by effectively managing time. This balance leads to greater satisfaction, fulfilment, and overall happiness. 

The benefits of Time Management  

1) Better opportunities: With better Time Management, time becomes available for attending workshops, taking courses, networking, or exploring new hobbies and interests, which can lead to personal and career advancement. 

2) Better efficiency: Effective Time Management allows individuals to allocate their time strategically, ensuring that tasks are completed in the most efficient manner. By prioritising and organising tasks, individuals can minimise time wasted on unimportant or non-essential activities, leading to increased efficiency and optimal use of resources. 

3) Better focus and concentration: Time Management helps individuals eliminate distractions and create dedicated blocks of time for specific tasks. By focusing on one task at a time without interruptions, individuals can enhance their concentration and productivity. This leads to higher quality work and better outcomes. 

4) Enhanced time awareness: Time Management cultivates a heightened sense of awareness and appreciation for the value of time. Individuals become more conscious of how they allocate their time and recognise the importance of making the most of each moment. This awareness helps individuals make conscious choices, prioritise effectively, and avoid procrastination. 

5) Better work-life integration: Effective Time Management allows individuals to strike a balance between professional life and personal life. By allocating time for work-related tasks, as well as personal activities, hobbies, and self-care, individuals can experience a more harmonious and fulfilling lifestyle. This integration promotes overall well-being and prevents burnout. 

6) Enhanced accountability: Time Management instils a sense of accountability within individuals. By setting deadlines and creating schedules, individuals hold themselves responsible for completing tasks within the allocated time frames. This accountability promotes discipline, commitment, and a proactive approach to work and personal goals. 

7) Less procrastination: Procrastination can hinder productivity and lead to increased stress levels. Some of the Time Management techniques include breaking tasks into smaller parts and setting specific deadlines, which helps individuals overcome procrastination tendencies. With a structured approach, individuals are more motivated to start and complete tasks promptly. 

8) Better time estimation: Time Management skills enable individuals to accurately estimate the time required to complete various tasks. This helps in planning and scheduling effectively, avoiding over-commitment, and preventing a backlog of unfinished work. Accurate time estimation leads to better time allocation and a realistic workload. 

9) Better health and well-being: Effective Time Management can positively impact physical and mental health. By allocating time for exercise, relaxation, and self-care activities, individuals can reduce stress levels, improve their overall well-being, and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Taking breaks and incorporating leisure time into schedules promotes rejuvenation and prevents burnout. 

10) Increased sense of control: Time Management empowers individuals by providing them with a sense of control over their schedules and responsibilities. By taking charge of their time, individuals become more proactive, organised, and confident in managing their tasks and achieving their goals. 

Boost your productivity to another level: join now for our Productivity and Time Management Course !  

Practical Time Management strategies  

Implementing practical Time Management strategies can significantly enhance productivity, reduce stress levels, and help individuals make the most of their time. By incorporating these strategies into daily routines, individuals can optimise their use of time and achieve their goals more effectively. This blog section will suggest you some practical Time Management strategies to consider: 

1) Set clear goals: Start by defining your goals, both short-term and long-term. Clear goals provide a sense of direction and purpose, guiding your time allocation and priorities. Make sure your goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART goals). This clarity helps you align your activities and focus on what truly matters. 

2) Prioritise tasks: Determine the urgency and importance of each task on your to-do list. Use techniques like Eisenhower's Urgent-Important Matrix, where tasks are categorised as urgent and important, important but not urgent, urgent but not important, or neither urgent nor important. Prioritise tasks based on their significance and allocate time accordingly. 

3) Plan and schedule: Dedicate time for planning and scheduling your activities. Use tools like calendars, planners, or digital apps to organise your day, week, or month. Break down the larger assignments into smaller steps and allocate specific time slots for each activity. Set realistic deadlines, allowing buffer time for unexpected interruptions or delays. 

4) Time blocking: Time blocking involves allocating specific time blocks for different activities. Designate blocks of uninterrupted time for focused work, meetings, emails, breaks, and personal activities. By creating a structured routine, time blocking minimises distractions and improves productivity and focus. 

5) Avoid multitasking: While multitasking may seem efficient, it often leads to reduced productivity and increased errors. Instead, focus on one task at a time, giving it your undivided attention. Complete each task before moving on to the next. By concentrating on one activity, you can work more efficiently and produce higher-quality results. 

6) Learn to delegate: Recognise tasks that can be delegated to others. Delegating frees up your time for more important or high-value activities. Identify competent individuals who can handle specific tasks and assign responsibilities accordingly. Effective delegation enhances productivity and allows you to focus on tasks that require your expertise. 

7) Manage digital distractions: Digital distractions, such as social media notifications or emails, can consume valuable time. Minimise distractions by scheduling dedicated time to check and respond to emails or messages. Consider using website blockers or productivity apps to limit access to distracting websites or apps during focused work periods. 

8) Take regular breaks: Breaks are essential for maintaining focus and productivity. Incorporate short breaks into your schedule to recharge and refresh your mind. Use this time to engage in activities that help you relax and rejuvenate, such as taking a walk, practising deep breathing exercises, or enjoying a hobby. 

9) Review and reflect: Regularly review your progress and reflect on your Time Management practices. Analyse what worked well and what needs improvement. Adjust your strategies accordingly to maximise efficiency and effectiveness. Continuous evaluation and adaptation lead to ongoing improvement in managing your time. 

Conclusion  

All in all, mastering Time Management is a skill that can transform your personal and professional life. By recognising the Importance of Time Management, understanding its benefits, and implementing practical strategies, you can unlock your full potential, achieve your goals, and lead a more balanced and fulfilling life. Remember, time is a finite resource, so make every moment count by managing it effectively. Embrace the power of Time Management, and watch as your productivity, satisfaction, and overall well-being soar. 

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How students’ GenAI skills and reflection affect assignment instructions

The ability to use generative AI is akin to time management or other learning skills that students need practice to master. Here, Vincent Spezzo and Ilya Gokhman offer tips to make sure instructions land equally no matter students’ level of AI experience

Vincent Spezzo

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November 2022: ChatGPT rapidly emerges as the next big disruptor in higher education. On campuses across the US, the primary feelings are scepticism and fear of cheating, but pushing past that is the notion that this technology could be harnessed to benefit education.

Spring 2023: At Georgia Institute of Technology, our conversations and workshops on generative AI (GenAI) focus on how faculty can use it in course design, assignment creation, personalised learning efforts and more. Fear and scepticism still exist but don’t obstruct brainstorming efforts. In the summer, we see instructors’ responses range from dipping toes into the AI water and using it to create rubrics, case studies and other standard course content to diving in headfirst and using GenAI to produce entire courses.

Fall 2023: Many employers of future graduates want students to gain knowledge and experience using GenAI tools while in their degree programmes. Thinking shifts from students wanting to use GenAI to cheat to students needing to learn about GenAI to succeed. The professors at our institution are beginning to embrace the idea that they should support the correct usage of GenAI in their classrooms. 

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Here lies the challenge: how much direction should you include in GenAI-inclusive assignments? Previously, instructors had to balance assignment guidelines with student creativity, so students could create a unique submission while remaining within the assignment objectives. Now the additional task is finding the right amount of guidance to ensure students can effectively use GenAI beyond simply copying and pasting predefined prompts.

Creating GenAI assignments

How to create assignments using GenAI is one of the questions that co-authors Ilya Gokhman and Vincent Spezzo have addressed. Students in Gokhman’s public policy course worked in groups of four to complete project-based tasks and provide peer feedback to their team members at four points during the semester. The idea was to have students use GenAI as a leadership and collaboration coach to help them process and reflect on peer feedback. GenAI was used in three of the four feedback phases (students completed the first reflection unassisted). For the remaining phases, students were: 1) instructed to use GenAI with no further guidance, 2) given detailed instructions on how to use GenAI, including suggested prompts, and 3) instructed to use GenAI how they wanted, whether that was to use the instructors suggested prompts or their own. 

Students divided on using GenAI

Students were surveyed on a six-point Likert scale to determine their experience using GenAI in their assignments and how it impacted their learning (see list below). This included a self-rating on their prior experience using GenAI that included options of “a lot”, “some”, “little” and “none”.  From the 72 participants, several novel insights were gleaned. The most significant finding was a clear division in students’ experiences using GenAI for assignments between the two groups at opposite ends of the prior-usage spectrum. Those students who had the most prior experience rated several items significantly higher than those who came into the class never having used GenAI before. This was true despite very detailed instructions and prompt examples being added to the third and fourth assignments. 

• I would rather use GenAI than complete feedback review with another person: A lot M=4.7, None M=2.78 
• I felt using GenAI helped me in learning the course material: A lot M=4.8, None M=3.06 
• I felt using GenAI increased my motivation to complete assignments: A lot M=4.8, None M=2.83
• Overall, I felt using GenAI had a positive impact on my course experience: A lot M=5.4, None M=3.89

Two things worth noting are: 1) while students with more experience rated items significantly higher, students with no prior experience generally still rated items around a three on the six-point scale, and 2) students who fell into the two middle groupings were not shown to be significantly different from the two extremes on almost all questions. 

Students also responded to open-ended questions, with 30 per cent stating that the assignments could be improved by more frequent GenAI usage, 25 per cent commented that GenAI was useful in generating ideas and expanding their perspectives, and 20 per cent indicated a desire for more detailed instructions on using GenAI for the assignment. 

Addressing students’ differences in experience using GenAI 

Results pointed to a difference in instructional needs between students with no GenAI experience and those with a lot of experience. One could mistakenly assume the number of students with little or no experience will decrease as use of these technologies becomes more widespread. However, the ability to use GenAI is likely more akin to time management, studying and a host of other learning skills that students need support and practice with before mastering. Coupling this with the  current lack of adoption at K-12 , it is very likely that inequity with prior usage of GenAI will exist for some time. Two actionable practices that can address this inequality:

• Include more detailed instruction and prompt examples for assignments. While not all students need this, at least 20 per cent of the students surveyed indicated they wanted even more direction than was provided, and there was no indication that the additional instructions negatively impacted students with prior experience. Part of an equitable framework is to ensure that those who need the additional support have it available, so including optional additional guidelines may be the way to go with GenAI assignments for now.
• Create and include a lesson or optional module for teaching students how to use GenAI effectively within your course or discipline. From this study, it seems that simply including more examples and instructions was not enough for some students. To address the gap of experience, students seem to need support and exposure to the basics of using GenAI that goes beyond creating good prompts. There is already discussion of including such experiences in freshmen seminar courses, but until then it will be up to instructors to help bridge the gap for students who have yet to learn how to use GenAI in ways that will benefit their education. 

By using these practices, the intent is that students coming into a course with little or no prior GenAI experience can be brought up to speed and benefit at near the same level as those who have had a lot of experience using the tools. Conducting a start-of-semester survey is a good way to identify students who need additional resources and ensure they are directed to access them. While this means yet another task for instructors, the benefits to student learning and the expectations of future employers make this worth taking on.

Vincent Spezzo is assistant director of teaching and learning online in the Center for Teaching and Learning, and Ilya Gokhman is faculty lead for grand challenges in the Office of Leadership Education and Development, both at Georgia Institute of Technology.

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