Having good time management enables you to keep better track of your time and complete more tasks in a shorter time, leading to career success and lower stress.

If you’re struggling with time management at work, check out these easy and actionable tips you can use to better manage your time.

Set ‘SMART’ goals

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Setting vague, ambiguous goals won’t do you any favours. Specific goals on the other hand, provide you with a sense of direction and motivation that helps with your time management.

That’s why you need to set ‘SMART’ goals. Essentially, this means that the goals should be: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely.

Set a time limit to complete each task

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Setting a time limit helps you to stay focused on the task, making you more efficient. 

Additionally, planning the amount of time required for each task allows you to identify any potential problems before they take place, giving you buffer time to deal with them. Not only that, a time limit adds a sense of urgency that’ll help you concentrate.

Identify time-wasters and eliminate them

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Many of us fall prey to time-wasters — tasks that cause us to spend unnecessary time on them, reducing productivity and efficiency.

Identifying them allows you to take corrective steps to avoid and eliminate these activities, allowing you to have better time management and thus leaving a profound effect on your productivity. 

Some of the top time-wasters you should take stay clear of include:

  • Checking your emails constantly
  • Mindless browsing of social media
  • Multi-tasking
  • Chatting with colleagues

Use time management tools

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Whether it’s writing on the trusty ol’ schedule book or using the digital planner you have on your phone, time management tools allow you to create organised to-do lists.

This gives you an overview of the things you need to do, allowing you to prioritise accordingly and work on them as soon as possible.

Resist the urge to multi-task

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Most people know that focusing on a task at a time yields better results, yet we still find ourselves multi-tasking to complete our work as quickly as possible.

We know how tempting multi-tasking can seem, especially with a seemingly never-ending list of things to do, requests from your boss, and distractions. 

However, when you stop multi-tasking, you’ll be able to direct your focus on the task on hand, leading to better time management.

Don’t waste time waiting

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From getting your boss’s approval to waiting for a client to respond, it’s almost impossible to avoid spending time waiting for someone or something.

However, rather than sit there and do nothing while waiting, why not spend the time doing something productive? Work on your existing tasks or take time to relook into your to-do list to see how you can reorganise it for better efficiency.

Take small, regular breaks

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This tip may sound ironic, but taking small, regular breaks is one of the best time management strategies around.

Taking a short time away from work helps your brain to relax and recover from the strain caused by doing work, which boosts productivity later on.

To enjoy the full benefit of your breaks, it’s important that you disconnect from your work completely. You can do this by taking a short walk away from your computer or doing some stretches.

Group similar tasks together

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Grouping similar tasks on your to-do list can save you a considerable amount of time, resulting in better time management.

Different tasks require different levels of thinking. That’s why, instead of jumping from task to task, it’s more time-effective if you group and work on similar tasks together.

Learn how to delegate or outsource

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Whether you’re a newbie or a seasoned executive at work, there’s no harm in delegating or outsourcing your work.

Assigning your work to others or getting help with your tasks can improve your time management by allowing you to focus on important tasks on hand, which reduces your workload by a fair amount.

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