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We speak of time management as a mythical skill set. But at the core of it, time management is a simple exercise if we rationally follow a few strategies that help us be mindful of our time. It all starts with a brutally honest opinion about how our time is used and the knowledge of the things demanding our time. If we don’t have visibility of these things, there’s nothing to manage. Time management in such a scenario is a hoax. In this article, let’s talk about a few time management strategies that will help you stay on top of time and your priorities.

Time Management Strategies

People speak about multiple strategies to manage time. However, the key principle is about prioritisation and being aware that we can’t do everything. The simplest and easiest route to failure is to kid ourselves into believing that everything is possible. If you are thinking about time management strategies, start with the assumption that you will not be able to cover everything. However, you can make sure that whatever you leave is of lower priority so that it doesn’t hurt you.

Visibility of Things Demanding Your Time

Most times, people are unaware of the things demanding their attention. Instead, we tend to respond to what’s urgent instead of strategically thinking about what gives us the best results. The Eisenhower Matrix is a powerful representation of the things that are demanding your time. Simply speaking, it is just a list of things that demand your time on a daily/monthly or weekly basis. But we go one step beyond in strategising the visibility of things that are demanding your attention. This matrix helps you to categorise the items demanding your time into Urgent vs Important areas so that you know exactly which ones you should focus on.

Prioritise things on your list

Some tasks are done best now while some others must be postponed. In this area of time management strategy, we must focus on items that are most important and urgent – such things should be done now. The other times which are less important should be postponed or even procrastinated. Procrastination is bad only when we postpone doing important or urgent things. The best way to prioritise these things is by using the 4D’s of Time management. It helps us to know which ones are to be delegated and which ones are to be completed by ourselves. Remember, we can’t do everything even if it means compromising on the quality of some outcomes.

Set clear deadlines, milestones and success factors

We struggle with time management because we don’t take enough time to define what success looks like. In some cases, we behave as perfectionists instead of stopping at a good enough outcome. Hence, before starting a task, define what success looks like. We can improve on this after completion if time permits. But we can’t compromise completion for the notion of perfection. Also, it acts as a powerful motivator to know that we are completing things on time and our list is reducing.

Assess your capabilities and learn

Most times we forget this in time management strategies. It is about constantly learning about how good we are at using time. Sometimes, our estimations are not great. When we assess these through feedback, we will learn which types of items take more time as opposed to where we can save time. It helps us define a variance when we estimate how much time something takes to be able to create better strategies.

Define your support system

The worst part of time management is dealing with the stress of missed deadlines. To deal with these strategically, build your support system – talk to people who can help you in your time of need. You will need the support of strategic thinkers, pessimists and even people who hold you liable for the promises that you make. Ultimately, the main purpose of any time management strategy is to make sure that we make the best use of time. If we are doing that while causing stress for ourselves, it is a failed strategy. Build a support system that you can rely on and keep improving your approach.