How to improve your time management

The first and fundamental step in “time management” comes from the realization that time cannot be managed.

Proper time management therefore means proper management of oneself over time, and this allows one to maximize one’s productivity. One often hears the phrase “Work smarter not harder”: work in a smarter way instead of work even and even more! From this come countless benefits including less stress and greater self-confidence.

Improving self-management over time requires firstly being aware of time-wasters, from anxiety to interruptions, and secondly finding the most effective solutions, such as using an agenda and creating a to do list to complete tasks without stress and worries

Time-related anxiety stems mainly from two factors we place our attention on: the past and the future, regret for what could have been done and was not done, and worry about all that we will have to do. Often, even after work hours are over, numerous thoughts crowding into the mind concerning anxiety about a time that never seems to be enough. This mental loop generates additional anxiety that frequently accompanies us even once we return home, and, inevitably, affects every moment of our lives, with sometimes irreparable consequences on our relationships.

Managing time-related anxiety requires first of all awareness: we need to take a deep breath and accept the fact that time exists, that it cannot be slowed down or sped up, and that we cannot change the past but we can shape the future.

For example, if one realizes that one is late for a meeting, instead of regretting that one did not leave home earlier (an event that is now impossible to remedy) it is better to take a deep breath, trying to interrupt the symptoms of anxiety and calm down before frustration takes over and one cannot even focus on the content of the meeting. Since you now know that you will be late, the best solution is to avoid worrying, warn the other meeting participants, and try to make up for lost time by optimizing your own contribution… and next time still arrange to leave in time to arrive on time!

Similarly, in order to reduce time-related anxiety, it is advisable to have some flexibility regarding deadlines: unforeseen tasks can often arise during the planning of a task, and becoming aware of them helps not to panic and deal with them effectively.

Another way not to get caught up in anxiety regarding time is to prioritize: organizing work according to the importance of activities and tasks to be done allows you to better control time-related stress.

While it is true that better time management allows for increased productivity, it is also true that it is inevitable that there will be interruptions during the workday. Some of these are unplanned, some are planned, and some are the result of distraction, for example, if you feel a little tired, take a break, and, distracted by scrolling on your smartphone, you realize too late that you have spent more planned time on that task. How to deal with these situations?

The first rule is, again, to prioritize the most important tasks, which reduces distractions and interruptions. Allocating a specific amount of time to different activities is a valuable aid in maintaining concentration and giving less room for any unscheduled interruptions, as is trying to eliminate distracting factors as much as possible, such as closing the window if the office faces a particularly noisy or busy street or putting the smartphone on silent mode.

There are also, thanks in part to the help of technology, a number of tools for optimizing the time in which you work. Among the most effective ideas, keeping a log on which to note how time is spent throughout the day can help to understand the times when the most interruptions occur, in order to deal with them more rationally. Similarly, the use of task management applications encourages a simplification of tasks and a decrease in distractions.

To do lists and agenda are very effective tools for improving time management. For this to be effectively the case, we first need to choose the right agenda for our needs, taking into account certain requirements, such as portability, which helps to take note of the tasks to be done at any time and place, clarity – day of the week and month should be immediately viewable as soon as the agenda is opened – and the possibility of making changes, a problem that does not arise with digital agendas but in the case of paper agendas may mean writing in pencil so that we can manage to erase there is a need to do so.

To use the diary rationally, one must first write down all the tasks to be done, that is, make a to-do list.

The next step is to go through them one by one by assigning priorities, perhaps helping with a letter or number (for example, the letter A and the number 1 can indicate the highest priority tasks). If there are several activities that have a high priority, it is advisable to double-check the list and figure out which of the prioritized ones has a “higher priority” by reordering the list accordingly.

The to-do list significantly helps motivation every time you cross off a completed task.

One step that I personally find very powerful is transferring tasks from the to do list to the agenda: in doing so, I have experienced how much this gesture frees the mind from thinking about what needs to be done. In fact, the answer to the question is “ so much is on the agenda, planned and organized.” It only takes 10 minutes at the end of the day, then, to check the situation and update the planning for the days to follow.

Another way to optimize time is to get outside help, for example, by attending a time management training program. Aimed at entrepreneurs, freelancers, human resource and recruitment managers, sales and business area managers, and work teams, the course aims to offer useful, concrete, and ready-to-use tools for improving self-management over time, addressing topics such as time-related anxiety, coping with interruptions and delegation, and the importance of tools such as the to-do list and agenda.