Five Ways to Improve Your Time-Management Skills

No matter your profession, industry, or leadership level, your role likely demands some time-management skills. Managing your time is essential for both your personal and professional life. We all have the same 24 hours in a day, how you manage that time can be the difference between success and disappointment.

By effectively managing your time, you’ll increase your productivity and overall fulfillment with your work and home life. Below are five ways to improve your time-management skills.

Keep a master list of tasks

You can’t manage your time if you’re not clear on what you should be working on in the first place. By keeping a master list of tasks, you’re able to visualize all of your responsibilities in one place. From there, you can pick and choose which assignment takes precedence over others.

Prioritize your assignments

Speaking on taking precedence, prioritizing your assignments and tasks is critical when managing your time. When there’s a lot to do, it can be easy to gauge what task is more important than the next. In these cases, use your judgment, deadlines, and outside feedback to assess the priority level.

Don’t commit to everything

If you’re a yes person like me, learning to say no requires a whole other set of skills. As a self-proclaimed people-pleaser, I often overcommit because it’s so hard for me to say no. It’s impossible to successfully manage your time if you’re constantly adding additional work to your plate without first taking care of the existing tasks. Practice saying no and quickly learn how you can get more done.

Time block your day in advance

I can’t talk about time management without mentioning time blocking. If you’re serious about getting specific items done, blocking time in your schedule is critical. Not only does this serve as a reminder and keep you accountable, but it also marks your calendar as ‘unavailable’ during time. This can help keep your team from booking time that overlaps, ensuring you tackle your assignment.

Try a project management software

If you’re used to juggling multiple assignments at the same time and find it hard to keep track of them, try a project management software. Tools like Monday.com, Asana, and Basecamp help keep busy professionals like you organized with an easy-to-use platform that allows you to organize your tasks and projects. Track, manage and collaborate with your team on big and small assignments.