7 Time Management Techniques To Take Control of Your Life

Did you know that it is possible to double, or even triple your productivity with some easy to apply techniques?

Trust me; I know that life can be exhausting.

You have so many tasks to accomplish, but limited hours in a day.

Furthermore, you’re in a constant battle with your mind to take the right choices and complete your duties.

You always feel behind of time, and the endless duties are always running through your head.

Follow this plan, and this will soon be over.

I used to be unproductive, but now able to complete all my tasks, get ahead of time, and more importantly, feel free as never before.

Productivity equals motivation, and motivation equals more productivity.

 Here are the 7 techniques to boost productivity and save time.

1.Complete most important tasks first.

You should always focus on your most important task first thing in the morning. This is an excellent way to eliminate stress, because if you work on something else, this task will be running through your mind.

On the opposite, once you have completed your most important task, you will be motivated to do the rest.

You also have more energy in the morning to complete it.

2.Sleeping Strategies

Sleeping 7 to 8 hours has multiple benefits.

Researchers claim that it is the healthiest amount of sleeping hours for most people.

Sleeping more than 8 hours is bad for your health and counterproductive.  You will not only feel tired, but will also lose precious productive hours.

Sleeping less than 7 hours isn’t a better idea, as it will leave you tired and most likely incite you to procrastinate.

I love to plan my days. I always plan to work in the morning, because there is no distraction, and as you seen it in the first point, I try to eliminate the most important task as soon as possible.

Well, it didn’t always work as planned. When my exhausting alarm rang in the morning,  I was a big fan of the snooze button, and if I was able to keep my eyes open, I would lose my time watching unproductive videos, and getting tricked by my mind into thinking that I still had a lot of time to complete my tasks.

The result?

I always felt exhausted because I could never get ahead of time. When you’re ahead of time, you “get to” complete tasks and crush them.

On the opposite, when you’re just on time or late, you “have to” complete tasks, and you just do the minimum possible. Thus, you’re not taking advantage of your full potential.

Getting out of your bed as soon as you wake up is crucial. I used to procrastinate on my phone every morning for a minimum of 30 minutes.

I got over that bad habit with two simple tricks.

First, put your alarm clock far from your bed so you have no choice to get up to turn it off.

If that doesn’t work, put your car in a street where it is restricted to park in the morning. Your pockets will make you get up and run outside to prevent the ticket.

3.Devote your entire focus on the task at hand.

Multi-tasking is the worst enemy of productivity. Researchers found that it takes at least 20 minutes to become fully focused on a task. Every time you lose focus, you have to gain the momentum back.

When you focus on a single task, your brain processes the information in a linear way. Thus, you won’t have to constantly relocate your work position.

Also, forget about your phone, you can talk to your loved one later. This is why everyone thinks they have ADHD these days. People think they can’t focus, but their bad habits are the main cause.

Learn to prioritize your tasks in a smart way.

4.Turn your key tasks into habits.

Can I tell you a secret?

This is my favourite point, because you don’t think about performing habits, you just do them.

You can’t just remove bad habits; you need to replace them with good ones.

Let’s take completing your most important task first thing in the morning as example.

At first, you’ll have to think about the action, because it won’t be familiar to you. With consistency, you will do it without thinking.

Think about the key tasks that would make a difference in your life, and find a way to turn them into habits.

5.Limit your time.

Let’s take college as example. Studying in the middle of the semester is far from being as productive as studying the night before an exam, and that can be explained with a single word, and no it’s not stress, it’s deeper than that; Urgency.

Of course, stress creates that urgency, but so does the time limit you delineate to the task at hand. It is crucial to respect your time limits as if you were in a college exam.

You need to have strong self-integrity, and respect your own words.

Setting a time limit will improve your focus, because you know that a slight delay can put you way behind.

Treat your tasks as a college exam, learn to create the urgency to focus and complete your tasks more effectively.

6.Do something during waiting times.

Taking the subway, going to the hospital, or somewhere with waiting time?

Instead of losing time on Facebook, plan to do something productive. Read a book, bring homeworks, or use that time to think about important decisions.

Don’t find an excuse to procrastinate.

Being productive will make your waiting time appear shorter.

7.Create an organizing system.

“If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six hours sharpening my ax” – Abraham Lincoln

Without a well-structured organizing plan, I spend most of my days trying to take decisions.

Should I study this class, or this one? Should I wear this shirt or this one?

Should I study at the library or at the coffee shop? Should I start with this task or this one?

I could go on for days.

I was the most unproductive human being ever before implementing my organizing system.

With 5 University classes, a business, a blog, and a job, I would never make it without a strong plan.

With all the duties I have to complete, I have more free time than ever.

Here’s how it works:

The first step is to identify the tasks you need to accomplish during the week.

At the beginning of every week, mark down all the tasks you need to accomplish on a paper.

Then, take your agenda (I hope that you have one), and put the most exhausting tasks in different days.  The easiest you make your days, the better it is.

Second step: every night, plan the day ahead as accurately as possible. Plan everything; what time you’ll wake up, what you’ll be wearing, when you should get out of the house, everything!

Then, as you already know the big task(s) you need to accomplish during that day, plan everything else accordingly.

Don’t forget, the best thing to do is to start with the most important task if you can.

Every morning, check your daily plan and move forward accordingly.

You will notice a motivation boost and a more profound meaning in your actions.

Imagine reading a book without and index, or without chapters to situate you.

Well, planning is the same. Your week is like a book, your day is like a chapter, and your daily plans are like the index!