3 Simple Ways to Manage Your Time

Finding a work-life balance is often a challenge for busy moms/parents. But as a work-at-home mom, I can tell you that it IS POSSIBLE.

It’s not about how much time you have. It’s about how effectively you manage your time.

– R.L. Adams

With the correct system in place, even the busiest mom can carve out pockets of breathing room within the day.

Time management is a practice.

The more you focus on it, the better you’ll become. If you understand how you’re spending your time, you can adjust your schedule so that you’re focusing more on the things that are important to you.

The good news is that there are ways to reclaim those seemingly elusive lost hours of the day.

1. Identify what is not working

The best way to do this is to track your time: write down everything that you are doing within the day and how much time you spent on each task. Keep doing this for the whole week, so that by the end of the week, you have an idea of where your time went.

Recommendation:

Aside from pen and paper which I have been using for a long time, until today and setting reminders on your phone. You can also use some app like MeisterTask. It is a free app that you can use on your phone, you can simply log or list the task you are about to do and start the timer and once you’re done, just hit stop.

2. Identify the non-essential tasks

Set your goals. The goal is to understand how you are spending time and to identify what things are time-consuming tasks.

Good time management requires planning and conscious decision-making. It involves identifying and prioritizing your priorities.

3. Rework

After identifying the non-essentials tasks, it’s time to think of ways how to get through it, whether it be to delegate or automate.

You can outsource, delegate some of the tasks, to your co-worker, if you’re an entrepreneur, you hire a VA. In that way, you will have more time to focus on the tasks and you are good at and produce amazing results more.

You can also opt to automate things. Like doing groceries, you can do it online or using an app, just choose the things you want to buy then it will be delivered right next to your doorstep. And for meetings, there are amazing software that can be used to easily schedule meetings with other parties.

BONUS TIP

Pareto Technique or the 80/20 rule

It is named after esteemed economist Vilfredo Pareto, who specifies that 20% of the input creates 80% of the result.

And it has an important place in time management. But how?

In time management states that 80 % of results will come from 20 % of your effort. Consequently, being aware of the Pareto principle can mainly help us set the right priorities.

This principle suggests focusing on activities that will have the biggest impact on our business and personal lives. Because we are all automatically drawn to tasks and activities that don’t have a real impact.

That is why it is important to identify unimportant and small-impact tasks so you can focus more on the tasks that have the bigger impact.

SUMMING UP

Productive people spend their time wisely because they know what they want to accomplish. To avoid distractions and overwhelm, the simplest method to begin managing time wisely is to set better goals, organize your time, and schedule your time.

With the time management strategies I’ve just shared, you may begin to spend your time wisely in order to be more productive and produce larger results in less time, all while avoiding stress.

You are now set to improving your time management, now read more on “How to Build New Habits that Stick”