1. MAKE A BUDGET
A little extra time in your life bank feels just as good as a little extra cash in your wallet. So, imagine creating a daily or monthly budget where you designate amounts of time you need for certain activities. A visual look at what you currently spend your time on, and what you’d like to spend your time on will teach you how to save it.
|
Anything you can silence, once silenced, can’t encroach into your life. Try keeping your phone off from 7pm to 7 am every day—see how much time you get back.
|
2. KILL DISTRACTION
The world is noisy and often inescapable. Regardless if we just glance, or perk an ear in its direction, we can be swept up in the Madness in an instant. One immediate fix: turn it off. The television, your phone, the ringer, the receiver, the Wi-Fi. Anything you can silence, once silenced, can’t encroach into your life. Try keeping your phone off from 7pm to 7 am every day—see how much time you get back.
3. WATCH THE CLOCK
No one likes to watch the clock (it only reminds us of how fast time slips away), yet, the clock was designed to bring punctuality into our lives. By making a healthy, non-obsessive habit of knowing our time coordinates (i.e. looking at the clock) we honor the minutes and hours, and ultimately the days of our lives.
4. USE THE CLOCK
While I often shun technology as a time sucker, utilizing the timer function equipped on our mobile phones does provide a useful way to alert us when it’s time to end something, or start something new. Consider it a modern day hourglass. Setting the timer can help pull you away from the time warp that is the Internet, or even a monotonous work task. I use it to give me kids end points to the playtime they just can’t quit before bedtime.
|
Whether it’s over your coffee or in the shower, your brain is open and receiving in the morning, so use that time to tell yourself the narrative of your day. That blueprint will, miraculously, keep your subconscious on schedule.
|
5. VISUALIZE, VISUALIZE, VISUALIZE
At my sons’ bedtime, we lie in the dark, look up at the green stars cast on the ceiling from the turtle light, and talk about the day. We review each moment in detail: what we ate, where we went, the games we played, and so on. Now try doing this in reverse, when you wake up. Whether it’s over your coffee or in the shower, your brain is open and receiving in the morning, so use that time to tell yourself the narrative of your day. That blueprint will, miraculously, keep your subconscious on schedule.
◊♦◊
Photo credit: Robert Couse-Baker.
Hello,
I’m more than happy to inform you that this article is featured in our list of 10 Most Inspiring Articles About Productivity!
Thank you so much for sharing an interesting content – we’d love to read what people are thinking about productivity and time management issues!
Please find the entire list here: https://www.timecamp.com/blog/index.php/2016/10/productivity-articles-91016/
Ola Rybacka, Social Media Manager at TimeCamp
Well, this is just like project management, planning and execution is very important for you to manage your time effectively.
I always make sure my kids track their time and related activities on sheets, on a daily basis. I think this should help them when they really need to manage their time 🙂 like me now.
I tried various methods of managing time – sheets, apps, tools, etc. Though sheets are cost effective, it is not time effective. So, I had to use a automated solution to manage my time and I am now sticking with Vorex – http://www.vorex.com/product/time-expense-tracking/
I love the morning visualization routine. Tell yourself what will happen that day, believe it, and act on it. But you really do need to allocate time to that mental task. Otherwise you can get caught up instantly in the mental minutiae of a certain to do item. Give yourself 10-15 minutes to get back on track, and stay on track visualizing the day. My company uses a tool called Time Doctor for tracking on-computer tasks, and I just create a few personal tasks in the system to track my actions throughout the week. It’s free for me because my… Read more »