Tips for effective time management

 1.  Know how you’re spending your time

If your productivity is measured by output over a certain period, lost time can mean dollars out the window. Just like creating a budget, you have to track what you’re actually spending your time on to reveal any areas or habits that are blocking you from reaching your goals.

Start with a time check. Time-tracking tools like RescueTime can tell you, based on the categories you set up, how many hours you’re productive in a day versus how much time you’re spending on non-work-related activities, such as browsing social media or shopping.

  

2.   Create a daily schedule—and stick with it.

daily schedule

Daily Schedule (Click on image to modify online)

This step is absolutely crucial for learning how to manage time at work. Don’t even attempt starting your day without an organized to-do list. Before you leave work for the day, create a list of the most pressing tasks for the next day. This step allows you to get going as soon as you get to the office.

Putting everything on paper will prevent you from lying awake at night tossing and turning over the tasks running through your brain. Instead, your subconscious goes to work on your plans while you are asleep, which means you can wake up in the morning with new insights for the workday.