Most of us feel like every day is a battle against the clock. Time slips away quickly, and responsibilities can become overwhelming if you’re not an expert scheduler.
Rather than accepting this as inevitable, it’s better to take action and rethink your approach to scheduling.
Here are some tips to help you manage your time more efficiently, and focus on tasks without being weighed down by them.
1. Understand when you are at your most productive
Would you describe yourself as a morning person, or are you more of a night owl? Do you feel invigorated after lunch, or are you on the ball at around 11 am?
Whatever the case, if you know the period of the day that puts you ‘in the zone’, then it makes sense to build your schedule around this.
Everyone has a chronotype, which basically describes their cycle of sleep and wakefulness. And while you can make changes to shift your patterns and adjust your peak period of productivity, it can be less taxing to simply rework your schedule instead.
2. Organize tasks logically
Being productive is easier if you can get into a flow and focus your mind on a particular duty without interruption.
As such, it’s wise to look at the different tasks you need to complete and group them according to what they involve. You can even break down bigger tasks into smaller ones to achieve this as well.
That way, when you need to switch from one task to the next, the similarities will reduce mental fatigue and allow you to retain the momentum that you’ve built up so far in the day.
3. Avoid multitasking
Attempting to do more than one thing simultaneously is one of many common mistakes made by people who are in pursuit of increased productivity.
As human beings, we just aren’t wired to be able to multitask effectively. Sure, it might technically be possible to keep several plates spinning at once, but when your attention is split in several directions at once, the end results won’t be as good, and won’t come as quickly.
4. Uncouple yourself from technological distractions
You need a schedule for a reason; it lets you organize everything you have to get done, and set out a timeframe within which you aim to complete it.
The problem is that most schedules don’t also factor in things like “spend 5 minutes scrolling through Instagram and Twitter every hour”, which is a bit of a compulsion for a lot of social media users today. This can leave you struggling for a time while wondering how your schedule got so off track.
The answer is to remove the distractions caused by technology from the equation altogether. If you’re working from home, for example, try putting your phone in a different room, or even on the other side of your workspace, so that you won’t be able to reach out and grab it without thinking.
You could even go so far as to block social sites in your web browser, once again removing temptation from the table.
5. Automate as much as possible
Today you can learn how to schedule a text, how to publish posts to social media at a predetermined time and date, how to automate email marketing and so much more besides, regardless of your prior experience.
So while technology can be a distraction, it’s also a blessing for anyone who’s struggling to keep up with the tsunami of professional responsibilities that fall on their plate each day.
If you are an employee of a larger organization, it’s worth requesting access to automation tools that are available to assist you in your role from day to day. Your employer will benefit from adopting them since your productivity will improve and the same benefits will be available to the whole team.
Even freelancers and the self-employed should take advantage of automation because it’s a process that pays for itself many times over.
6. Take a break
Your brain has a limit on how long it can stay focused on a task. This differs for each of us, but it’s rare that anyone can spend more than 50 minutes giving their full attention to just one job.
The only way to avoid burnout is to take breaks, and more importantly to ensure that these are scheduled into your day, not just taken randomly when you feel the need.
It might seem counterproductive to step away from what you’re doing, but you’ll feel the benefit when you come back refreshed and reinvigorated.
The other bonus of including regular breaks in your schedule is that you can turn your mind to other things, whether that’s your social media feeds, a spot for TV, a good book, a walk in the park, or whatever else makes you feel zen.
7. Complete big and little tasks regularly
A lot of scheduling specialists highlight the importance of setting priorities and putting important tasks at the top of the agenda.
However, if you’re only ever tackling mammoth responsibilities, it’s draining and harder to get motivated in the first place.
A better approach is to mix things up each day, with major responsibilities interspersed with smaller, yet still significant duties.
That way you can enjoy some easy wins, and float onwards with a sense of accomplishment, rather than getting bogged down.
If something isn’t working, change it
Finally, if you find that your daily schedule is not playing out as you’d planned, and you’re still struggling to focus on tasks or get everything done that you need to, don’t just grin and bear it.
Going back to the drawing board doesn’t have to feel like admitting defeat. Instead, it should be reframed as an opportunity to make improvements and reap the benefits of the fixes that you implement.
Takeaway
We’re all different, and your use of scheduling methods has to reflect this. Try out some of the tactics we’ve talked over, and you’ll be able to build a bespoke approach that’s all your own.