Back in September I wrote a piece on my tips for better time management, focusing on curbing procrastination, planning ahead, the power of to-do lists, and utilizing apps like Google Calendar. Recently one of our readers sent us a great article they wrote on time management techniques, so I felt a Part Two post seemed appropriate. While not everyone is going to use the same methods of time management, we all have the same end goal; efficiently increasing productivity. The article on Calibre goes in-depth on techniques you can try, but more importantly why the choice to better time manage is not only great for work but for personal life too.

I wanted to focus on 2 sections that were the most important to me and are refelctive of why I am actively working on managing my time better: stress and realistic goals.

Stress is a result of poor time mangement, and we all know we don’t need more of that in today’s world. So how do you do yourself a favor, and yes it is perfectly okay and 100% needed to put yourself first, and change the way you feel on a daily basis? You begin with the “intention to start making your days more productive and less stressful.” Everyone and everything starts somewhere and some self reflection that leads to better choices, is a great place for you to start. Stress, at least for me, is heighten when I don’t feel in control. When you don’t have control, your mind triggers your anxiety and it’s hard to crawl out of that place and back to reality. Even as simple as not rushing for meeting. I think it’s safe to say everyone has been in panic mode when you’re rushing to an important meeting and you’re just behind. You keep thinking to yourself that if you left literally 5 mintues earlier you’d be on time and you’re wondering why someone hasn’t invented time travel yet. You can blame it on your laundry not being dry, your printer not working, or that excruciatingly slow driver in front of you, but reality is that you just poorly time managed. All that stress when it’s sometimes not even 9AM is not worth it. So again, do yourself a favor and make the choice to plan better so you feel better.

Just as important as lessening your stress levels is setting realistic goals. This is when you look in the mirror and get real about what you can achieve. Now there is no downplaying your ability here, that’s not what “realistic goals” is. With goal setting you definitely want to push yourself but you also want to accomplish the goal. What you need to evaluate to set realistic goals is your available time, your attainable resources, and your mental health. How you can better use the time you have to hit goals you’ve been avoiding or just not trying to achieve? There is always room for improvement and my suggestion is start by setting your intentions weekly. Finding the happy medium of firm but realistic is when you’ll start to see your goals become habits.

Want to learn more ways to better time manage and try some methods like the Pomodoro Technique or RP Method? Head over to Calibre’s article here.

Written by Eva Gerrits