We all have a full plate of to-dos and the same 24 hours each day to get it all done. Yet how is it that some people seem to get more done? Easy. They maximize their time. “Do more with less” is the mantra of the modern workplace. In order for you to do more in less time, you need to decrease distractions and be strategic about how you invest your limited hours toward your own goals and priorities.
Need some ideas? Start with our list of top time management tips to maximize your time and get more done.
Top Time Management Tips To Maximize Your Time and Get More Done
1. TRY TIMEBOXING
The magic of timeboxing is merging your to-do list with your calendar to create single-task focus as well as the frequent accomplishment milestones that motivate us to keep moving forward. This time management strategy gets bonus points for consistent control and a drastic reduction in distractions. In a recent filtered.com ranking of The Definitive 100 Most Useful Productivity Tips, timeboxing ranked #1.
Think about it: “Email is everyone else’s to-do list for you.” So says Ashton Kutcher, who boasts many titles on his profile, among them actor, producer, venture capitalist, and philanthropist. Suffice to say he’s a busy man. His strategy for maximzing his time is tackling his own priorities before reading his email — sending all of his outbound emails before reading and responding to a single incoming message. Priorities: check. Productivity: check. Maximizing time: check.
When Bill Gates learns a lesson from Warren Buffet, you listen. That lesson in time management came from Gates glimpsing Buffet’s mostly blank (and definitively old-school) calendar: You control your time. “It’s not a proxy of your seriousness that you’ve filled every minute in your schedule,” Gates said in an Bloomberg interview with Charlie Rose. Buffet’s premise? Time is the only thing he can’t buy, so he’s very careful with it. How different would your calendar look if you filled it only with your priorities? (You can watch the full 1:30 video exerpt in the link above.)
4. INITIATE THE 5-HOUR RULE
All the cool kids are doing it. Elon Musk. Mark Cuban. Jack Ma. Oprah Winfrey. Bill Gates. Barack Obama. And the list goes on. Successful people spend at least 1 hour a day, 5 days a week learning or practicing — thus the 5-hour rule. This includes reading, reflecting, and experimenting. Reading not only helps you learn, it can give you a leg up on your competition. Reflection gives you focus, and the opportunity to learn from your mistakes. And experimentation leads to new ideas. Yes, this time management tip does technically add to your to-do list, but with focused mission-critical activities that can shorten your distance to goal — thus saving you time in the long run.
5. STOP MULTITASKING
Multitasking is a myth. Our brains simply aren’t made to do more than one thing at a time. When you multitask, your productivity actually suffers. According to an MIT neuroscientist who’s one of the world’s leading experts on human cognition, attention, and learning: “Multitasking ruins productivity, causes mistakes, and impedes creative thought.” So don’t waste your time and brainpower attempting simultaneous tasks or switching between multiple things. Instead, commit to doing one thing at a time, focus, do it well, and do it right, and you’ll save yourself lost time caused by mistakes, rework, and refocus.
There’s no time to waste! Get started today to maximize your time — and start getting more done.
At Spinnaker, we’re all about maximizing time. We jump in and roll up our sleeves to help you get there faster. We’re the go-to resource for the real-time results you need now, and the lasting impact you depend on to strengthen your business in the future. Our expertise, agility, and first-hand business knowledge move your business forward. To find out more, connect with us today.