Have you ever felt that there’s not enough hours in the day to get everything done? Perhaps you think that daily! The honest truth is that there’s not. We have a finite 24 hours in a day, but most work isn’t finite. There’s always more that could be done even if you’re proficient at juggling.
However, one simple tool can make your daily life easier and more productive – a time management diary. How? Effective time management ensures you get the most important stuff done, enables you to finish work on time and achieve better results. Sounds good doesn’t it?
Here, we’ll show you how visualising, planning and prioritising your day with a time management diary will enable you to work better and have that all important free time.
How Can a Diary Help with Time Management?
A diary is a simple but effective time management tool for planning daily tasks. It doesn’t matter whether you prefer an old school paper diary or an online version (such as Outlook or Google calendar), as long as you use it. I favour an online version so that I can access it on my phone when I’m out and about, as well as on my desktop. But I know others who love to physically write down tasks and appointments, and enjoy striking a line through them when complete. Choose whichever works for you.
Download a free printable default diary template to get you started
What are the 5 Keys to Effective Time Management?
1. Plan
2. Prioritise
3. Delegate
4. Stop procrastinating
5. Set goals
Plan
“Failing to plan is planning to fail,” may be an old saying but it’s a true one. Going with the flow might be your preference, but it often results in getting sidetracked or missing priority tasks.
A daily planner helps you to visualise the important tasks that you need to complete that day. Make sure that you allocate enough time to each task. Be realistic! Schedule in regular tasks like team meetings or weekly/ monthly reports. You’ll then go beyond a daily to-do planner to a weekly planner and monthly planner which helps you to identify spaces for work on bigger picture projects or those with longer deadlines.
Time blocking is a great way to ensure you tackle key items on your task list. Schedule in a block of time to focus on a particular project or task. It could be that you use the first hour of your day to tackle your inbox, or maybe you time block mid-morning for business development or project management. Apply it to your weekly schedule too, so certain reports or tasks feature on set days.
Prioritise
Colour coding is a simple yet effective way to draw your eye to items that need your attention first. In your daily planner, use one colour for appointments and another for time blocking project work. Highlight your most important tasks as a strong reminder to tackle them first.
1. Urgent and important tasks are the highest priority and need to be addressed today
2. Urgent and non-important tasks can be scheduled for the next day or later that week
3. Non-urgent but important tasks should have an amount of time allocated to them in your weekly planner to ensure they receive your attention
4. Non-urgent and non-important tasks tend to get bumped time and time again. Consider whether you need to outsource or delegate them or dump them altogether.
Delegate
I hate to break it to you, but you may not be the best or only person who can work on every action item. Perhaps there’s someone else who could take something off your hands. By outsourcing or delegating tasks to someone else, you can use your time more effectively. Outsourcing may sound expensive, but work out the gains you can make by spending that time on priority tasks.
You’ll free up time in your daily schedule to focus on key tasks. Plus, you’re empowering a team member or external contractor to work collaboratively with you. It’s a win-win.
Stop Procrastinating
It’s so easy to get distracted! A funny social media update or text message can seem so much more appealing than a finance worksheet. Delaying those less appealing tasks only adds to your stress levels. Just do it!
If a complex task seems overwhelming, set aside enough time to work on it in small chunks. The Pomodoro Technique advocates 25 minutes of focus time, then a 10 minute break. You’ll maintain concentration and be more productive, which is an efficient use of your time.
Goal Setting
Think about the key results that you need to achieve this week. How will you get there? Start by writing those in your diary.
Set yourself goals with measurable results. Firstly, you need to understand your capabilities and what you can realistically achieve in a certain amount of time. Time tracking tools can help with this as you’ll track how long it actually takes to complete a task which will inform your scheduling in future.
Being realistic with your time management and setting achievable deadlines can reduce stress, result in quality work, and generally make your work life more enjoyable. This may mean that you need to say ‘no’ to some requests in order to achieve your high priority goals by the deadlines.
Discover the 9 time management mistakes to avoid
What are the 4 Ds of Time Management?
To help you determine where to spend your time, we have a handy checklist – the 4 Ds of productivity.
1. Do – crack on with tasks that you can complete quickly. It could be responding to emails or calls, or preparing handouts for a meeting. You’ll feel a sense of achievement when you’ve got them done and it’ll build momentum for tackling bigger tasks.
2. Defer – delay items that don’t need to be done immediately. Set aside another time to focus on them instead. This applies to new ideas and requests in particular.
3. Delegate – there may be tasks that can be done better or more efficiently by someone else, so pass them on. Maybe a virtual assistant could help with admin, for example.
4. Delete – get rid of those jobs that you keep on the backburner, but never seem to get round to. If it’s been on your to-do list for months without being worked on, dump it. You’ll be surprised how relieved you feel, and it’ll free up headspace and time for other tasks.
And Finally, Schedule Time for Yourself
All too often, your own needs are right at the bottom of your to-do list. But if you’re not firing on all cylinders, then your work (and health) will be affected. Make sure you schedule time in your diary for your own personal development and self-care. Your future self will thank you for it.
Learn how to master your time with a default diary
If you want to get better at time management or would like someone to keep you on track, contact Phil Chantry for a free consultation session now
