Six Time Management Tips & Tricks

Whether working remotely or an in office, parent or childless, male or female – we all wish we had more time in the day. Through my trials and errors of running my own business while caring for  two under five, I’ve discovered six tried and true methods for time management that help me stay on top of it all.

To Do Lists

This one might not come as a shock, but writing down what you hope to accomplish in a day (or week or month) is the best way to prioritize and ensure you get to everything. 

I am constantly maintaining multiple To Do lists, including:

•  Short–term – Every night before going to bed I make a to do list for the next day. Everything from taking out the trash to Zoom meetings to working out, it’s all on there. Not only does this help me hit the ground running in the morning, it also prevents the middle-of-the-night wake ups of “I CANNOT forget to reschedule that appointment tomorrow”.
• Ongoing –  I have two of these at any given time, one personal and one professional. These are my midterm lists, or the things that I have to get taken care of just not in the next 24-48 hours. This could include scheduling check ups, content I need to create or recorded webinars I need to watch. If I’m making my to do list for the next day and see some extra time, this is the list I reference to fill in the gaps.
• If I had a day off…- Similar to my ongoing lists, I have a lists of “If I ever got a day off”. This one is especially full of personal stuff and includes the deep cleaning or lengthier tasks that aren’t pressing but always seem to be hanging around. For example, giving the basement a good cleaning and reorganizing. This list has become especially handy since the pandemic began!

You may find it overwhelming to take up all three right away. I recommend starting with one (the short-term would probably be best) and getting into a rhythm to help you identify the right tasks, breakdowns and timeframe for you. 

Calendar App (or another calendar tool)

Sure you’ve put events in your calendar here and there, but are you leveraging it as well as you could be? 

For example, does your calendar sync across devices? So if you’re on the phone attempting to schedule an appointment, you can pull it up on the computer to verify your availability? I’m constantly pulling up my calendar on my phone when I’m out and about, on my computer while a call and on my iPad when I’m preparing for the next day.

I also color code my calendar (this is particularly easy if you use Google calendar). For those of us that are drawn to visuals, color coding allows you to recognize where the imbalances are. You could go as simple as work is one color and personal stuff another. But if you are feeling especially overwhelmed at work, take it a step further. Maybe calls and meetings are red, daily activities are green and projects are blue. This process will help you identify why you’re feeling stretched too thin and the adjustments you need to make.

Finally, a real life hack here, it’s the ultimate reminder tool. Let’s take birthdays for example. As you get older, you tend to have more relationships, especially family. Whether it’s your own children, your nieces and nephews or your in-laws, it starts to add up. I have calendar reminders in for 8:30 AM the day of everyone’s birthday, set to repeat annually forever. I also receive a notification one week before so I can buy a gift and/or inquire about any related festivities.

I even use the reminder aspect for routine tasks like sending my newsletter every Friday at 8:00 AM. It’s practically second nature at this point, but every once in a while I have a crazy week and almost forget to press that send button until I see my reminder. 

Timers

If I had a dollar for every time I set a timer, I’d be a millionaire. Let me share a few examples:

I recently installed the Limit extension for Chrome on my computer specifically for Facebook. It automatically kicks me out after I’ve been on there for 5 minutes.

I also use it for doing laundry. I am NOT a fan of laundry (in fact, I wrote a whole article on laundry hacks here), so as soon as I start a load I tell Alexa to set a one hour timer. This helps me stay on top of switching a load over and getting it folded before it wrinkles. 

My children also have an intimate relationship with timers because it’s a key transition tool in our home. When it comes to starting the bedtime routine or cleaning up toys, we ask them how many minutes they want on the timer. This is a great way to empower them and get their buy in. You could similarly use it with a direct report who consistently asks for help before attempting a task or a colleague who regularly says “Sure we can discuss that! Just give me a few minutes” only to never follow-up.

Alarms

While I use timers to make unpleasant tasks (i.e. laundry) more palatable, I use alarms to bring me back to reality when I’m in the flow state. It’s not ideal to have to walk away mid-project, but alas, other commitments such as calls, meetings or even meals often interject.

Right now, for example, I’m working from home with my two year old who fortunately still enjoys a long afternoon nap. But keeping everyone on schedule means I have a hard stop at 3 PM everyday. My 2:45 alarm lets me know it’s time to start wrapping things up.

Do Not Disturb

This is the antidote to procrastination and multi-tasking. You retain more information from a meeting or produce higher quality content  faster when you turn off the distractions. And I’m not just talking about your phone. Close any unnecessary browser windows and apps. You can stay signed in to Slack or other work messaging tool, but mark yourself as unavailable. It’s the difference between accomplishing a task on time, the first time and having to review/rewrite/restart it because something came up.

I’m also a big fan of using Do Not Disturb at night. None of my devices make noise after 9 PM or before 7 AM. That means my first and last hour are mine, not to be interrupted by the forecast for tomorrow, the meme sent over the group message or that email that came through. 

Share

Whether it’s read-only access to your calendar or a general and verbal overview of your routines and schedules, share it!  Your boss, your direct reports, your teammates, your spouse, your children – it will save you so much time! First, you won’t have to explain why certain days and times aren’t good for you. Also, you’ll set their expectations for you and, finally, you can address any conflicts or confusion before they turn into misunderstandings and tense conversations. 

Not all of these tips are going to work for you. Take time to trial and error them one or two at a time. Don’t just think about the ones that you prefer – think about the time management challenges you often face such as procrastination, distraction or working too late, and tackle them first. Good luck!

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