8 time management strategies for better performance

Before learning about strategies let's learn about time management. In simple terms, time management is the conscious practice of splitting time into various tasks and activities. When you get conscious about the time you spend, then some remarkable thing will start to happen. You become more productive, your happiness level increases, and lots of other things. A study shows that 80%-95% of college students practice procrastination which is because colleges don't teach how to manage time and avoid procrastination. In this article, you will learn about powerful time management strategies for a successful life.

1). Get crystal clear about your goals and objectives.

The number one rule of time management is getting crystal clear about what you are going to do with your time. Write down all the goals and tasks you want to achieve. Writing down the goals helps us to get more clear about our goals and the path to achieving them.

If you’re not crystal clear about what you want and why you’ll never be able to achieve it. Instead of just winging it and hoping things work out, you need to understand what you’re doing before you do it. That means figuring out your goals and objectives clearly. That doesn’t mean writing an essay on it. Here are the seven steps to get clear about your goals.

1. Make a decision on what you want to accomplish
2. Write it on a piece of paper
3. Set a deadline for your goals
4. Make a list of everything you have to do to achieve that goal
5. Create a plan
6. Take action on your plan immediately
7. Commit to working on your goal every day

2). Make plans before starting your day

Planning is the first tool to achieve anything. There is a saying that having a plan is half the work done. Planning helps us to think clearly about our objectives. When we plan ahead of doing our work it becomes easier for us to follow that plan and complete that task.

There is a six-p rule on planning and it says ”Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance.” It can be hard to make a great plan but we don't need a great plan, we only need a plan to do our work.

Great entrepreneurs and successful people have the schedule of their day. To be successful you have to act like a successful person. Saying this means I don't mean to buy a large house, hire a bodyguard, and assistance. You only act on your mind. Our mind is a powerful tool if we know how to use it properly. Great ideas are created in our minds and paper before they gain physical appearance. So creating a plan can be beneficial for you.

3). Do the most difficult task at first

Now you are clear about your goals and have a plan to achieve that so here comes the question how do I stay on that plan and avoid procrastination? First, work on your most difficult and important task. If you completed your difficult and important task on the first of your day you can utilize your full energy at that work and avoid procrastination.

If you have lots of difficult tasks then work on the most difficult task first. You can delegate your unimportant task to others and create time for you to work on your most important task. Most people prefer to work on the easiest task at first not because it is productive but it feels good but because that is not productive.

When we complete our work our brain releases a hormone called dopamine which is responsible for our mood. We have limited energy and willpower so why waste that energy on the easiest and unimportant tasks? And doing the easiest task is the practice of creative procrastination and you should learn to delegate them to others.

4). Take one step at a time

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time right? Here, saying eating an elephant doesn't mean you eat an elephant. Nobody eats elephants. Doing a difficult task can be hard but not that hard if you work one step at a time.

Don't worry about the whole task. Just complete a bite of the task and move to another. When climbing Mt Everest we don't climb the whole mountain in a day. We climb some distance and wait there for the right climate and again climb. Take small steps but never stop running toward your goal.

There is a famous quote from Dr. Martin Luther King that says,” If you can’t fly then run if you can’t run then walk if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

5). Put pressure on yourself

The only people who work without the supervision of others are called leaders and these people are only 2 percent. By putting pressure on yourself you can accomplish your goals and objectives faster than ever. Set a deadline on your work and hook to it.

There are many people who make plans and schedules but only a fraction of them stick to it. It's the nature of the human system to search for comfort. Chasing toward comfort doesn't make you the person you are meant to be. From now on, set a deadline on every task and stick to it.

6). Develop a sense of urgency

We tend to become more active and focused when the deadline is coming near. You can create an urgent sense in your mind by making deadlines shorter. Students can try this by creating a short deadline for the coming exam and studying for that.

Many students only study when exams are nearer so you can create an exam deadline in your mind and study. Try to analyze the outcome of your inaction in decision-making. Our body

7). Predict the outcome of your task

Have you ever tried predicting the outcome of your everyday task? If not you should try this once. This is a powerful tool for curing the habit of procrastination. When you are scrolling through social media pages you can ask yourself what will be the outcome of this task then visualization of the outcome creates fear in your mind. This fear cures your procrastination. Every day I try this when I am wasting my time on social media and online games.

8). Apply the 80/20 principle to everything

Your twenty percent of work is responsible for eighty percent of outcomes so find these 20 percent tasks and focus your attention on them. The most profitable task is the hardest of all tasks so develop the habit of completing the hardest task at first.

If you develop the habit of doing low-value tasks then your mind creates a comfort zone and never be able to work on the high-value tasks. You will start to procrastinate on high-value work. This affects your productivity. From the list of your daily tasks identify the task which has a valuable impact on your work then work on these tasks on the first of your day. You have to give your 100% focus on the 20% of tasks to get the 80% result.

Conclusion

At last, getting clear about your important goals and tasks to achieve them is most crucial in the process of a productive lifestyle. Creating to-do's before starting your day makes you stay on track with your work. Creating to-do makes you accomplish more. Pick your highest value task and begin to work on that. The prime strategy to do the hardest task is to do it one task at a time.