Assess how you currently spend your time
Before you can effectively improve your time management skills, you should figure out how you are actually spending your time. Get a planner or use your calendar to keep track of your daily activities so you can balance your appointments, social time, workouts, and everything else with your work schedule. Once you have a better sense of how you spend your time, make sure your schedule aligns with your priorities. For example, if you like to finish your work by 3pm every day, you’ll want to make sure your morning schedule supports that.Align your schedule with your priorities
Prioritizing our time is something we can all use a little help with. Most people’s natural inclination is to respond to our most urgent tasks instead of strategic prioritizing and planning for future efficiency. To break that habit, follow these steps, popularized by Steven Covey in his book First Things First:- Create a 2×2 table.
- Write “Important” over the first column and “Not Important” over the second.
- Write “Urgent” on the left side of the top row, and “Not Urgent” beside the bottom row.
- Categorize your tasks according to how urgent and important they are.
- The most important tasks will fall in both the “Important” and “Urgent” categories. Focus on those first.