According to Psychology Today, Time Management is the ability to plan and control how you spend the hours in your day to effectivelyaccomplish your goals. Poor time management can be related to procrastination, as well as problems with self-control.
Every day, people are getting struggle on getting things done through the day, and that makes them a less productive person at work and with personal life.
“Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.” Benjamin Franklin
Psychological researchers found that the behavior of procrastination is more complicated than what we could think. Not everybody who leaves a task for the next day is a procrastinator. True procrastination means a failure of self-regulation.
According to the University of Kent, it is important is to manage the fear of “doing things you don´t want to do” as the fear of doing something wrong is usually worse than any possible negative result. In addition, studies confirm that procrastinate has a negative impact at long term on the performing and stress levels.
Let’s get to work!
The first thing recommended to beat procrastination is to understand why you do it. Finding the right cause could be the key to aneffective time management.
Set your goal of the day
Set a goal for every day to accomplish. Whatever you decide need to be achievable and realistic. When you choose a task, ask yourself why it is important.
The art of prioritizing
If you want to be a time management guru, first you need to learn to cut away the unimportant tasks and focus on the valuable tasks. This can get a little confusing but there is something called “The Eisenhower Matrix” which is a guide to help you manage and prioritize your tasks. It looks like this:
This chart will help you differentiate the urgent from the important. The urgent requires immediate action, while the important are the long-term tasks that will contribute to accomplishing your goals. Sometimes are urgent, sometimes they are not.
Rest is important
Being more productive does not have to mean that you will sit for 8 hours straight in front of the computer. Actually, people who do not take breaks are usually less productive. You can take a quick walk, go to the toilet or chat with a colleague.
Don’t get distracted!
Create a free-of-distractions working environment where you can remove anything that could keep you away from finishing that article or reading that report. You don´t need to answer the phone every time it rings or answer every email that you receive. Social media and internet are also big distractors that you need to be aware of when trying to get things done.
But technology can also help you to be more productive. We found this Entrepreneur article about 5 Best Apps for Getting and Staying Organized
Sources:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/time-management
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/the-8-habits-highly-productive-people.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-travis-bradberry/11-ways-to-beat-procrasti_b_9647406.html
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-best-way-to-schedule-my-day
