Time Management Strategies
There are various approaches to implementing time management strategies, particularly when it comes to focusing on tasks. Explore the following popular time management techniques and select the ones that resonate with you.
Eisenhower Decision Matrix
Note: Sourced from asana.com
President Eisenhower developed this matrix and used it to help him evaluate and prioritize his tasks by importance and urgency, then broke them into four categories:
- Do First: These are urgent, important tasks with high priority.
- Schedule: These are important tasks that aren’t quite as urgent.
- Delegate: You may be able to delegate less important but still urgent tasks to someone else.
- Don’t Do: These non-urgent, unimportant items can be eliminated entirely or postponed indefinitely.
ABCDE Method
Note: Source from Clockify.me
This is another time management strategy for prioritizing assignments into five categories by importance by assigning each item a letter:
- A: Highest priority
- B: Should do soon, if not today
- C: Could do, but no serious consequences if not done
- D: Delegate or ask for help
- E: Eliminate from your list
This is very similar to the Eisenhower Matrix, with a little more flexibility around should-dos and could-dos.
Pomodoro Technique
Note: Sourced from sketchplanations.com
Use the Pomodoro technique to ‘get in the zone', focus on a task and be productive. The Pomodoro encourages you to do intense work in blocks of time with regular breaks in-between.
- Choose a task.
- Set a timer for 25 minutes.
- Work on the task until the timer rings.
- Note where you are with the task.
- Take a 5 min break, reward yourself.
- Take a longer break of 30 minutes after every four Pomodoro sessions.
Flowtime
Note: Sourced from clockify.me
Unlike the Pomodoro Technique, Flowtime stretches out both the work and break time proportionally.
- If you work for 25-50 minutes, take an 8-minute break.
- For 50-90 minutes, you get a 10-minute break.
- And if you’ve been at it for more than 90 minutes, take 15 minutes to recharge.
Eat That Frog
Note: Sourced from @BrianTracy/X
Based on a quote often attributed to Mark Twain: “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.”
In other words, don’t put off the biggest, hardest tasks. Get them out of the way first. Then, everything else you have to do will seem easy in comparison.
This concept can be counterproductive if you’re already feeling overwhelmed. The key is to make progress, one step at a time.
SMART
Note: Sourced from destressmondays.org
Use this technique for large and complex tasks.
- Break down the large task into smaller parts that are easier to complete.
- Use SMART thinking to describe each smaller part
- Specific – you know what it is
- Measurable - you can measure it
- Achievable - you can complete it
- Relevant – you know it must be done
- Time-bound - you know when to complete it.
- Complete either the easiest part first or the most difficult part first – the latter will give you a greater sense of satisfaction and more incentive to complete the other parts.
Timeboxing
Note: Sourced from medium.com
Timeboxing is a simple technique that involves allotting a fixed, unit of time for an activity, stopping when the time has finished. Once you have finished you can assess whether you were able to meet your goals.
Time Blocking
Note: Sourced from lvdletters.com
This method is similar to timeboxing, but it involves setting blocks of time aside on your calendar for specific tasks. Some people like to start each day by blocking time out on their calendars, figuring out how they’ll make the most of their time.
Time Management Resources
Remember! To use templates from Google Docs or Sheets, you'll need to make a copy of the file first. Find instructions on how to make a copy of Google Drive using the FAQ below.
Don't Count the Yes's, Count the No's and Time Management Skills That Work by Type: eBookISBN: 9781722500214Publication Date: 2018-10-09Time management is the single most important skill you can master when it comes to your life, career or business! Now, Warren Greshes teaches you how to effectively manage your time, while taking you through a time test to determine what progress you have made so far. Learn how to prepare for and plan tasks according to priority and save extra time each day.
Effortless by Type: eBookISBN: 9780593135655Publication Date: 2021-04-27Effortless offers actionable advice for making the most essential activities the easiest ones, so you can achieve the results you want, without burning out.
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Type: eAudioISBN: 9781250834386Publication Date: Aug 10, 2021Drawing on the insights of both ancient and contemporary philosophers, psychologists, and spiritual teachers, Oliver Burkeman delivers an entertaining, humorous, practical, and ultimately profound guide to time and time management.
From To-Do to Done : How to Go From Busy to Productive by Mastering Your To-Do List by Type: eBookISBN: 9781728234847Publication Date: 2021Trying to remember a bunch of details and tasks isn't the best use of your brainpower. This is not another book on time management; this is a book on how to take back control of your busy life.
Get Organized by Type: eBookISBN: 9781504055222Publication Date: 2018-07-31Develop organizational techniques, streamline study time, and avoid the stress of disorderly spaces and rushed schedules.
The Getting Things Done Workbook : 10 Moves to Stress-Free Productivity by Type: eBookISBN: 9780525505228Publication Date: 2019An accessible, practical, step-by-step how-to guide that supplements Getting Things Done by providing the details, the how-to's, and the practices to apply GTD more fully and easily in daily life. The workbook divides the process into small, manageable segments to allow for easier learning and doing. Each chapter identifies a challenge the reader may be facing--such as being overwhelmed by too many to-do lists, a messy desk, or email overload--and explains the GTD concept to address. The lessons can be learned and implemented in almost any order, and whichever is adopted will provide immediate benefits.
Indistractable by Type: eBookISBN: 9781948836531Publication Date: 2019-09-10What would be possible if you followed through on your best intentions? What could you accomplish if you could stay focused? What if you had the power to become 'indistractable?
The Lazy Genius Way by Type: eBookISBN: 9780525653929Publication Date: 2020-08-11Kendra Adachi, the creator of the Lazy Genius movement, invites you to live well by your own definition and equips you to be a genius about what matters and lazy about what doesn't. Everything from your morning routine to napping without guilt falls into place with Kendra's thirteen Lazy Genius principles.
Master Your Motivation by Type: eBookISBN: 9781523098620Publication Date: 2019-06-04Fowler reveals compelling insights and actions to help you master and maintain your motivation. Traditional “motivators” such as fear, guilt, or the promise of a reward provide low-quality, short-term energy. Drawing on the latest empirical research, she proves that high-quality, optimal motivation is a skill that you can learn and apply.
Time Management Training by Type: eBookISBN: 9781607280927Publication Date: 2016-11-01Empower workshop participants to reclaim their time. Master trainer Lisa Downs has developed a collection of complete workshops and tools you'll need to empower workshop participants to strategically manage procrastination, negotiate priorities, and exercise control over how they spend their time by helping them develop their time management and productivity skills.
The Work-Life Balance Myth: Rethinking Your Optimal Balance for Success by Type: eBookISBN: 9781260468908Publication Date: 2021It begins with two important facts: 1) stress happens—you can't avoid it; and 2) your existence is composed of far more than “work” and “life. This relatively simple but profoundly critical concept is at the heart of the method David McNeff has used to transform the lives and careers of his clients.
Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most by Type: eAudioISBN: 9780593153932Publication Date: 2021-04-27It all starts with a simple principle: Not everything has to be so hard. The effortless way isn't the lazy way. It's the smart way. It may even be the only way. Not every hard thing in life can be made easy. But we can make it easier to do more of what matters most.
Make Time by Type: eAudioISBN: 9781984827968Publication Date: 2018-09-24A simple 4-step system for improving focus, finding greater joy in your work, and getting more out of every day. Make Time is not a one-size-fits-all formula. Instead, it offers a customizable menu of bite-size tips and strategies that can be tailored to individual habits and lifestyles. Make Time isn't about productivity, or checking off more to-dos. Nor does it propose unrealistic solutions like throwing out your smartphone or swearing off social media. Making time isn't about radically overhauling your lifestyle; it's about making small shifts in your environment to liberate yourself from constant busyness and distraction.
Spending Time by Type: eAudioISBN: 9781630151782Publication Date: 2019-06-18Spending Time provides engaging insights into how people use their time and what determines their decisions about spending their time. That our time is limited by the number of hours in a day, days in a year, and years in our lives means that we face constraints and thus choices that involve trade-offs. Being stressed for time is central to modern life, and Hamermesh shows who is rushed, and why. With Americans working more than people in France, Germany, the U.K., Japan, and other rich countries, the book also offers a simple but radical proposal for changing Americans' lives and reducing the stress about time.
Ten Time Management Choices That Can Change Your Life by Type: eAudioISBN: 9781630152239Publication Date: 2019-05-28Get more out of every day! From goal setting, project management, and to-do lists to daily scheduling, creating new habits, and curing chronic lateness, this book will change busy listeners' lives.
Time Smart by Type: eAudioISBN: 9781705007549Publication Date: 2020-10-06Time Smart is your playbook for taking back the time you lose to mindless tasks and unfulfilling chores. The techniques Whillans provides will free up seconds, minutes, and hours that, over the long term, become weeks and months that you can reinvest in positive, healthy activities.
- How I Use My Calendar EfficientlyIn this post, the author shows you how they used Google Calendar as a student, as well as how they use it today.
- Why You Must Stay Organized in CollegeStaying organized will help you better manage your time. Rather than spending countless minutes trying to find notes for class or taking the time to clean a huge mess before sitting to study, you will be able to maximize the time you spend getting things done when you are organized.
- A Student's Guide to Positive Habit BuildingHabits are small decisions and actions taken day after day, and account for about 40 percent of our behaviors on any given day. Just as good habits can be formed over time, bad habits can be eliminated over time as well. For students entering college it’s important to form habits that will positively affect their success in school. Habits such as what to eat, how much to sleep, how active to be, how to get along with others, as well as the ability to set goals and follow-up on those goals. This video looks at a few areas where every student can improve their habit building skills and create great routines for success in college.
- Time ManagementCompared to high school, where the day is structured down to the minute, college is a blank do-it-yourself calendar. Classes, clubs, sports, part-time jobs…assignments, projects, exams…even time to hang out: all must be penciled in! Over the course of this three-section program, viewers will learn to sidestep common time-management errors and plan out their semesters so they can take control of their time and enjoy a healthy work/life balance.
- FreedomFreedom is an app and website blocker you can use to block distractions so you can get your work done. Block what you want, when you want, and be more productive.
- HabiticaHabitica is a free habit-building and productivity app that treats your real life like a game. With in-game rewards and punishments to motivate you and a strong social network to inspire you, Habitica can help you achieve your goals to become healthy, hard-working, and happy.
- Organization StrategiesFour tutorials from the Learning Express Library: Achiving Your Goals, Effective Multitasking, Get Organized, and Manage Your Time. You will need to create a free Learning Express Library to get started!
- Today Habit trackerToday is your free personal habit tracker that helps you organize your day and build life-changing habits. Quit bad habits and stay on track with Today's unique visual and rewarding approach based on proven methods from behavioral science.
- Google CalendarWith Google Calendar, you can keep tabs on every important occasion/event, and never miss out on anything. It comes as part of your TSTC email account so you can sync your assignments to your email for reminders and more.
- Google DriveKeeps your files backed up and synced across all your computers and devices, as well as on the web. Forget your paper on your home computer? No worries, it's in Drive.
- TrelloA fantastic tool for managing group projects, and it’s free. It essentially works by making each task a "card" that you move from list to list based on its status. Great for managing big, complicated projects.