25 Time Management Techniques for Life

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Time management is important and it can help you in managing your personal and professional life.

However, there are different time management techniques that can make it easier to understand how you can manage your time. 

Here is the list of the best ones which can be effective for you, some of them are simple and really straightforward. And some are complex. So you can choose what fits your requirement. 

Top Best Techniques You Can Use For Time Management 

With the help of these time management techniques, you can understand how you can manage time well. 

Well the list includes : 

SMART Goals 

For proper time management, you always need to have set goals and know where you want to go. 

The popular technique is called SMART goals, and it has been here since 1981. 

Also, it was entitled`There’s A S.M.A.R.T Ways to Write Management Goals And Objectives. This was published by George T. Doran. 

Well the idea is about whatever your goals are, they should be written down in cities like : 

  • Specific – The results that you want should be clearly defined. 
  • Measurable –  There must be a way that can measure your progress.
  • Achievable – The goals should meet with the resources which are available.
  • Relevant – This must fit the bigger picture and know why you want to do it. 
  • Time-Bound –  You should have a clear deadline for goals that you want to achieve. 
signs you need smart goals

Who Is It For? 

This is for you if you want to have everything in detail and also looking for making your time management much easier to follow. 

It can help in detailed planning with much more control over where you want to go and what to do. 

Do Deep Work 

The next technique is Do Deep Work or Avoid Half Work Or Shallow Work. 

To get your tasks done, you need to complete them and it should be a productive way of doing it. For this, you can follow the Deep Work. 

Deep Work is a term that is delivered by Cal Newport. It states that all intellectual activities require a state of distraction and free concentration which helps in pushing the cognitive capabilities to the limit. 

Only when you do deep work you are able to create much more value, improve your skills, and do things that are not easy to replicate. 

Well, the opposite of this is Half Work or Shallow Work. These are the low-value work with multitasking and working on different projects and having distractions. 

Who Is It For?

The technique can help you in focusing better but also improve the quality of work.

Not just that, you can also improve the chances of not getting half work and getting worse quality. 

The Eisenhower Matrix 

Well, it goes well when you have written the SMART Goals. You can break them to make them much more actionable and concrete. 

You also have to prioritize the tasks and for that, you can consider the Eisenhower Matrix. 

Here you need to divide the tasks into four categories : 

  • Tasks which are urgent and important, also you have to do it first. 
  • Tasks that are not urgent but important, and they can be scheduled. 
  • Tasks that are urgent but not important can be delegated. 
  • Tasks that are not important or urgent, and they should be eliminated. 

As for picking which tasks are urgent, you need to look for tasks on which you need to react such as phone calls, meetings, emails, etc. 

Also, such tasks are time-sensitive and you have the struct deadlines. 

To decide which tasks are important, they are the ones that contribute to the long-term goals you have to do in life. 

Also, the important tasks are those which are a part of life or business such as mission and vision. 

Who Is It For? 

Well, you can choose this if you need to have a clear understanding of what is a priority and what can wait. 

Also, you can learn about tasks that take up space and energy but aren’t worth the attention. It helps you in learning the right way to eliminate the tasks. 

BoJo 

Bojo is a Bullet Journal, it’s another technique after Pomodoro which is frequently searched for time management. 

The tagline says it helps in tracking your past, organizing the present, and planning for your future. And to start with this, you need a pen and a notebook. 

Well the core principle is it’s difficult to make time, but you can take time, happiness is a byproduct and should cultivate your curiosity via the goals.

Further, it includes the small changes that help in leading to the big chances and looking inward to find more ways. 

BoJo includes some basic key components which include: 

  • Index page for adding the number of your pages. 
  • Here you need to divide the collection of logs into a daily log of tasks, notes, and events. 
  • With that monthly log which is consistent with the calendar and to-do list. 
  • Another one is a future log which lists all the goals for the long term and commitments. 
  • Other includes the collections of names of related ideas such as notes, mind maps, sketches, trackers, lists, etc. 

To start with this, you need to take into consideration of : 

  • You need to do rapid logging 
  • Also, write down things in short notations. 
  • As for logging, you can use different types of bullet points as well as signifiers for adding the context.
  • Every month you can review and manage tasks from one to different logs. 

Who Is It For?

BoJo is helpful for both personal and professional, it’s also good for mental health and gives you much more detail-oriented plans. It also helps you in managing time. 

Kanban Board 

Kanban board is a Japanese word that means signboard and billboard. 

It’s much more based on a visual board that helps in tracking the goals and the progress. 

For this, you need : 

  • A dry wipe whiteboard to write down your goals. 
  • If not, you can pick the software but it’s recommended to use the board. 
  • Now you need to draw columns divided into To Do, In Progress, Done, etc. 
  • Use sticky notes, with each of the notes you can use for reprinting what is done. 
  • You can write the name of what you need to do and use different colors for it. 
  • Once you have a board and notes with the tasks, you can stick the notes to the columns, depending on the phase it is in. 

Who Is It For? 

You can use the technique for having an easy and visual representation of your goals and track your progress. 

You can get help in understanding in which phase your tasks are in. 

The Pomodoro Technique 

One of the best and famous techniques which you can consider, also it’s helpful in reminding to take the breaks 

It was introduced by software developer and author Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. 

It is also called Tomato Technique and the idea is to break down the goals in separate intervals and short breaks. 

Who Is It For?

Pomodoro divides the tasks into 25-minute work and then a 3 or 5-minute break. So with this, you have time for a short break which does not affect productivity especially when you are feeling not working. 

Flowtime Technique 

Well, it’s a variation that you can consider for the Pompadour technique, it’s called  Flowtime Technique. 

The name is derived from the term ‘ Flow’, it’s a phase when you are in deep work and end up losing the focus and have your attention completely immense to the task. 

The idea here is to set a time, this can be from 10 to 90 minutes. And you can use the time frame to experiment and see how long you are successfully focused. And also you can see when you actually need the break. 

Simply, take a break when you feel it’s getting difficult to focus and you can’t be in the workflow. 

At the same time, you can record all the start times, end times, break times, work times, etc. Include the interruptions to know when you have to stop working. 

Who Is It For? 

To those who feel Pomodoro is not letting them get in a flow as they have to take breaks frequently. 

You can switch to this one as you have the freedom to choose when to take a break and also create your flow state. 

Gettings Things Done Or GTD 

Getting things done is a popular one for the comprehensive time management framework. 

Well, this method comes with five steps, and it helps in breaking the tasks into small steps which are much more manageable and easy to finish. 

The Five Steps of the framework are based on : 

  • Capturing all of the ideas, from things you want to read to bills, etc. It includes every single idea that pops into your head and writes it down. 
  • Next is to process those ideas and divide them into what to achieve and what to delete.
  • After this, they process everything and add it into the action plan. 
  • Then, you need to review and reflect on goals to make sure it’s up to date. 
  • Last includes capturing and identifying those goals to review them. 

Who Is It For? 

This is for you if you are looking for stress-free productivity, Also this helps in keeping your work much more relaxed and accomplished more. 

Along with that, it helps in boosting creativity and tracking things that are relevant. 

Objectives And Key Results Or OKR 

OKR is one of the popular frameworks, especially for its business.  The method is used by different big giants such as Google, Uber, LinkedIn, and Intel. 

Well, the method was invented by Andy Groove, who is also the CEO of Intel. And it’s a pretty simple method. 

Objectives are here goals and key indicates the results which you achieve. 

To set your OKR, you first need to start with a formula which says: I will  ( add your objective ) as measured by ( ass your set of key results you want to achieve )

OKR can be your query planning process’s part and once you get it clear, don’t forget to communicate with others. 

Also, you need to set, track and review your OKR frequently. 

Who Is It For? 

Well the technique is highly beneficial for business but also you can use food personal life 

With this, you get the clarity of what you want to achieve along with how you can do it.

It gives a clear understanding and straightforward way to achieve your goals. 

SCRUM 

It’s one of the most popular methods you can consider for an agile productivity framework, especially in software development. 

It’s exactly for time management, but it can help you in improving the addressing issues related to productivity. 

Well, the method framework is to stay flexible and adapt regularly as well as change according to the circumstances. 

Also, you can learn when you execute the plan instead of planning. Also, you get constant updates when you are in the execution phase. 

Well  there are different roles in SCRUM teams, including : 

  • Product owner -They need to manage the priorities and talk to stakeholders for taking care of the products.
  • SCRUM master – Facilitates the framework of SCRUM and removes the obstacles.
  • The Team – they need to be fully committed as well as a cross factual team. 

The workflow is based on : 

  • Sprint planning which defines the scope of work that you need to do for the next 2 to 4 weeks. 
  • Daily scrum which shorts daily meetings for 15 minutes to keep the commitment. 
  • Sprint review of the work that is completed.
  • Sprint retrospective or discussing what was good and what have chances of improvement. 

As for the artifacts of SCRUM includes : 

  • Product backlog: It’s a list that includes everything that needs to be deleted. 
  • Sprint backlog: it’s a list of tasks which requires to be delivered in the next sprint. 
  • User stories: It’s a small, valuable but independent, and testable feature for delivery. 
  • Burndown chart: Also known as total effort, a velocity which is a progress plan depending on the actual capabilities of your team. 

Who Is It For? 

Well, Scrum is ideally for the business and it can help you in improving the results of managing your work. 

Also if you have a team, this can be an effective method to consider. 

List Of Other Time Management Techniques You Can Consider 

Apart from the listed time management techniques above, there are more types that you can get. In options. 

Well, it includes : 

underrated time management techniques

1-3-5 Rule 

The 1-3-5  rule says that you need to accomplish only 1 task which is big, and 3 medium tasks. 

With that, you need to do 3 small tasks. And to make sure you do it all, you need to plan according to all of the time management techniques. 

Who Is it For?

It’s a good option to consider if you are preferring to be much more balanced and also add things you want to do with what you have to do. 

10 Minutes 

Well, the 10 minutes is a method that requires you to commit to the effort of choosing the tasks and after 10 minutes, you will stop. Also, you have to choose those tasks you usually don’t go for. 

Who Is It For? 

10 Minutes can help you in getting things done with a break, also you get to do things you are trying to push but it’s important for you. 

18 Minutes 

You can use this technique, this is to spend 5 minutes on going over the tasks on a daily schedule. 

Take your 1-minute break for every hour and it will help you in seeing the progress and also see it to be done. 

Also, you need 5 minutes for reviewing the tasks. 

Who Is It For? 

18 minutes can help you in giving a short idea of how you can get your work done. 

With this, it helps in recording and tracking how your process is going.

4D System 

Before you start doing any tasks, it’s important that you make your conscious decisions. 

It includes the 4 D system which consists of: 

  • Delete 
  • Delegate 
  • Do Now 
  • Defer 

It requires you to see the project from out of the situation, so you know if you need to do it or not. 

Who Is It For? 

It’s for you if you want a clear understanding of how and why you need to get the work done. Also, you can find out which work needs to delegate from the to-do list. 

168 Hours

There are around 168 hours you have in a week, this means you get more than time to do the things you want to do. Also dividing it to get important things. 

Who Is It For? 

It gives you much more hours in which you can focus on things you want. 

10 Minute Task

Every single task on the to-do list should not take more than 10 minutes to get it done. 

If it’s not, then you can break it down into different subtasks.

Who Is It For? 

You can use that for getting your work done and also do it much faster. 

90 Minute Focus Sessions 

The technique requires you to work 90 minutes in completing the work with focus, also avoiding the distractions, and then you can rest for 20 to 30 minutes. 

Who Is It For? 

This helps you in building your flow state but also have the time for a break in order to recharge yourself 

7 Minute Life 

You can use the technique for planning to plan before you start the day and 7 minutes before you go to sleep. 

Also, you need to get time for reviewing the day. And planning it for the next day. 

Who Is It For? 

You can use this technique for getting time for planning your day and also for the next day. 

It helps in understanding what to do and what not to. 

ABCDE 

It’s quite similar to The Eisenhower Matrix, however, it’s a bit more detailed. 

Well with this, you can divide  your tasks into different categories, which includes : 

  • A: It includes the tasks which are most important to you.
  • B: It adds the tasks which are less important. 
  • C: Includes tasks that have no consequences.
  • D: It includes the tasks which are delegated.
  • E: It includes tasks that should be eliminated. 

Who Is It For? 

It’s important you have a detail-oriented to-do list to know which work to focus on, and what to eliminate. 

This can help in doing that for you. 

Autofocus 

The technique requires you to have four different lists divided into : 

  • New tasks
  • Recurring tasks 
  • Unfinished 
  • Old Tasks 

You can start with the new tasks, and move on to the recurring ones and spend the time on tasks that are unfinished. 

And in the end, you can do the old tasks. 

Who Is It For? 

It’s a quick way to have an understanding of what you need to do and what is left. This gives you more control of knowing which task in which phase. 

Biological Prime Time

The idea is based on tracking the biological rhythm in order to find the most productive hours. 

And setting the work according to that, also it helps in having time to be more productive. 

Who is it for? 

If you need to know which hour is productive for you and boost productivity, this can help you in finding the biological prime time. 

Ivy Lee 

The method is writing down the 6 tasks which are important for you to do tomorrow. 

And prioritize it for the next day as you start with the most important one. 

Who Is it For?

This is good for you if you don’t want to start the day with deciding, it will help in having your important tasks listed and you can prioritize what you start with. 

Systemist 

Well, this one is developed by Todoist, it’s a productivity app. It’s a methodology that suggests some of the steps which include: 

  • Take it everywhere and be able to long when you need to. 
  • Capture e everything of your ideas
  • Breaking everything into small and actionable tasks 
  • Prioritize your work.
  • Get the to-do list to zero when your day ends. 
  • Review on a daily basis. 

Who is it for?

You can use this if you are looking for a detailed step but with familiar steps and easy to follow, this can help.

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