20 Ways to Create More Time

by Jonathanon March 29, 2010

Do you ever feel as if you are going through life without reallyexperiencing it? Could you benefit from some practical time managementtips?

Of course, we all like to tell ourselves that the situation is onlytemporary. We like to think that eventually life will slow down and wewill have more time to focus on the things that really matter.That can happen, but it won’t happen by accident. Time itself will notslow down and demands on our time will not go away. If we want thesituation to change, it’s going to be up to us to change it. These timemanagement tips are designed to help you do exactly that. 

Taking control of your time

Before we can make more time for the things that really matter inlife, we first need to identify what those things are. We need someclarity. We need to have a real grasp of our own values and goals. Wealso need to know which activities are most important to us. Once weunderstand what is truly important, we can organize our timeaccordingly. All the time management tips in the world won’t help usuntil we know where to put our priorities.

When looking at our own priorities we might think of our personalvalues as a giant umbrella that everything else fits under. Our goalsare like steps that we take to reinforce those values. High-priorityactivities would be the specific actions that help us reach our goals.

When our goals harmonize with our values, and our activitiescontribute to achieving those goals,  life becomes more unified andharmonious. This doesn’t mean that we won’t spend large amounts of timetaking care of  “necessary things.” But it will change whatqualifies as “necessary” and how much time we spend in differentpursuits. As in every other aspect of life, balance is the key.

20 time management tips for creating more time

Once we’ve decided what’s really important to us we still need somepractical suggestions to help us organize our time more efficiently. That’s thepurpose of the following 20 time management tips.

1. List your priorities for each day. In order toavoid getting sidetracked and distracted, we need to know whichactivities deserve the lion’s share of our focus each day. The only wayto stay on track is to write these things down according to their orderof importance. Once an item is completed, check it off and move on.Unfinished items get carried over to the next day’s list.

2. Synchronize your calendars. If you have acalendar in your computer, a daily planner, a wall calendar, and ahandheld device, they all need to say the same thing. Obviously, toomany calendars and planners can lead to unnecessary confusion. So, tryto get by with one, or, if that’s not possible make sure that they areall synchronized.

3. Each project needs an action plan. There isalways a most efficient sequence of steps for every project. To save time and effort we need to identify what thatsequence is and follow it. Before beginning any project try to identifythis sequence and write it down.

4. Schedule the most important tasks first. If youtackle your most important tasks first it will be much easier to findtime for less important ones. If you allow yourself to get sidetrackedon unimportant tasks or busywork, chances are you will never get to thethings that really matter.

5. Set realistic goals. The greater controlyou have over a goal the better your chance of reaching it. Forexample, you have more control over increasing your skill at a certainjob than over becoming president of your company. One of the keys tosuccess is creating realistic goals that can be achieved in areasonable amount of time.

6. You can’t do everything, live with it! Focus onactivities that yield important results. For other activities thatsimply need to be done, see if you can spend less time on them. It maybe possible to put some of these off for days, or even weeks, while youfocus on the things that really matter. Assign as much time as possibleto the activities that contribute the most to reaching your goals.

7. Keep track of your time. To find out where yourtime is going, try keeping a time log for a week or two. How much timeis being lost on unimportant activities? Where do most of yourinterruptions come from? Do they occur during certain time periods or onspecific days of the week? Once you have this information it will beeasier to eliminate time wasting activities along with distractions andinterruptions.

8. Schedule less. If you cram too much into yourschedule you will always feel rushed and frustrated, and in the end youwon’t get much done. Try to be realistic about how many things youschedule into your day. An ounce of accomplishment is better than apound of frustration.

9. Minimize interruptions. Block off portions of theday during which you are not to be interrupted unless it is an absolutenecessity. Whenever possible, turn off your phone, pop-ups, instantmessenger, twitter notifications, and anything else that tends to grabyour focus away from the project at hand. Learn to focus on a singletask.

10. Pick your time carefully. One of the keys togetting things done effectively is to schedule the most challenging workfor the time of day when you are most energetic and alert. I like to domy most challenging tasks early in the day because that’s when it’seasier for me to focus. I save the mindless and mundane for later in theafternoon after the most important things have already beenaccomplished.

11. Do the most unpleasant tasks as soon as possible.Rather than postponing things you don’t really want to do, get them outof the way as soon as you can. Once they are done you will feel moreenergized and free to focus on the things you really want to do.

12. Expect the unexpected. Stuff happens,that’s just the way life is. If you schedule yourself so tight that youdon’t allow for the unexpected, you dramatically raise your chances offeeling frantic throughout your day. If you need to be somewhere and youthink you can make it in 15 minutes, allow 25. Leave little blocks oftime throughout the day unscheduled so you have a buffer against theunexpected.

13. Use transition time to your advantage. If youcommute, try to use that time for something productive. Could you find a wayto listen to important information that you would normally have to readlater? Have something on hand that you can do whenever you are stuckwaiting. Making use of time that would normally be wasted is a simpleway of creating more time for the things you want to do.

14. Apply the 80/20 rule. Generally speaking, 20% ofour effort produces 80% of our results. That means that if I have alist of 10 things to do, two of those are likely to produce greaterresults than the other 8 put together. Try to identify which tasksreally move you toward your goals and give those the priority theydeserve. You will probably find that some of the lesser tasks no longerneed to be done at all.

15. Avoid getting overwhelmed. We all know whatoverwhelmed feels like and it’s not my favorite way to feel. When youfeel overwhelmed, try writing each task on its own index card. Nowdivide those cards into two groups. Group 1 calls for action today,group 2 calls for action tomorrow. When tomorrow comes, do the samething.

16. Take periodic breaks. I use applied focus sessions in which I do 45 minutes offocused effort, followed by 15 minutes of something else. After 45minutes our ability to focus begins to taper off and we no longerperform optimally. I use those 15 minutes for walking around, getting adrink, answering phone calls, or anything else that distracts me fromthe task at hand. This is often when my best ideas come to mind and Iend up feeling re-energized and ready to make things happen.

17. Think on paper. When you feel stuck, write theproblem down. Describing the problem on paper will help you sort it out.Now, make a list of as many solutions as you can possibly think of.Chances are, you’ve just solved your problem.

18. Don’t be a perfectionist. In all honesty, Istruggle with this one. I can spend endless amounts of time trying toget something just exactly perfect. Don’t spend 90% of your time tryingto make a 3% improvement. It’s important that we know when it is time tomove on to the next activity. Learn to let good be good enough.

19. Ready, fire, aim. Sometimes the best approach isto just start working on the project. Don’t get too weighed downplanning every little detail and end up never getting started. Once youstart working you will discover what needs to be done. Even if you windup having to backtrack a little bit, you will still be ahead of the gamebecause you are taking action instead of waiting.

20. Be flexible. These are only suggestions; theyare not hard and fast rules. Experiment, find out what works for youpersonally, don’t be afraid to customize the ideas to fit yourindividual circumstances and needs. Some of these may work for you andsome of them may not, but you’ll never know until you give them a try.

Time is valuable

The most valuable component of life is time. You’ve heard it saidthat time is money, the truth is – time is life and more time means more life. It’sthe most valuable thing we have. If we learn to have a balanced view ofhow we use our time, life can be both enjoyable and productive.

Two additional articles I want to recommend that dovetail nicely withthis information are: 13 Ways To Improve Your Concentration With aDistraction Free Work Environment by Sid Savara, and 33 Ways To Overcome Frustration by Dragos Roua

If applying some of these time management tips allows you to gainjust one free hour a day, that would be the equivalent of getting morethan two free weeks of life every year. See, we really can create moretime.