We live in a fast-paced world, and it’s so easy to lose track of all the things we need to get through. Between family life, work obligations, chores, errands, and just personal me-time, it can get challenging to stay on top of these facets of life, and we haven’t even mentioned them all.
Don’t worry if this sounds like your life because you are not alone! With the right strategies, it’s possible to get a hold of life’s reign if you just manage to make a few subtle changes. Read on to learn more about how you can take control of your life by making a few simple changes.
Use Planning Tools
These can include anything from calendars to apps, pocket dairies, and even index cards. Everyone needs at least one planning tool to jot down appointments, ideas, tasks, commitments, and so forth. Planning tools are great if you want to stay on top of all the things you have to attend to.
Make Lists
It’s really difficult to get everything that needs to be done if you don’t have a list to guide you. Lists are great for outlining all the priorities we have, and a good thing about them is that you can list things in order of priority.
This will hopefully point you in the right direction to get the most important things done first. To optimize the way you use lists, you can always refer to the Eisenhower Matrix concept. This is a simple decision-making tool that divides tasks into categories, namely:
- Urgent
- Not urgent
- Important
- Not important
By placing the tasks from your lists in one of these categories, you get to focus on which ones take precedence and which ones can be deleted or saved for a later stage.
Pomodoro Technique
The premise behind this technique is to pick a task that needs to be completed rather urgently, set a timer for 25 minutes, and then use this time to focus solely on the task. If the timer goes off and you haven’t fully completed the task, you can take a quick five-minute break and then resume with another 25-minute window. Repeat this until the task has been finished in its entirety.
Protect Your Time
Protecting your time is crucial to managing your time. The key is not to overcommit yourself to things to the point when you feel like you are drowning with engagements. Sometimes we also have to remember to say no and that’s okay too.
Manage Time Wasters
There are so many distractions out there, and sometimes, it’s a good idea to manage them. For example, social media or TV can be massive time wasters. If you spend too much time with these things, it could get in the way of you getting all your priorities done.
Avoid Multi-Tasking
We like to think that multitasking saves time, but recent studies show that it can do more harm than good. Multitasking is a stressor, and it can even contribute to depression. It also leads to distractions and increases the likelihood of making errors. If you want to get things done the right way, it’s best to focus on one thing at a time.
