As you get busier and busier, and responsibilities add up exponentially, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep everything in line. Ultimately, this can leave us confused and unsure as to where to begin chipping away at the never ending list of tasks. Even worse, it can lead to missed deadlines and angry bosses.
Listed below are some tips and tricks to help organize your life and ensure you will never miss a beat again.
- Utilize a planner. Whether you prefer a physical planner or a digital one, use it! By writing due dates and scheduled events down, you will always have someplace to refer to. Our memories can only retain so much information.
- Prioritize. Be sure to knock out important or time sensitive tasks first. If you do them at the beginning, your ideas will be fresh. There is also a sense of relief once you complete them.
- Refrain from distractions. We lose a lot of valuable time getting sidetracked by our friend’s latest social media post or a recent online sale at our favorite store. Refrain from visiting such websites while you are in the middle of something. They put a roadblock into your thought process, causing you to lose track of your ideas. Finish your task first, then reward yourself by relaxing and browsing social media.
- Find a place to get your work done. If you’re not in an office or in class, find a space with little distractions. Try out a coffee shop, the library, or a quiet room at your house. Designate this as your “work” area. When you are there, you know that it is time to get down to business.
- Stick to your schedule. Finally, it is important that you actually stick to the schedule you drew up for yourself. While it may seem easy to push items to the side at first, once you get into the habit of abiding by a schedule, it will be hard to live without this routine.
Try out these simple tips and see what works best for you. We each work a little bit differently, but these tricks will get you started in the right direction.
Your boss, peers, and family will be impressed by your ability to time manage and get tasks done.