How to improve poor time management?

Mareks Bodnieks
3 min readMay 26, 2021

Do you have poor time management skills? Don’t worry. Luckily there are many things that you can do to improve them and start using your time more efficiently.

Here are a few things that you can do to improve your poor time management:

Delegate your tasks —

It’s common for many to take on more than we are capable of completing. This leads to burnout and stress that could’ve otherwise been avoided.
Now delegation doesn’t mean that you should be running away from your responsibilities. Instead, it simply means the learning of proper management of your pending tasks. This will ultimately not only help you free up time but also allow helping other team members feel like an integral piece to your team.

Prioritize your work —

Before you begin your tasks for the day, make a list of everything that you need to do today and try to categorize which tasks need immediate attention and which can wait for later.
Tasks that are not important can often take most of your valuable time; we often tend to divert our energy into them as they are less stressful and easier to deal with.
Identifying which tasks require immediate attention and completing them by the end of the day is critical for your productivity. Once you know where to direct your energy, you will be able to get things done in an order that fits your schedule and works for you.
In summary, prioritize which tasks are most important so that you can use your focus efficiently.

Create a schedule —

If you don’t have a planner or a notebook, then this might be a good time to get one. Write down any tasks that come to your mind, and as you complete them, check them off, this will help you feel a sense of accomplishment and keep your motivation up.
Evening creating a simple To-Do list at the start of each day and prioritizing the tasks by importance will help you keep your focus on the things that matter. It’s important that your tasks are realistic and attainable. If the task is too big, break it up and split some of the work for the next day. It may also be a good idea to have three different lists, one for work, one for home, and personal.

Have deadlines in place — When you have a task, set a realistic deadline for it and try to stick to it no matter what. Once you’ve done that, it may be a good idea to write it on a sticky note so that you can put it somewhere where you can see it so that you have a visual cue for it that will keep you on track.

Overcome your procrastination tendencies —

Procrastination may be the single biggest enemy to your productivity. It can result in wasted energy and loss of important time. Procrastination can ruin your personal life, as well as wreaking havoc for your career. Avoiding procrastination is more difficult than it sounds. We often tend to procrastinate because we’re overwhelmed or bored. Splitting your tasks into smaller subtasks, having some fun activities sprinkled throughout the day to break up the more difficult tasks can help.

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