9 proven time management techniques

• from ICU Communication Agency CEO
• Alexander Rusin

There is 1 important detail that distinguishes unsuccessful people from successful ones. The former spend time trying to save money. And the latter spend money to save time. Why is the difference so important?

Because money can always be earned. And time is a scarce product.

There is time management for this. Many people think it's about managing time. About how to cram everything into 24 hours. But in fact - attention! - it's about managing yourself.

I want to share a personal set of time management techniques that has passed the test of time and has shown the greatest effectiveness not only in work, but also in all projections of life.

3 whales

Three principles underlie my time management system:

Now more about what this gives in practice.

1. Setting goals

Let's remember the TV series "Ted Lasso". Here, a coach who understands nothing about football leads a European club to victory. He just has a clear goal. So, without a clearly defined goal, you won't know where to go.

If your goal is to attract 5 new customers in a month, the tasks will have the corresponding priority. If you plan to do more personal growth, then you will prioritize a retreat in Bali.

Clearly state your goals and the desired result.

2. Important tasks - go ahead

The Italian economist Pareto once remarked that 80% of the land in Italy belongs to 20% of its population. And then other sequences:

• — 80% of the wealth belongs to 20% of the world's people
• — 80% of complaints come from 20% of consumers
• — 80% of the profit is brought by 20% of customers

So, according to the Pareto principle, 80% of the result depends on 20% of the effort. Identify the most effective and important tasks and put them at the head of all affairs.

3. One "frog" per day

Surely you have heard about the technique of "eating a frog" — to perform a difficult and unpleasant task first. I distribute complex tasks evenly for each day of the week, that is, at least 1 "frog" per day.

Such "frogs" are well disciplined and give results both in work and outside it.

4. Don't delay

Things postponed for tomorrow form a mountain of cases and heat up nerves in the near future. If the implementation of the task depends only on me, I close it on the same day on which it is scheduled. At a minimum, I do all my work and pass it on.

Crossing a task off the list is a separate form of pleasure.

5. We are planning from the evening

I plan from the evening to the next day, from the end of the week to the next, from the end of the month to the next month, and at the end of the year I assume what I have to work on in the new year to achieve new goals.

Planning subconsciously prepares us for the task.

6. At least N minutes

Not all the necessary things you want to do. Usually I negotiate with myself for 10 minutes — I will devote only 10 minutes to the task and that's enough for now. But almost always in the process I swing and do the job to the end.

Such an agreement on a small effort leads eventually to closed tasks.

7. Setting a deadline

Deadline is a treatment for procrastination. I set myself deadlines if there are no deadlines from the outside. So I always know how long this or that task will take and I can calculate the time for the rest of the cases.

8. Structuring tasks

A few simple life hacks:

• — I use google calendar to make close-ups for the future
• — I write down my current affairs in my diary manually
• — I delete the repulsed letters from the mail, cross out what has been done
• — I use the Pulse tracker, which allows you to understand how much time it took for a particular task during the day. In addition to the benefits, such a tool encourages you to enter into a challenge with yourself and complete the task faster next time.

9. We use techniques to improve performance

We delegate tasks whenever possible: we ask for help from colleagues, order food with delivery, make purchases on marketplaces.

Decompose the volume tasks — split into small ones and distribute the load evenly. You can eat an elephant piece by piece, remember?

We are resting. Someone uses the popular Pomodoro techniques, 90\30, 52\17 or others for this. Find the right one - each person has their own working capacity.

Adding motivation: completed the task - you can drink tea with cookies or go out to get some fresh air.

We check the mail no more than two or three times a day - any access to the Internet can take a long time.

We create conditions so as not to be distracted. For example, you can come to work a few hours before everyone and redo all the important items from the list.

Alternate activities.

I think that the writer Daniil Granin said very aptly about time management: