Do you really feel like you spend your time wisely? Perhaps you do try to spend your time productively but are not aware of time leaks that potentially go untracked. Time management is an important skill many undervalue. In fact, time is known to be of a higher value than money. Therefore, using it wisely and not wasting time is essential to being successful and happy. However, managing time is not easy as losing track of time through various distractions is very likely. A balanced approach requires effort from your end so that productivity is achieved at its best.
Time Blocking
For example, Elon Musk is possibly one of the busiest men on the earth. His secret to his effective time management is the method of time blocking. He follows the “superhuman” ability to focus without distractions. Time blocking is actually the method of committing a certain number of hours to just one task and blocking off time for other tasks. Kevin Kruse in his book 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management, has suggested that top performers organize their day through time blocks; you are more likely to be productive with a plan of action.
There are various types of time blocking that prove to be effective. A variation of time blocking is day theming: ‘"Every Monday, I will focus on my math skills. Every Tuesday, I will focus on business Etc.". Dedicating each day to a single theme creates a reliable pattern of work and further limits the cognitive load of context switching.
Benefits of Using Time Blocking
When you practice time blocking, through the tasks you focus on at a specific time, you are aware of how you use your time thus making it easier for you to track it. To prevent wasting and losing precious time, you have to make sure you keep track of how you are using your time. Hence, time-tracking is an important tool as those who know what they spend their time doing would be able to navigate an efficient method to complete them. Furthermore, this would aid in analyzing your own data about how you manage your time and thus and maximizing efficiency. In addition, time-tracking would ensure that you find the shortest and most efficient methods to finish your work. When you are aware of what takes up a lot of your time, you are able to find different solutions to change that to increase productivity.
Personally, when I started tracking time for the first time, I got to understand that I took an unbelievable amount of time and energy to buy my clothes and personal stuff like Eau De Parfum, bakhoors, room spray, hair mist, and more. Therefore, I switched to a more productive solution like online shopping which would be the most effective method to get it done. Time tracking will not only let you know different methods of getting tasks done in a short period of time but will also assist you in the long term to be focused and produce the best quality work.
For example, in a business setting, the manager has a lot of responsibilities as the head of the hierarchy with duties including running complex projects and overlooking staff. With enterprise time tracking software, the latter task is sorted out ensuring that you can channel your attention elsewhere to matters of even more importance. Moreover, constantly lurking over your employees like a shadow leads to agitated employees and this is avoided via automated time tracking. Some of the benefits of using Time tracking software for businesses would be increased employed satisfaction, improved attendance tracking, and a professional company image.
Conclusion
Ultimately, time blocking gives me the opportunity to decrease the amount of time I waste and enables me to hyper-focus on specific tasks, thus making it possible to be the most productive. On the other hand, time tracking ensures that I am aware of how I spend my time doing these tasks so that I can evaluate my productivity. These 2-time management strategies ensure that I not only achieve maximum productivity but also spend my time on tasks that are important to me.