These five time management hacks all have one thing in common: they’re utilized by some of the most successful people on the planet to make the most out of their day and still have time to relax when the sun sets. Curious how the pros do it? Keep reading to learn more about how to use these time management hacks to your advantage.
Highlights
- 35% of Americans don’t get the recommended seven hours of sleep each night
- 77% of Americans lose sleep over the Coronavirus pandemic
- 48% of Americans stated that feeling anxious during the Coronavirus pandemic was the main reason that makes it harder for them to fall asleep
- Despite the fact that 70% of Americans agreed that lack of sleep makes them more vulnerable to COVID-19, only 11% of participants choose to get more sleep while staying at home during the self-quarantine
take a closer look at the data here: https://sleepstandards.
1. Creating a Daily Routine
One of the most important time management habits is creating a daily schedule for yourself. This will help to organize your day into blocks of time where you need to complete specific tasks. Think of this as your road-map or blueprint; you’re setting up a guide for yourself on what you should be doing at each part of the day.
A good daily routine should be written down, but it doesn’t have to be fancy. You don’t have to download special templates or buy a $30 journal to write your routine in. In fact, a simple post-it note on your bathroom mirror will suffice to remind you of what tasks must be completed during the day.
Don’t get overly-complex with this hack; simple make yourself a list and stick with it during the day. You’ll find productivity and focus increase when you’ve got specific goals laid out before you.
2. Getting to Bed Early
What’s the one thing that millions of Americans have in common? They’re not getting enough sleep. That’s right! Over forty percent of Americans get less than six hours per night; creating a billion-dollar sleep-product industry. There are mattresses, comforters, heated and weighted blankets, memory foam, adjustable settings, and so much more, and yet Americans are still not getting to sleep.
Some of this problem can be attributed to the lack of a regular sleep cycle. A consistent sleep cycle benefits the body by creating an internal routine; your body will become tired around your sleep-time and start to awake at your wakeup-time. Ever heard the phrase “internal alarm clock”? This happens when people are so regular in their sleep cycles that they fall asleep and wake up completely autonomously every night.
Good sleep habits can make all the difference in managing your time better. Once you’ve mastered this difficult chapter of time management, the rest should be simple. Go to sleep and wake up at the same time consistently for a few weeks and see just how much better you feel. (Also, turn your TV off before bed!)
3. Turn off Your Notifications
Sometimes, you just need to unplug; from your social media, from your text messages, and even from your tracking time apps. Turning off your notifications can help you reclaim the countless minutes you usually spend on a daily basis checking social media and resolving all of your reminders and app notifications.
How often do you check your phone, or pick up your phone to resolve a notification? It probably adds up to several hours per day!
When you’re trying to be productive, the solution is simple; put your phone on silent or turn off all notifications. You’re going to feel that itch to check your phone, and this is where personal discipline comes in.
We’re all so used to checking our phones every few minutes that we’ve forgotten how to just put them down and ignore the world. This is an experience that can actually be quite liberating.
4. Don’t Check Social Media
How many times have you been working on a project, only to find that halfway through the project you’re scrolling Facebook or Instagram? Be honest! If you’re like millions of other Americans, you’re probably spending up to 142 minutes per day on several forms of social media. That’s nearly three hours of the 24-hour cycle!
What’s the best remedy to this problematic time-grabbing habit? Just don’t check it. That’s right, just don’t check your social media. Put your phone down, uninstall the apps, and only check your social media at the end of the day or every few days. This might seem extreme to some, but think of how much more you could accomplish with nearly three hours put back into your schedule.
5. Leave Time For Yourself
Even the experts agree that you can’t be productive all the time. Working your life away leaves little time for the things that make life so wonderful; little moments of happiness and peace with family, friends, or just by yourself. Without this personal time, all the hours you spent working will have been for naught.
After all, besides money and personal fulfillment, work should provide us with personal freedom as well. The freedom to choose how to spend your free time is one of the most important aspects of being alive.
Leave time at the end of the day for yourself. Relax, have a drink, read a book, or just do nothing. This will help you unwind, reduce stress, and pump up your resolve for the next day’s projects. Never underestimate the power of some unstructured downtime to improve your morale!
Conclusion
Bu utilizing these five time management hacks, you’ll be well on your way to an organized and productive schedule, complete with equally as unproductive and relaxing downtime; a must for your sanity and your morale. Remember that social media can wait, and notifications are almost never as important as they seem to be.