Time management is simply the method of planning how to spend your day doing your tasks. It is a skill that most people struggle with, but since it is a skill – it is something that may be developed. Sometimes though, it will take you a long time to learn this particular skill, and managing time gets really tough.
Proper time management involves organization, making a schedule, and employing proper time management techniques to maximize your time. The better you get at it, the fewer chances of inefficiency which may lead to burnouts.
Burnout is a state or stage that you feel which comprises not just physical exhaustion, but mental and emotional exhaustion as well. Burnout occurs when an individual is consistently and constantly exposed to stressful environments, scenarios, and situations. The usual symptoms are when you feel overwhelmed when you have no drive to do things and you just feel drained. Other signs may include a loss of focus and a decline in overall performance. The simple reason for this is not being able to manage time wisely. You constantly feel the pressure, or overwork and overtax yourself if you cannot manage your time. Therefore, you should know how to properly manage time if you want to avoid being burnt out.
So here are some great time management tips.
Develop knowledge and understanding of time management.
The first step for efficient time management is to learn more about managing time effectively. You need to educate yourself on time management strategies. Read books, learn concepts, understand methodologies, and strategies on how to manage time and get to know more time management examples. Check the internet for resources and additional video tutorials which gives insight to time management skills. For those who love reading, then note that there are several hundred if not thousands of books which give tips on proper and effective time management.
There is a famous quote saying that you should know your enemy, which means that with anything that you want to overcome, you need to understand it. So to overcome being burnt out, or to overcome mismanaging time, you need to be knowledgeable about the problem and possible solutions. Every knowledge you gain regarding time management equips you for different time-related problems or scenarios that you may face.
The more content you consume and the more strategies you learn about time management the better. This is simply because the more knowledge that you gain equates to more effective time management skills.
Write your tasks.
Another good time management strategy is to write your tasks down. Do note that this is not just a todo list that can be easily ignored. You need to create a list of tasks that shows priority, urgency, and importance which will help you to know how to manage time wisely.
A good example is listing what is urgent, important, and not so important. This way you can do first what is urgent. You may delay what is not that urgent, and you can delegate tasks that are urgent, but not too important. The important factor here is to create some sort of logic with your tasks which should help you organize them.
Create a Schedule and put it in a calendar. 
With the advent of today’s technology, we have so many apps and tools to help us get more organized. You should always leverage time management tools to maximize your day. A good time is to plot things out in a calendar. By having a calendar, you have something visual that keeps you up to date on your tasks. A calendar is one of the most effective time management strategies simply because it easily makes things visible.
Simple calendars and organizers work, but virtual/digital calendars are easier to use. You can install calendars on your computers, and your mobile phones and have them all sync together easily. One time management hack is to just dictate to your phone whenever you need to do something and it should show up on all your calendars. This is one great time management tip for students and professionals alike. Always keep in mind that if you have available tools that will help you to manage your time, then use them.
Time block your schedule
Time blocking helps you manage time effectively or efficiently. Time blocking is a time management method that makes you turn your day into several blocks of time. within a certain block of time, you have tasks that you must do and you will only do these tasks during that time. This way, you will not slack off or do other unproductive things and this will help you develop time management skills.
With time blocking, you can set the first 2 hours of your day for some work. Then you can allocate an hour for a quick rest. Then continue on for another 2 hours of work. Always remember that with time blocking, you should also include time for leisure or breaks such as allocating an hour to watch a Netflix show. This will make you more efficient in the end because everyone needs to refresh their minds, especially with hard tasks.
And speaking of hard tasks, another great concept to manage time effectively is to do the hardest tasks first. Once you knock out the hardest tasks or get them out of the way, your other tasks seem easier.
Lastly, to manage time effectively, you need to be a finisher. It will always be easy to start things, but not see it all the way through. You may know the ideas of time management importance, and know all the different types of time management strategies, but if you don’t finish things – this will all be useless knowledge. Finishing is also a skill and you need to learn to commit to yourself and follow through on those commitments. That is the real true secret to effective time management.
