Never enough hours in the day? How to manage your time more efficiently

Do you ever start the day feeling like you’re running to catch up – and end the day feeling like you’re running on empty?

Or find yourself saying, “How can it be 3 o’clock already?!”

When you’ve got a lot on your plate – and others keep piling on even more – it can feel like time is running away with you. Particularly at this time of year. During those summer months, we slip into holiday mode, and often let deadlines slide without meaning to.

September means back to ‘business as usual.’

Are you managing your time, or is time managing you?

Transitioning back to a more structured routine in the autumn can be tough. Suddenly, tasks and deadlines are piling up, demanding to be done. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed at this time of year, and those rising stress levels can quickly radiate out to those closest to you too.

Getting on top of time management again will help you – and those around you – stay calm, stay sane, and stay on track.

Working out where the time goes – time yourself!

The first step to managing your time is figuring out where all that time is going.

It’s time to reflect on and record how long your daily activities are really taking you. Be honest! Does answering your emails take ten minutes, or thirty? Are you checking your Instagram account five times, when you’re meant to be finishing that assignment or tax return?

When tasks take longer than they should, you’re putting yourself under pressure. That can make you feel as though you’re only ever doing half a job, or not doing your best. And the result? Longer working days, and more sleepless nights.

Knowing how much time you’re spending on tasks means you can plan your time more realistically, which will keep your to-do list – and stress levels – under control.

Making a killer to-do list

To-do lists are the ground zero of time management. Begin with a brain dump of all the tasks you currently have on your plate – in any order – then prioritise by their level of importance, and deadline. Breaking larger tasks down into bite-sized chunks makes them feel more achievable, and you can celebrate your progress towards the end goal.

If you’re gridlocked on one day – re-negotiate deadlines or delegate the task.

Keep a single to-do list, to avoid losing track of multiple lists and duplicating effort. Make sure you keep your list somewhere accessible. If you always have your phone, for example, keep it on your phone.

And most importantly, don’t sweat the small stuff. Ring-fence your me-time, whether that’s for meditation, listening to music or journalling.

You’re the most important person on your to-do list, so don’t sell yourself short.

How to prioritise – do, defer, delete or delegate?

Prioritising is turning a ‘what-to-do’ list into a ‘when-to-do’ list. This is the secret of good time management and once you’ve mastered it, you’ll feel your productivity increase, and your stress levels drop.

Prioritising falls neatly into four courses of action – do it, defer it, delete it or delegate it.

Do it.

If something can be done in under 5 mins, do it right away.

Defer it.

Deferring means working out how much time something will take, and then working out the right time to do it. Not the same as putting it off indefinitely!

Most tasks are ‘deferred’ – they are important, but not so important that they have a red flag ‘do-it-now’ against them.

Delete it.

Are you taking on tasks you don’t need to? Is everything that’s on your list your responsibility? Don’t let your conscience ‘shame’ you into doing things you don’t need to.

Delegate it.

Is it really your job to get your teenager’s sports kit ready for the match? Delegating isn’t the same as saying ‘no.’ Handing back tasks can empower others (and shorten your to-do list).

Those ‘Four Ds’ are the ultimate time management hack.

Spending time prioritising saves time in the long run. Time you can spend doing something for yourself: something creative, empowering or life-enhancing.

Make your to-do list a thing of beauty

Who says a to-do list has to look mundane?! Designing a personalised, handwritten to-do list, choosing a colour palette, embellishing with fun touches makes it inspirational as well as functional.

Our Z-Grip Smooth ballpoints are the perfect pens to make light work of even the longest to-do lists. Combine them with double-tip Mildliners for highlighting and colour coding for different areas of your life, or task priority. Add a cheeky sticker or hand draw an emoji as a reward for completing your least-favourite task.

Why time management and wellbeing go hand in hand

There’s positive pressure – when an approaching deadline helps you perform better – and then there’s the crushing pressure of feeling overwhelmed with too much to do, in too little time. Like rabbits, we freeze in the headlights.

‘Overwhelm’ can erode our self-esteem, and harm our emotional and physical wellbeing. It’s one of the commonest forms of feeling over-stressed and out of control.

Taking back control of your time means you get the best out of yourself, and your day. That’s why being a good time manager is a form of self-love and being kind to yourself.

Time to celebrate

Managing your own time is like learning to juggle. It takes practice, but when you’ve mastered it, you’ll achieve so much more, effortlessly and efficiently. So enjoy that moment when you tick off tasks at the end of the day – getting things done feels good.