5 Tricks To Better Manage Time And Be Successful

During our life, day after day, we carry out an infinite number of activities and, even after having finished them, we have the impression that we have not done enough or that we have not done anything at all. This makes us feel frustrated.

What is the reason for this feeling? We simply did not manage the time we had available properly.

To better manage time, we can follow 5 simple tricks that will help us understand what we do every day and improve more and more.

1. Set a goal

Stephen Covey in his book “The 7 Rules to Succeed” underlines the importance of having a specific goal in mind. In other words, we need to set ourselves a goal.

This objective, however, must have a number of characteristics:

• Specific : that is, as detailed as possible.
• Measurable : it is very important to understand if we have achieved it or not.
• Realistic : very often our goals are not really realistic, so we have to adapt them in order to achieve them.
• Fixed term : a goal must have a deadline in order to achieve it. In this way, it will be easier to determine whether we have achieved it or not.

2. Determine what your priorities are

Stephen Covey speaks of “priorities first” when he refers to the distinction between the important and the urgent in order to establish priorities.

Covey creates four dimensions in which we can classify any activity:

• Urgent and important.
• Not urgent and important.
• Urgent and not important.
• Not urgent and not important.

Urgent things are those that require immediate attention.

The important ones contribute to the achievement of the medium- and long-term goal, the purpose of life.

3. Plan the tasks

From a professional point of view, there are tasks that can be defined as high-yielding (those that guarantee a high income) and those with low yields (those that guarantee a lower income).

To be effective, each task must be developed at the right time during the day or week. We must also take into account the timing, not only of the task itself, but also of all that it entails (travel, phone calls, etc.).

When planning our tasks, we must also consider the unexpected that may occur, so that we can face them calmly.

4. Protect the time

Every minute devoted to an activity, especially if it is a high-performance task, must be preserved so that there are no interruptions.

We usually receive many calls, emails, messages that interrupt us in the middle of our work. For this reason, it is very important to dedicate a part of the day to that concrete work, without interruptions.

Tim Ferriss, in his book “4 Hours a Week”, defines interruption as anything that prevents us from completing a task; it also distinguishes three types of interruptions:

• Those that waste time. They are the ones that can be ignored with little or no consequence.
• Those that take time away. It’s the repetitive interruptions that get in the way of the most important work.

• Those that depend on not knowing how to delegate to others. They are the ones that occur when other people need us for very simple tasks that they could easily do on their own.

To be able to protect our time, it is essential to learn to say no, to refuse all those tasks that have nothing to do with us or our project or that do not give us anything.

In any case, we can say “no now”, and leave the task in question for a later time.

Often it is necessary for us to take care of the activities of our work or our private life, but sometimes we can delegate and work as a team. It is therefore essential to learn to delegate to others.

5. Measure the results

Once we have set our goal and the tasks we have to do, we need to understand whether in the period of time we have granted ourselves we have achieved that result or not.

If we have not achieved the goal, we could evaluate whether it is a realistic goal or not and make changes so that we can achieve it.

Managing time correctly is one more step to achieve success in work or in private life, so knowing what we do, when we do it and how we do it is essential to make our dreams come true.