How to manage your time and be more productive

Staying productive is about getting the most out of you day.

Time management is the ability to use your time productively and efficiently. Have you ever wondered how you and Bill Gate have the same 24hours per day but he still gets more out of life than you do?

Let’s say Bill Gate is way above your league because he has the money to hire as many people as possible to work for him. Right?

What about your course-mate who is topping the class? Or that your colleague at work that is making so much money from a side hustle? Are you both not having the same 24hours and most likely similar conditions for the day?

How is he getting the extra time to achieve those other things and you can’t seem to find that time?

Why are you always busy yet, you don’t have anything significance to show for it?

The answer to all these questions lies in how well you manage your time and how productive you use your 24hours per day currency.

Time is a currency…

Because if it is not, it should be easy for you to see a billionaire any time you wish. Even the children of these billionaires couldn’t get the time and attention they want from their parents.

If you find yourself having excess time and nothing to use it for, this shows that you are probably not clear about your career or you are not giving priority to a future you desire.

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Have you ever wondered why some great entrepreneurs couldn’t do well in school?

Please note that this is my personal opinion. You can as well share your view in the comment box.

I feel these people (I mean these entrepreneurs) gave more priority to their business or what they are creating. They gave it so much attention so much that there was hardly time for them to give their studies the time it requires.

I feel that they will do extremely well also in school if they gave the same energy to their studies but they choose to follow what is more important to them.

A lot of them get out of school and still make it because success is not based on the traditional education system. It is based on priority, consistency, and how well you use your time.

But then, we have people that succeeded in combining the two excellently well. I know of two friends who did this. One is a footballer while the other is a compere. They both loved their job and are extremely doing well in it and they still had first class. This just showed us that it is possible.

This brings me to share these 5 secrets of productivity with you.

5 hacks to help you improve productivity.

• Stop Multitasking: You heard it right. A lot of people think that multitasking is a way to get work done quickly but sadly multitasking does not work. It’s like listening and talking at the same time.

A research study found out that only about 2.5 percent of the population can multitask successfully.

A quote by famous actor and martial artist Bruce Lee says

“I fear not a man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times”

This emphasizes the importance of focusing on a particular task at a time. Trying to do more than one task impairs your thinking and hinders you from giving your best.

When performing a task next time, try to give it all your attention and you’ll get better results.

• Have a To-Do List: To-do lists are great tools to stay organized and manage your time.

 A To-Do List is like an external memory of your planned activities so you can always at a glance see what needs to be done and at what time.

You can make use of free To Do List mobile apps such as Todoist or Microsoft To Do

• Plan every day ahead of time:  A famous quote says “every minute spent in planning saves 10 minutes in execution”. At the close of activities each day, always sit and write down everything you need to do the next day.

This way you don’t miss out on what you need to do and you become a more reliable and reputable person, unlike one whose boss and colleagues know to be a forgetful and unreliable person.

Imagine a business owner who always forgets to supply his/her customer and never meets up with deadlines.

• Put the hardest task first: The 80/20 rule founded by Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto says that 20 percent of our activities will account for 80 percent of our results. This Principle suggests that two out of ten items, on any general to-do list, will turn out to be worth more than the other eight items put together.

The sad fact is that most people procrastinate on the top 20 percent which is the most valuable and important, and spend most engage themselves instead with the least important 80 percent that contribute very little to their success.

According to Brian Tracy’s book “Eat the frog“, the frog is the most important item on your To-Do List, and clearing the most difficult task on your list energizes you because you have started your day by accomplishing something worthwhile.

•Set Small Goals: goal setting is a method of achieving long-term goals, by breaking large projects down into smaller bits and setting small goals to complete those small goals, you can achieve those big goals and get motivated as you take the ladder one step at a time.

In conclusion

Adopt these hacks and make sure you block out distractions and start seeing how much more productive you become.

Even when you need to ‘hide’ from people to finish your projects, learn to say “No” to activities that will disrupt your goals.

Writer: Adepitan Joshua