Time Management Tips

It’s ironic that I’m writing about time management this week as I’ve felt my week has been the least productive and a bit off. I think it’s because I’ve been a bit ill… but I digress.

I’ve talked a lot about time management of my week’s and organizing my goals and priorities for the week, but many of you have reached out to ask me about how I organize my days. On Instagram, you may have noticed that I’ll share “a day with me” on Stories to give you a true in-depth behind the scenes as to what I’m doing a certain day. There’s always a method to this, so I thought I’d share my how I organize my days.

Use GMass for Email Efficiency

This is one of my favorite time management tips specifically for freelancers and anyone looking for a job. You can use GMass to schedule emails, send mass emails and cold email mail merge with your Gmail address! This is perfect for someone like me who is trying to send out invoices to tons of clients and can only find time late at night to send out the emails or if you’re looking for a job, you can send personalized emails in a matter of seconds.

Important Tasks

I’m an early morning person, so I always do my important tasks in the morning right after my cup of coffee has kicked in. This is usually before my work out and before even getting ready or heading out the door. I get a lot done before the city sleeps. For you, based on when you work the best, accommodate your important tasks around those times. If you’re a night owl, perhaps to the tasks in the evening the day before you were thinking of doing them—this way, if you’re too tired, you can still try again the next day.

Time Limits

I’ve told you about my love for alarms in this productivity post, but learn to keep a time limit on tasks. Identify work that is most important and give yourself more time there, where the least important requires the least amount of time. For freelancers, your highest paying client should get most of your time versus the least paying client.

Also, for meetings. It’s so easy to get carried away in meetings and the next thing you know, you spent 4 hours gossiping during a “quick coffee date.” - I started letting my meeting dates know ahead of time when I “need to leave” and also wearing a unique watches, so I can keep an eye on the time. Look for unique watches to keep you motivated to set limits.

Daily Goals

Ever get bogged down with a single project or assignment and you end up spending your entire day on it? Next thing you know, the end of your week is looking heavy with extra work. Give yourself 2-4 small goals to achieve per day that will enable you to achieve 1-2 goals a week.

Block Out Distractions

Turn on the do not disturb on your computer and/or phone and revisit it after at minimum an hour later if you want. I use the StayFocused app on Chrome to temporarily block sites and social media accounts whilst working to get more done too.

Breaks vs. Productivity

Remember your brain can only stay focused for 90 minutes. If I’m working on something that requires lots of mental energy, I’ll do that for 90 minutes and then after that I’ll spend 5-8 minutes doing something that is meaningless work like going on Pinterest, commenting on Instagram, reading my book or doing a set of squats and lunges {not kidding}. Make those 5-8 minutes meaningful! Disclaimer: I can use social media as a break since I am a blogger after all.