Ten Secret Time Management Skills
Everyone could use more time. In today’s world, time is the most valuable asset. It cannot be bought, traded, or sold, and everyone starts each day with the same amount. Developing successful time management skills is critical for success and happiness. Here are ten secret technology mindfulness skills that will help you save over 20 hours per week if you employ all of them!
Find a time management system that works for you
The biggest mistake I see with how people manage their work and tasks is not having a time management process or system. If you come up with a task that you need to complete, where does it go? How do you capture all of the necessary information to help you do your job instead of just remembering it?
There are many ways to set up your system, so you must experiment with what works. I have found that the simpler the system, the easier it will be to use. I use my email as a to-do list, and I find it handy to use software to get email out of my inbox when I’m not actively working on something. I put long-term obligations in my calendar so I don’t have to keep emails related to those items in my inbox. I also have a paper notebook that I always carry around to jot down information from my conversations and books. Then I periodically review the notebook to consolidate my thoughts and connect concepts.
Time block your calendar to focus on what matters most.
Time blocking is the practice of allocating spots in your calendar ahead of time so you can focus on a specific task. There are many ways to employ this in your workday. Making blocks as long as possible is crucial because it takes 23 minutes to return to flow when interrupted while doing high-quality work. The bigger the blocks we can set aside on our calendar, the more likely we will be in flow and accomplish more.
The strategy that I employ is to time block each day from 8 am to 11 am to tackle my most important tasks that day during that time. When I’m in the block, I will not schedule phone calls, meetings, appointments, or anything else that could ruin my focus. I also don’t check my email during that time so I’m not distracted. While this took me some time to get used to, it has allowed me to accomplish magnitudes more than before I did it.
Disable most notifications on your phone.
The average smartphone user gets about 64 notifications per day. If you spend just one minute attending to each notification, that’s one hour of your day. While alerts can be helpful in limited circumstances, the vast majority don’t serve you well. They exist so you spend more time on a company’s app, which improves engagement and makes their business more profitable.
What can you do to take back your time? You can disable notifications for individual apps in your phone's settings so they don’t appear. I’ve decided to disable all alerts except those related to phone calls, texts, and travel apps. While I don’t get as much information related to the apps on my phone, it makes using my phone much more manageable.
Disable the raise to wake feature on your phone.
Did you ever notice that the screen automatically turns on when you pick up your phone? Then your eyes scan the screen to see if there is anything new, stealing your focus and taking you out of the present moment.
There is a way to disable this feature so you don’t get sucked into your phone every time you move it. In your phone settings, search at the top for raise to wake. When you find this feature, disable it. When I turned this feature off, I saved 15-20 minutes per day of screen time, or about an hour a week. More importantly, I don’t feel obligated to look at my phone when I move it, which allows me to build better relationships with those around me.
Don’t exchange more than three texts in a conversation.
It’s easy to trade many texts back and forth with someone for convenience. But what you may not realize is that the amount of time you spend doing that adds up to many hours over a week. Sometimes it’s quicker to call someone instead of needlessly exchanging a dozen texts.
My rule of thumb is to write three texts in any given exchange. If I end up sending more than three texts, I should have just called the person or sent an audio clip instead of texting. To keep to my 3-text rule, I also try to think ahead about what the other person may ask or need to conclude the text string, and then include that in my text to prevent future responses. Thinking ahead might take a little more effort on your part, but it will save you many hours per month over the long run.
Batch your email to save massive time.
The average person checks their email and instant messaging inboxes once every six minutes during the workday. Constant checking may seem necessary because we feel like our clients need this level of communication, but it's not truly necessary 99% of the time. Checking email makes us feel important, needed, and wanted, but it doesn’t add much value to our profession or accomplish a lot. The average worker sends and receives 126 emails per day. If you take two minutes to process each email, that accounts for four hours of your workday. We now spend half our day on email, which is truly disgusting.
Batching your email can look different for each person. You have to experiment with what works for you. I have found that checking my email two or three times per day in dedicated time blocks specific for that activity is most helpful. Yes, this is not as responsive as continuously checking my email. But I have never missed a critical meeting or item because of employing this strategy, and the amount of time and mental energy it has freed up has been incredible. You can also use the same method on Slack by setting hours when your notifications are active.
Give yourself permission to have downtime.
In America, we view busyness as a badge of honor. The busier we are and the less sleep we get, the more proud we become. Having a lot to do may make us feel needed and important, but it is terrible for our mental and physical health. Does an Olympic sprinter train by sprinting for hours each day? No, that’s impossible. They sprint, spend lots of time recovering, then sprint again. Every day the average person is trying to sprint a technology marathon without giving themselves any time to recover. This isn’t sustainable.
How do I decide how much I sprint at work and how much I recover? First, I pay attention to my body and mind. If I feel mentally or physically worn out, I adjust my workload accordingly. Embarrassingly, I never used to pay attention to how I felt each day, I would just power through to get things done. I also use a Whoop fitness tracker to accurately track my recovery and sleep. If my Whoop tells me my recovery was really poor, I might lower the intensity of my fitness workout that day. These practices have helped me accomplish more despite the feeling that I’m doing less by resting.
Surround yourself with people who inspire and motivate you.
This may not seem like a time management skill, but it’s one of the most critical. Martin Seligman, the founder of positive psychology, has shown that we spend the most time with the five people we are closest to in our lives. If you have roommates, co-workers, or a spouse who doesn’t help you be the best version of yourself, it will be challenging to reach your potential.
Many people don’t stop to think about how the people they closely interact with in their lives are serving them. In many instances, we may spend a lot of time with someone who brings down our energy or doesn’t support us. It may be tough to do, but the best thing for us is to remove those people from our lives if possible. You will feel like a huge weight has been lifted off your shoulders, and the amount you can accomplish after that will skyrocket.
Move social media off your home screen.
The average person spends over two hours per day on social media, and the vast majority is spent on mobile phones. Do you ever find yourself unlocking your phone and instinctually hitting a social media icon without thinking about it? You likely use social media as a coping mechanism for boredom or discomfort. You’re not alone - there was a point in my life when I did this too. While this might feel good in the moment, it is absolutely terrible for our mental health.
The solution is simple, but it will take an adjustment. All you need to do is move your social media to the last page of your apps so it is slightly harder to access. Then when you are scrolling to use your social media, ask yourself, “What is the purpose of using this app right now?” If you can’t come up with a good answer, it’s probably time to do something else. I have chosen to delete all social media apps from my phone, and I use them on a computer instead. While I don’t expect this solution is appropriate for everyone, it has completely changed my relationship with my phone and how much I use it.
Cut your news time in half.
In America, the average person spends 70 minutes each day consuming news content. This is a lot of time, but it is very damaging to our mental health. The business model of news companies is to show you fear-inducing content because it gets your attention and views. The more attention they get, the more they can charge for advertising, and the more money they make. Unfortunately, that negative information can dramatically impact your happiness for the entire day. In a study, people who watched just three minutes of negative news in the morning were 27% more likely to rate their day as unhappy six to eight hours later.
I don’t watch any news except for a carefully curated set of business news, but this solution doesn’t seem realistic for most people. My suggestion is to cut your news time in half. Watch one less news show each day. Put a screen time limit on your news app on your phone so you don’t endlessly scroll throughout the day. Disable all notifications for your news apps. There are many ways to cut down on your news consumption but still feel like you are in the know.
I’m very confident that if you employ all the technology mindfulness tactics mentioned above, you can save over 20 hours each week. That’s half a workweek!
