Self-management, especially when everything gets on top of you, is difficult. You get stressed and begin to procrastinate in an attempt to put off doing the work. Nobody likes the idea of improving self-management skills or their productivity. Or assume it's a bunch of nonsense!
Today I’m going to share my seven top tips for improving your self-management that isn’t unachievable nonsense or require you to wake up at 4 A.M.
1. Prioritise
Now, this is a self-explanatory one. Yet, we always forget to do it when a workload gets a bit overloaded. Work out which ones have the closest deadlines and put them first as, more than likely, the ones that are so near are the ones stressing you out and then the ones with the furthest away due date you finish last.
Organizing the work in this way should help you keep track and figure out what needs to be done more.
2. Time yourself
If you struggle to sit down for extended periods of time to work on projects or stuff for work, then the best thing I can recommend is to allot a time period for you to complete work. For example, if you need to finish some paperwork. Then give yourself an hour (without a break; otherwise, you won’t end it) to finish it. Or say you have an essay to finish and give yourself an hour to get to the first 1000 words.
Now I can already hear people say without a break? Are you sure? And I say yes otherwise, you’ll walk away, and when you come back, you’ll distract yourself with other things. If you are that desperate, don’t move away from the desk for too long, go on social media, or stretch or double-check your calendar.
3. To-do list
I never used to be a fan of to-do lists, thinking it didn’t matter helo with anything as your just writing it down and can easily lie to yourself and lie to yourself about your tasks. However, I now understand the hype. Creating a to-do list helps organize tasks and enables you to remember the things you need to do. It keeps you on task, and yes, this does sound as sad and grown-up as it reads to you. Something is satisfying about ticking something off your to-do list ( yes, I know it's sad, okay.)
4, Calendar
If you also forget important dates from birthdays to when the next work presentation is then although it's embarrassing and grown-up. Put it on the calendar. Yes, it’ll make you feel old, but it’ll help you manage your time and increase your organization.
5. Little and often
Yes, I know this is the advice your gran gives you whenever you cook and clean in the kitchen. However, it also applies to self-management too. Try completing tasks in little chunks, i.e. spending five minutes on one essay and writing two hundred words, then moving on to another paper and going back. Same with paperwork, finish one or two pages and keep switching which bit you are filling out.
Doing it in little chunks keeps you motivated and gives you a more accessible and more reachable goal, and lowers the final words count/amount you have to do overall the night or a couple of days before it's due in.
6. Keep the workspace tidy.
Another obvious one- but still helpful!
Keep the workspace as tidy as possible. It makes the space look more likable, more inviting. It'll feel less cluttered and visually will make you more excited to work in that space. Plus, sometimes having a dirty workspace can make us more miserable and stressed, and cleaning it and making it look more inviting to us will lower those anxieties.
7. Don’t overload yourself.
This tip goes both ways. When trying to improve self-management or productivity, don’t go putting every tip into your life. What’ll happen is you’ll put too many steps that you aren’t used to into practice too quickly. You’ll only be able to put several tips into practice successfully, and the rest you’ll fail to achieve. The ones you fail at will make you less motivated, and therefore you won’t want to do anything to improve.
Not overloading yourself also applies to the amount of work you finish. Don’t give yourself ten things to finish when you can only do four or five tasks. If you bit off more than you can chew, it will make you more stressed and feel like you have too much to do. Plus, if you leave the office with those other five things you didn’t finish on your mind, then you’ll constantly be thinking about it. You won’t be able to unwind or sleep, and it’ll be another source of demotivation and procrastination you don’t need!
Those were my seven top tips that make self-management and improving productivity more achievable and easy to improve for anyone. It's no longer something the inspirational speakers do on YouTube on Instagram. And look, we didn't even have to get up at 4 A.M! Result!
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