Don’t dare to say that you never said this statement, “I will study in 5 minutes?” on the very second, it’s midnight, and boom, your exam day is here, and you haven’t even opened your books yet! Sounds familiar, right? You are not alone, as many of us fall into this trap, planning to study later, postponing tasks, and relying on last-minute pressure to get things done.
Procrastination has become our favourite hobby, like keep shifting deadlines, you think you have plenty of time, but the harsh reality is we actually dont have, hours slip away, stress builds up, and everything turns into a last-minute rush. You heard from many that time is money, that’s why it’s really important to understand the Time Management Techniques
Understand Time Management
Before we understand these techniques, it’s really important to know what time management is: planning your day and deciding what work is most important, unlike procrastinating. It helps you use your time in a better way so you can finish your tasks on time. It also helps you manage your time carefully, so you can balance your personal life, studies, and work.
You may already know some simple ways to manage your time, such as making a to-do list, doing important work first, making a daily schedule, taking short breaks, and checking your progress. The principal idea behind efficient time management techniques is to prioritize your work tasks
5 Most Important Time Management Techniques
Agree or not, we all made that cute timetable and stuck it on the wall; we always wanted to follow that, but unfortunately, it never went that way. Feeling nostalgic?
Those were the traditional methods, but let’s talk about the best time management techniques that can completely change how you study and work.
1. The Pomodoro Technique
This technique might be followed by everyone, but not everyone knows the technical name of this, “ the Pomodoro technique”, so there was a guy named Francesco Cirillo who created this to help himself manage time and complete tasks effectively. He did so by working for 25 minutes, followed by a 5-minute break. Each work period is referred to as a “pomodoro”, which is Italian for “tomato”, due to the appearance of the “kitchen timer” which he has used to measure his time.
Best Pomodoro timing: Pomodoro is an accumulation of a set of periods, including both studying and resting. If you study for a period of 30 mins, take 10 minute rest after the fact. Similarly, if the study period is 1 hour long, your resting period will last for half an hour.
2. Eisenhower Matrix
The Eisenhower Matrix, created by Dwight D. Eisenhower, is a time management system that enables users to organise their tasks by evaluating where each task fits into the quadrant of its overall importance and urgency. In essence, the most important and urgent tasks are placed higher on your “To Do” lists than those that aren’t as important and or aren’t as urgent.
If you want to follow the Eisenhower Matrix technique to see if it suits your needs, here are some steps that you can follow:
Divide your tasks into:
Important and Urgent; Important but Not that Urgent; Not Important but Urgent; and Not Important and Not Urgent.
Next, consider the tasks you currently have on your plate and put each task into one of these 4 quadrants according to how you evaluate the “importance” and “urgency” of the task.
- Important & Urgent– You should complete the important task first.
- Important but Not Urgent– You should schedule time to work on these tasks in the future.
- Not Important & Urgent – You should give these tasks to someone else.
- Not Important and Not Urgent– You should eliminate these tasks from your list of “to-do” items.
3. The Kanban Technique
Do you frequently work with others in an office or classroom? If yes, then you should consider using a Kanban system.
There was a person, Taiichi Ono, who was using this technique to become more productive and effective as he worked for the Toyota Automotive Company during the 1960s, which helped improve Toyota’s overall productivity and efficiency.
As you begin to set up a Kanban Board, you will first need to decide on a method of managing your projects. This can be done by using electronic project management software, whiteboards, or sticky notes.
The next step is to break down your project into the following four phases and create a column for each of these four phases:
- Backlog- Here you will be brainstorming, developing, and prioritising your To-Do Tasks.
- To Do- In this column, you will list the tasks you and your team plan to complete.
- In Progress- This column lists all of the projects that are currently being completed.
- Done – This column lists all of the completed tasks.
By using Kanban boards, you can visually see what you are working on and how much of your overall project has been completed. By breaking down your projects into smaller tasks, you can improve your overall efficiency and productivity throughout the duration of your project.
4. The Pickle Jar Theory
This theory, also known as the Glass Jar time management technique, is a great method for individuals who are good at visualisation.
To apply the Pickle Jar method, think of a glass jar full of sand, pebbles, and rocks. The bottom is sand, the top is rocks.
The three elements (sand, pebbles and rocks) in the Pickle Jar represent parts of your daily plan:
- The sand represents anything that disrupts your ability to complete your daily goals. Examples of sand would include social media and stuff like unwanted calls, etc.
- Pebbles represent tasks or other commitments that are not urgent or easily delegable to someone else.
- Rocks are your most important tasks for each day and should be owned first before doing anything else.
For you to learn how to use the Pickle Jar method effectively, take a few minutes each day to categorise all of your daily assignments into one of the three categories above. If you have an 8-hour day, you should plan to do 6 or 7 hours of “rock” tasks so you have time to catch up if “sand” gets into your jar.
5. Eat That Frog
This is one of the best time management techniques, based on the Mark Twain quote “If you eat a live frog in the morning, nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day”
The Eat That Frog method focuses on completing the hardest or most arduous work tasks before beginning others. The goal of this method is to complete the hardest work tasks earlier in the day, so that starting your other obligations will seem easy to accomplish once the hardest one is completed.
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Design Your Day, Don’t Let It Design You
There are many time management techniques that can help, but if you are highly addicted to procrastination, sorry to say, these techniques will not help because motivation for doing something comes from inside, not from these techniques. But if you really want to do something in your life, then you should pick one from these and start working on that, and within a few days, you will see a notable difference in your life. Say it loud with me: Design Your Day, Don’t Let It Design You.
