5-second summary
  • Time management strategies are specific frameworks or systems to maximize your time and energy
  • We’ve gathered five time management strategies that put you in the driver’s seat of your tasks, schedule, time, and energy, each in a different way. 
  • Take our one-minute quiz to find out which strategy will be the biggest difference-maker for you.

Where the heck did the day go? Time slipped right through my fingers. Next week, things will calm down.

Every single one of us has had those exact thoughts about our workdays. But here’s the harsh truth: You won’t magically find or manufacture more time. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not when that big project is wrapped up. So, according to the laws of physics, you need to make the most of the time you already have. 

That’s where time management strategies come into play. These models go beyond the daily war with your to-do list, helping you execute meaningful work in an efficient and fulfilling way.

How do time management strategies help?

Time management strategies are specific frameworks or systems to maximize your time and energy. Put another way, they help you overcome several common time management roadblocks. 

  • Multitasking: Research shows that the human brain is incapable of doing more than one thing at once (unless you count autonomous tasks like breathing). When you think you’re multitasking, you’re actually context switching – rapidly jumping between various tasks. While it might make you feel like you’re dominating your to-do list, this constant switching of gears is a drag on your productivity. Time management strategies help you stop juggling and start focusing.
  • Fires and emergencies: You know the feeling. Your intentions for your workday are quickly sidetracked by the latest three-alarm emergency that lands in your inbox. While time management strategies won’t keep these red alerts off your desk entirely, they will help you better discern what actually deserves your immediate attention, rather than continuing to play inbox whack-a-mole.
  • Information overload: Meetings. Emails. Notifications. Calls. Documents. Requests. Day in and day out, you’re inundated with information. That cognitive overload (which is what happens when the volume or complexity of incoming information exceeds your ability to absorb it) causes us to be less effective by seeking out low-value tasks, overlooking important details, and overall just feeling stuck. The right time management strategy can help you filter through the relentless noise to find your starting point.
  • Energy depletion: Everything we’ve already mentioned – from the last-minute requests to an information avalanche – quickly drains your tank. Time management strategies allow you to be more mindful of not only your time but also your energy levels. With the right approach in your toolbox, you’ll be better equipped to schedule work more strategically and avoid running yourself ragged.

There are plenty of hurdles that time management strategies will get you over, but they’re not a fix-all. If you’re struggling with an unmanageable workload, bona fide burnout, or other mental health challenges, the right time management hack probably isn’t your answer. Those more complex issues require conversations with your company leadership and/or a trusted mental health professional.

The fundamentals: 13 time management best practices that always hold water

There are several specific time management strategies you can use to make better use of your work hours. We’ll get to those frameworks in a minute. But, regardless of which of those you try, there are a few general time management best practices that are always a good idea – and a good place to start.

  1. Audit your time: Want to make better use of your time? You need to know where you’re starting. Whether you use an automated time tracker or a simple notepad, keep track of your work hours and what you get done. Do this for at least a couple of weeks so you can spot trends and identify improvement areas.
  2. Set goals: Your ultimate objective is to manage your time better, but that can feel broad and intangible. Instead, set time management-related SMART goals to encourage and monitor your progress, such as signing off every weekday by 5PM, or spending the first 15 minutes of every morning making a to-do list.
  3. Stop procrastinating: Procrastination is one of the biggest culprits eating away at your precious work hours, but it can be tough to overcome. Set a timer, enlist an accountability buddy, or find another hack that nudges you to just get started.
  4. Break down big tasks: Intimidation could be behind your persistent procrastination. So, break that big undertaking down into more manageable tasks and milestones. It’ll feel less daunting and also give you regular intervals to recognize and celebrate your progress.
  5. Incentivize yourself: When you reach a milestone or cross off another task, treat yourself. Whether you go for a quick walk or grab your favorite snack, even small, seemingly insignificant rewards can encourage you to keep moving forward.
  6. Prioritize: Time management is about focusing on your most important work. To do so, you need to parse out the meaningful from the mundane. Strategically ordering your work based on criteria like impact, deadlines, and effort required serves as a good foundation for any time management strategy.
  7. Schedule breaks: Even the most productive people need adequate time to rest and recharge. No time management system should be synonymous with constant, dogged work. Your brain quite literally needs breaks – brain activity research says so.
  8. Limit distractions: Even the best time management strategy will suffer if you’re consistently waylaid by pings, pushes, and drop-bys. Try your best to minimize distractions, especially during times when you’re doing deep work.
  9. Check your environment: Your work environment has a direct impact on your productivity. Sitting on your couch in the dark while hunched over your laptop isn’t conducive to peak focus. Find or create a quiet space with some natural light and at least a somewhat ergonomic setup to support your best work (and, you know, your back).
  10. Get organized: Searching for what you need isn’t the most efficient use of your time. Get a decent organization system in place so that, when you’re ready to work, you can jump right in.
  11. Avoid multitasking: Even if you think you’re a whiz at doing several things at once, you’re doing your brain a disservice by trying to multitask. Instead, pick one task to focus on at a time. You’ll get it done better – and faster – than if you had simultaneously juggled it with two other to-do’s.
  12. Understand your peaks and valleys: You know you best, so think about how your energy tends to ebb and flow throughout the workday. Paying attention to when you’re most focused and energized will help you make the most of those energetic hours, like saving your morning for deep work and cleaning out your inbox after lunch.
  13. Delegate: You can only do so much with the hours you have. But there’s good news: You don’t have to do it all alone. Knowing what you can delegate (whether you hand tasks off to technology or another person) is one of the best ways to buy yourself more time and reserve your focus for your most meaningful and impactful work.
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5 time management strategies to maximize your time and energy

Now that you’re schooled on the basics, let’s take a look at four widely used time management frameworks.

1. Eisenhower Matrix

What it is: A four-quadrant chart that helps you categorize all your tasks based on their urgency and their importance or impact

How it works: Draw a square and separate it into four even quadrants. Along the y-axis, label those boxes with “important” and “not important.” On the top x-axis, label those boxes with “urgent” and “not urgent.”

Eisenhower Matrix

Next, categorize each task on your to-do list. Is that slide deck important and urgent? It goes in the top left box. Is your expense report not important but urgent? It goes in the bottom left box. Once everything is sorted, you can approach each category like this:

  • Urgent and important: Do these first!
  • Urgent and not important: Delegate these if you can. Otherwise, tackle them next.
  • Not urgent and important: Schedule time for these in the coming weeks.
  • Not urgent and not important: These can fall off your to-do list entirely.

Also called a “prioritization matrix,” this handy tool helps you filter through a lengthy task list and pull out the items that require your immediate attention.

2. 80/20 Rule

What it is: A principle positing that 80% of your results come from only 20% of your efforts. 

How it works: Since time management is about getting the most meaningful work done, this strategy (also called the Pareto Principle) focuses on finding the highest-impact tasks on your list – with the idea that those will generate the biggest outcomes for your workday.

You’ll likely be drawn to the low-hanging fruit and quick wins on your to-do list, but this guiding principle forces you to look at your tasks through a new lens: Which ones will have the biggest impact?

Cleaning up your inbox probably won’t lead to a substantial result. However, compiling all the data that another team has been waiting on for days will.

3. Time blocking

What it is: A method that involves splitting your day into segments of time and dedicating each one to a specific task. 

How it works: Remember when you were in school and you knew what to expect during every moment of your day? At 11am you’re in chemistry class, at noon you have lunch, and so on.

Time blocking is a lot like that. You’ll create blocks of time on your calendar and assign certain tasks or groups of tasks to that specific spot on your schedule.

For example, maybe you’ll address your emails from 8am to 9am, meet with the design team from 9am to 9:30am, and draft copy for a project from 9:30am to 11:30am. 

It might feel overly prescriptive or rigid. But this level of detail helps you take a more proactive approach to your workday, rather than letting emails, requests, and other people control your entire schedule. 

4. Pomodoro Technique 

What it is: A strategy that breaks your workday into smaller chunks of time (usually 25 minutes) separated by five-minute breaks. 

How it works: Your workday might feel daunting, but you could likely do pretty much anything if you knew it’d only take 25 minutes, right?

That’s the concept behind the Pomodoro Technique. The gist is that you’ll set a timer and work for a period of 25 minutes. When the timer goes off, you take a five-minute break. After doing that cycle (called a “pomodoro”) four times, you take a longer break of about 20 minutes.

It’s helpful for a few reasons. For starters, it can amp up your focus by instilling a greater sense of urgency. Most of us are naturally competitive, so you’ll likely challenge yourself to get as much done as you can in that 25-minute chunk before your timer goes off.

Plus, the Pomodoro Technique has built-in breaks. As counterintuitive as it seems, those regular opportunities to step away can give a major boost to your energy and productivity.

5. Not-to-do list

What it is: A documented list of time-wasting tasks and negative behaviors you’ll consistently and reliably avoid

How it works: You’re familiar with a to-do list, but this is the exact opposite. Rather than making a list of all of the things you want to get done, you’ll write a list of the things you won’t do.

What are the vices or bad habits that consistently distract you from your work? Or the tasks that you’ve supposedly delegated but still manage to find you anyway? Or the things you know you should say “no” to but have a hard time resisting?

Those are the types of things that go on your not-to-do list. While it might sound like a silly exercise, writing things down is powerful. This simple activity can help you gain clarity about the areas where you need to be careful and resist falling into old, unproductive patterns and routines.

Which time management strategy should you try?

These five time management strategies put you in the driver’s seat of your tasks, schedule, time, and energy, each in a different way. But that doesn’t mean you should roll out all of them at once.

You’ll see better results if you pick one. Not sure how to figure out which one will be the biggest difference-maker for you? This one-minute quiz will point you in the right direction.

Once you know which time management strategy is best suited to you and your goals, test it out and see if it makes a noticeable difference. If it’s the right fit, you shouldn’t just get more done – you should feel more fulfilled and energized by what you’ve accomplished.

Quiz: Which time management strategy is right for you?