How to manage your time

The different methods of managing time

Time management is of paramount importance in daily or professional life.

In the field of facility management, knowing how to manage your time allows you to accomplish more tasks, generate more turnover, free up some time for training or prepare new services.In this article we will see that there are several methods to learn how to manage your time.

1 - The To-do List

The best known method of managing time is probably the to-do list.

This method allows you to list all the tasks to be done.In order to go further with this to-do list you can also place these tasks in a calendar, this will allow you to:

• Schedule a time to do the task
• Set a due date for your action
• Define a time frame for completion
  

Although to-do lists have long been made on paper or post-its, we now have software that allows us to create to-do lists with smart reminders and shared information to the right people.For example, the Urbest application allows you to create tasks and track them according to several criteria, such as the type of task (administrative, maintenance, logistics...) You can also add a photo, a description or any other document that allows you to finalise your work.

Once created, you can position your tasks in the calendar and change the progress status.

2 - The Pomodoro technique

In addition to the to-do list, the Pomodoro technique can help you stay focused and complete a task quicker.

Developed by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s, it consists of staying focused for 25 minutes on a single action before taking a short break.

• After your short break, start a new 25-minutes session.
• After 4 sessions of 25 minutes, take a slightly longer break to focus on the next action.

This technique will be effective if you usually find it difficult to concentrate or if you are easily distracted by external elements.
By using both of these methods, you should be able to get successful results quickly and in the long run.

3 - The Eisenhower Matrix

The Eisenhower matrix was invented by Dwight David Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States, and is a technique that can surely help you improve your productivity.

In order to make this matrix, you will have to draw 4 quadrants like these.

• Quadrant 1: Important and urgent tasks,
• Quadrant 2: important, but not urgent tasks,
• Quadrant 3: non-important but urgent tasks,
• Quadrant 4: Non-important and non-urgent tasks.

The challenge is to identify what is really important and what is not. Just because someone tells you something is urgent doesn't mean it's important...

4 - The Getting Things Done method

The Getting Things Done method or GTD method was invented in 2001 by David Allen, a consultant specialising in productivity.
Here are the steps of the GTD method:

Step 1: Collect and establish a list of tasks to be done.

At this stage, don't try to rank or prioritise your tasks yet.

Step 2: Process the tasks.

To do this ask yourself two questions:

Do I need to take any action on this task?

Is the task a priority?

If the answer is no → Delete or pauses this task.

If yes :

The task takes less than two minutes → do it right away.

The task takes longer → next step - Planning.

Step 3: Plan

For this step, you can use the Eisenhower matrix above.

Step 4: Track and process your tasks.

To track and process the tasks, you can use the pomodoro technique as well as the Urbest dashboard mentioned above.

In conclusion, better management lies in finding an organisation and choosing the right method that suits you best in order to improve your productivity.

Sign up here for a free trial of your Urbest to-do list.