3 effective tips to stop having an overloaded schedule
Do you have an overloaded schedule almost all the time?
If you’re constantly running out of time, you’re stressed and not as productive as you’d like to be. It’s time to learn how to better plan your time at work and in your personal life.
1 – Prioritize your goals
You can prioritize your tasks in different ways. Some of you use Eisenhower’s matrix, others use the abcde matrix, others have no method to prioritize their tasks, etc.
A very effective way to avoid a crowded agenda is to plan your tasks according to the level of importance of your goals. If you haven’t prioritized them, it’s time to do so.
Why?
Because in the course of a day, you have a limited number of hours and energy.
If you don’t prioritize your goals, you will allocate your energy to your tasks in a haphazard manner.
As a result, you will be less efficient, you will tend to get demotivated, and even procrastinate on some tasks.
On the contrary, by tackling the most important goal or problem you need to deal with, you will be able to increase your motivation and reach your main goal faster.
Achieving your first goal will give you more energy to achieve a second, a third, and so on. As a result, you will increase your self-confidence and self-esteem.
Your self-efficacy will increase and consequently, you will become even more productive in your life.
Now, I suggest you move on to the practical tip.
Practical tip: Set your 2 most important goals for the year
I suggest you define one professional and one personal goal.
If you don’t know how to set a goal, I recommend you read my article on how to set and achieve goals.
Then, once you have defined those goals, plan each day to perform tasks that will allow you to achieve them in the current year.
Now, I suggest we move on to the next tip which is to prioritize your tasks based on their impact.
2 – Prioritize your tasks according to their potential impacts
In my previous articles, I advised you to schedule your activities according to your chronotype and their level of importance.
Now, I suggest a third method which consists in planning your tasks according to their impact.
Depending on your tendency to focus on the positive or negative aspects of life, you will prioritize your activities differently.
If you are a more optimistic person and are more motivated by achieving a positive outcome, then you will be more effective in programming activities in your agenda that will have a positive impact on your life.
If, on the other hand, you are more motivated by the possibility of preventing something negative from happening, you will be more productive by scheduling your activities based on their potential negative impact.
When in doubt, test both options and follow the one that works best for you.
Now, I suggest we move on to the actionable tip.
Practical tip: Write a list of positive and negative impacts
First, write down your daily to-do list.
Then, next to each task note a score from 1 to 5 to indicate the level of impact of each activity if you do not complete it. 1 is the lowest impact and 5 is the highest.
Then, order the activities from the most impactful to the one with the least impact.
Doing this will allow you to start your day with the highest impact activities in the morning.
Now, I suggest we move on to the next tip which is to delegate some activities.
3 – Delegate some tasks
One of the reasons why your agenda is too full is that you don’t delegate enough or even any of your activities.
In another article, on how to learn to delegate, I discussed this topic in more detail.
Now, I just want to share with you the kinds of tasks you can start delegating in both your professional and personal life.
There are three types of activities you can delegate.
In the first category, there are tasks that you have been putting off for a very long time. These are tedious, uninteresting activities and in general, tasks that you do not want to carry out.
In the second category, there are occupations that are very time-consuming and that others can learn to perform fairly quickly.
In the third category are tasks that require you to tap into your weak points. These are various professional or personal activities that make you uncomfortable and have a negative impact on your self-esteem.
By turning these three categories over to others, you can focus more on what is truly important to you and also free up time to plan enjoyable activities important for your well-being.
Practical tip: Start delegating at least one task this week
The hardest part is starting to delegate.
Choose a task that falls into one of the three categories above and start delegating at least one this week.
Plan the day, time, and person you will ask for help.
If you are already willing to delegate, do it right away.
Conclusion on how not to have an overloaded schedule
In this article, I’ve shared with you three tips for taking back control of your time.
If you are interested in the topic of productivity, I invite you to discover all my articles on productivity.
If you are looking for tools to improve your time management skills, I recommend you read my article on the best time management apps.
If you want to know how to take advantage of the expertise of a time management coach, write to us now using our contact form or call us by phone or on WhatsApp at +33 6 69 46 03 79.
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Read this article in other languages
Français : Agenda surchargé ? Comment reprendre le contrôle de votre temps: 3 conseils
Italiano: Agenda piena di impegni? 3 strategie per gestire meglio il vostro tempo