“Want to binge-watch the Lord of the Rings movies this weekend?”

“Ever thought about traveling the world?”

“Why don’t we just spend the day in bed?”

What could be the common theme among the questions mentioned above?

Think a little….. Just a little more….

Still clueless, huh?

Okay okay! Let me spill the beans. You can easily answer these questions with the phrase “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”

Putting things in perspective, it is time which remains the fine line that separates excellence from mediocrity, commitment from procrastination and success from failure. Time freedom ensures unparalleled levels of quality in work and an unmatched level of achievement.

The question is, how do you gain more time when you always feel like you’re falling behind?

Reading this post is a great start!

Without further ado, let us look at ten of the best techniques to ensure that you are on top of your game when it comes to time management.

Bust your stress

Overwhelming stress usually sets in when you have to work in circumstances that push your skills or patience to the limit. Make sure you are fit on both the physical and mental level to keep you even-keeled. The better the balance of stress taken in, the better the quality of work that follows.

Delegation is the key

Teamwork is the essence of task completion. Having a competent team that can be assigned tasks without much hassle helps in parallel execution of work. Smart delegation goes a long way in achieving results with minimum effort.

Kill procrastination

Postponing key activities will only end up biting you on the backside. Kindly skip the urge to delay major milestone tasks in order to stay on course. That way everyone remains on their toes to achieve what they had set out for.
Better yet… procrastinate on purpose.

Prioritize

Surely, one can’t do it all at once. Make sure that you have a prioritized list of activities for the day or the work week. That makes you sure about how much time you should dedicate per task.
Moreover, focus on getting the top 3 items done that day. This will keep you from being overwhelmed by a huge laundry list of things to do.

Work in deadlines

A deadline helps in ending a task on schedule thereby helping you to move to the next one. Make sure you have your timelines in place and adhere to them earnestly. Deadlines are also a key component of any S.M.A.R.T goal.

Avoid multitasking

How many of us like to work with headphones on, our Facebook page open and our smartphones buzzing all the while? Bear in mind that multitasking looks good only on processors. Avoiding it improves productivity.

Build expertise

Time management is also a function of your skill. Make sure you enhance those skills to the point where you are running through your tasks as efficiently as possible and increasing your value to your organization.

Take frequent breaks

Instead of going flat out, give yourself a breather. Take a walk around, stretch a bit, have some coffee and then resume your work. That refreshes you and gives you the time to regain your focus.

Take notes

Make sure your work remains relevant to your stakeholders. Keep track of meetings and key instructions through notes and look them up for directions.

Learn to say no

Saying yes to everything will lead you to biting off way more than you can chew (trust me, I’m a living example!). Assess your capacity and efficiency before accepting projects or tasks. If you are unable to dedicate time to an activity, it is best to refuse doing it and focus on the task at hand.

There you go, ten rules to make sure that time does not dictate terms to you. Once you are sure of how to tackle your responsibilities with the tools of expertise, delegation and prioritization, time will be just another resource you will never run out of.