Time management is the coordination of tasks and activities to maximize the effectiveness of an individual's efforts. It is essential for your career success and especially to be tackled at the beginning of a new year. Here are some tips from my experiences to add to your task planning for 2024.

By Emile Fakhoury
You might have noticed that one person in your office seems to be able to accomplish so much more during the week than the rest of your team. They hit all their deadlines, tackle big deals and projects, and still have time to leave. They always seem to be spending time with family and enjoying some hobbies.

Meanwhile, you're struggling to keep up with your to-do list, agonizing over insufficient time.

The secret to their success?

Mastering Time Management.

If you're ready to make the most of every minute, keep reading my article to discover why mastering time management is the key to success. What is mastering time management?

Mastering time management is planning how to use and deliberately control your time to maximize productivity efficiently. In short, get more done in less time.

Why is mastering time management important?

Many of us go through business as usual in life and at work, tackling whatever task or emergency that arises, never realizing that we are not as productive and efficient as we think.

Mastering time management means knowing how to plan SMART goals, prioritize daily tasks, set realistic deadlines, and remove distractions to accomplish more in less time. While these skills may seem trivial, mastering them can benefit many.

As you master time management, your productivity will increase, and you will achieve tremendous success in both your personal and professional life and a more satisfying work-life balance. Efficiently using your time can help you unlock new opportunities, accomplish your goals, and ultimately have a more fulfilling life.

Here below are my top 5 techniques for mastering  time management:

1-Eat that Frog :
Your frog is your most challenging and most crucial task for the day. Start your day early to eat them, first thing in the morning, and don't leave them for later.

Repeat daily to turn this technique into a habit or routine and see how you become much more productive.  Eating the frog is identifying your most challenging task of the day and completing it before you do any other work.

2-Pomodoro:
The process is about simple steps:

1. Identify a task you need to complete and Work with no distractions for 20 minutes.
2. When the alarm sounds, take 5 min break. Repeat the process two more times.
3. Take a more extended 25-minute break and start again.

The Pomodoro technique can be an extremely effective way to make substantial progress on a project or task. It's excellent when you have everything you need to complete your work; you just need to sit down and do it.

3-Eisenhower Matrix:
The Eisenhower Matrix is a simple decision-making tool that helps you distinguish between important, unimportant, and not urgent tasks.

This technique helps you organize your work in 4 quadrants and decide on urgent vs. essential & not critical vs. not significant factors. This tool frees your mind from constant memorization, and you feel more accountable for your prioritized tasks.

4-Pickle Jar Theory:
According to Pickle Jar Theory, time is limited, like the volume of a pickle jar. To manage your time effectively, you need to know the level of importance of each activity.

The Pickle Jar represents your everyday activities, while the sand, rocks, and pebbles represent your daily routine. 

Consider this as you plan your daily activities:

1. Identify the ‘3 Rocks’, the 3 top priority jobs that need to be addressed immediately.
2. Identify the ’10 Pebbles’, which are the fewer tasks that are important but can wait for some time, such as responding to emails, attending meetings, etc.
3. Next, identify ‘The Sand,’ your small and straightforward tasks.
4. Lastly, you must plan quality time for your family and friends. 

5-Time Blocking:
Time blocking is a time management method that asks you to divide your day into blocks of time. You would assign time blocks for the tasks in your day to have the most effective plan with task blocking.

When you learn to time block effectively, you take control of your day by focusing on your priorities. This method will offer you productivity and effectiveness in managing your deadlines.

I prefer the time-blocking method as it supports your schedule and allows others to understand your availability.

It’s no easy task to stay on task, but mastering time management is crucial to success.

Let us start this year with energy and motivation and with mastering your time management; try various techniques and adapt the ones that suit you well and improve your customer experiences and your productivity and efficiency.