10 Top Tips for Managing Your Time if You’re overwhelmed or a procrastinator

Time management can be a daunting challenge for anyone, especially if you’re the kind of person who tends to procrastinate, or if you feel overwhelmed and aren’t used to strict deadlines.

Here are ten practical tips to help you take control of your time, reduce stress, and boost productivity.

1. Start with a Simple To-Do List

You can try making a to-do list, whether weekly or daily, to keep up with the most important tasks that you always feel overwhelmed by. Keep it short, try to keep it under five items per day. If long-term planning makes you feel anxious, the simplicity of this approach can help reduce feelings of overwhelm and give you a clear focus for the day to concentrate on, rather than letting your thoughts run wild and unstructured.

Put the most urgent items at the top and rank them according to their importance and impact on you, trying to tackle the most difficult and critical first thing in the morning.

2. Embrace the Power of Procrastination (Strategically)

If you’re a natural procrastinator, this is for you. The idea of structured procrastination is a clever way to turn your tendency to put things off into something more useful. Instead of struggling against the temptation to put off tasks forever, you shift your focus and energy to a less urgent but still productive task.

If you’re waiting to work on something big, use that half hour to get some smaller tasks done. Tidy up the kitchen, organize your workspace, do your admin, respond to old emails, and take care of any other little things you’ve forgotten to do. These tasks might not be the most urgent, but they still help you be more productive overall.

For example, every time you walk through your living room or bedroom, pick up something that’s out of place and tidy it up. Doing these smaller tasks will help you feel less overwhelmed and give you the momentum you need to tackle bigger tasks.

3. Use the Pomodoro Technique

We’ve been talking about the Pomodoro technique, and for good reason! The idea is to work for 25 minutes, then take a five-minute break, and so on. You’ll go through four of these ‘work-break’ cycles and then take a 15-30 minute break. This technique can help you stay focused and productive, while also helping to prevent burnout because it involves taking breaks and focusing on rest. Having a time limit helps to push you to be active, while at the same time motivating you through a sense of urgency. (here is a practical online timer: https://pomofocus.io).

4. Create an “Avoid List”

If focusing too much on what you have to do makes you nervous and leads to self-sabotage, try making a list of things to avoid instead. You’ll need to be honest with yourself at this point, including any distractions, time-wasting habits, or even certain types of work that don’t align with your goals. It’ll be easier to find some extra time for yourself once you’ve learned how to avoid these pitfalls and free up time for the more important tasks.

5. Try “Parkinson’s Law”

Parkinson’s Law states that work expands to fill the time available to do it. Set yourself tighter deadlines to force focus and efficiency. For example, if you have two hours to complete a task, challenge yourself to do it in one hour. You’ll be surprised at how effective this can be.

6. Break the Rules to Beat Burnout

If you’re finding a strict schedule is stressing you out, give yourself permission to break the rules now and then. If you’re at the point where your productivity is dropping because of stress, take an unscheduled break or work on something completely different. It might make you more effective when you return to your tasks.

7. Delegate Tasks

Where you can, hand over tasks to someone else. Don’t be afraid to let things go if you can. Delegation can free up your time for more important tasks, whether you’re at work or at home. If there are tasks that don’t require your specific expertise, pass them on to someone else who has the right skills.

8. Set a Daily “Frog”

The idea of ‘eating the frog’ is to get the least pleasant task out of the way first. If you want to avoid feeling anxious, just pick one “frog” a day and schedule it for a specific time. Knowing you only have one challenging task to face can make it easier to tackle it head-on.

9. Take Care of Yourself

It’s important to look after your physical and mental well-being if you want to manage your time effectively. Make sure you get enough sleep, exercise regularly, and eat well. If you look after your body and mind, you’ll find you can concentrate better, have more energy, and be more productive overall.

10. Reflect and adapt

It’s important to make time for yourself. When you get a chance, take a few minutes to think about what you’ve done well and what you could do better in your daily routine and the way you manage your time. Keep tweaking your strategies until you find what works best for you. The key to managing your time effectively is to keep on improving.