7 ways to stop managing your time and start maximizing it

Have you ever felt like there wasn’t enough time in a day? Of course, we all have!

What if we maximized every minute of our day versus trying to manage it? The difference? View time maximization as outcome-oriented and time management as an activity. Time management is often about fitting more things in a certain time frame whereas time maximization is about getting the most out of the activities we do in a day.

There are multiple ways to maximize the time we have in a day.  Here are seven effective strategies that will help you get more out of your time.

Focus on peak energy times

Most of us have more energy in the morning, then hit a bit of a wall in the afternoon, and then pick up energy again closer to the end of the day. This means then, that we should attack our most difficult tasks early in the morning because it’s when we’re most energized, plus it helps set the tone for the day.

Be decisive

If you were to guess, how much time do you believe you spend in a week overthinking situations and being indecisive? Now take that number and multiply it by 52. That’s a lot of time, isn’t it? Even if it’s just 25 minutes a week (five minutes a day), that works out to 1,300 minutes or 21 hours. What could you do with an extra 21 hours? And that’s only five minutes per day! Trust your instincts, be confident, learn from your mistakes, and be decisive.

Mental rehearsal

When we mentally map out how our day is going to go, we give ourselves a better chance of success and staying focused. For example, we can imagine situations arising that could be potentially detrimental to our productivity and prepare for them ahead of time. This will allow us to be able to make quick decisions in these moments that come up, deal with them quickly and effectively, and get back on track with our day.

Chunk time for optimal energy and focus

It may sound counterproductive to take breaks throughout the day, but this is incredibly important to increasing our focus on the task at hand. Try breaking up your schedule into no more than 90-minute time slots and taking five minutes for breathing exercises, a quick reset, or to attack another part of your get to-do list.

Prioritize tomorrow today

With the added energy that we have near the end of the day, we can use that to focus on preparing for tomorrow by prioritizing our three most important tasks and one task that’s non-negotiable for tomorrow.  This will help give us added energy to start the following day as well.

Set the environment up for success

We can give ourselves a boost of energy by having our office clean, set up with pictures, plants, books, etc. all of which will make us feel good and energized.  This seemingly small attention to detail has the power to make a big impact on our energy levels throughout the day.

Fill in gap times to and from work

If we travel any more than 10 minutes to work, this is an opportune time to listen to an audiobook, informative, inspirational, or educational podcast, or even the comedy channel.  This will help get our day started and finished on a positive note.

Create even better results through time maximization.

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