Time Management Techniques For Busy Professional Women

There’s no one “trick” to get your life in order, but proper time management is one of the most important skills any busy professional woman needs in her tool belt. As a work-from-home gal myself, I’ve had to implement these skills while also growing continually in this arena to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

The main tip I’d offer with this area of life is testing and trying a few methods and techniques to find the right fit for your personality and work-life needs. These expert offerings can make all the difference for your mental health, efficiency and effectiveness as a professional.

To-do lists are fantastic, but if you’re anything like me, they never end. However, according to folks at the University of Georgia, crafting your to-do list based on priorities can help you more appropriately manage your activities.

To do this, evaluate your overall to-do list and distinguish between which tasks are important and which tasks are “urgent.” The urgent tasks become your top priorities for the day, while the important tasks remain on your to-do list until they become the most urgent tasks on a later date.

Once you’ve prioritized your to-dos, next set yourself time limits for each task. Thought leader Bernard Marr suggests that these limitations help you realistically assess your ability to accomplish tasks on a given day. This means you can more realistically approach your to-dos and reduce stress.

I’ve discovered one of the most powerful options for a creative, busy mind is attacking tasks with bite-sized segments. This means breaking down larger projects into smaller tasks and laying these out in order (as needed) to tackle daily. This is particularly helpful with tedious or hefty projects that require multiple steps.

According to Bernard Marr, this approach helps reduce procrastination and overwhelm. In my own experience, this approach particularly helps with unpleasant tasks or things I’m dreading because I can’t “move on” to more enjoyable projects until I complete several bite-sized tasks on the unpleasant undertakings first.

The folks over at Southern New Hampshire University asked their experts what helps them tackle time management issues. One of the most effective methods mentioned is that of scheduling rewards for completed tasks. I’ve personally found that the more unpleasant the task is, the more the reward is needed.

These rewards aren’t necessarily monetary, either. In most cases, self-care options are the best choice. Activities like going to gym, grabbing a coffee with a friend, hanging out with co-workers after hours or taking a walk in the park all make for excellent, encouraging and healthy rewards for a job well done.

The folks over at the Corporate Finance Institute emphasize the need for breaks as an a time management technique and necessary tool for a healthy work-life balance. Giving your brain a break, pausing to meditate or practice deep breathing, eating meals on time, giving yourself time for personal hygiene needs during the day and other brief breaks can make all the difference in helping you maintain productivity, reduce anxiety and stay sharp.

Finally, one of the most important things you can do for your time management is avoiding a multi-tasking mindset. According to the American Psychological Association, “Doing more than one task at a time, especially more than one complex task, takes a toll on productivity.”

Multi-tasking may feel efficient, but in most cases it reduces productivity and harms efficacy at work. So, instead of trying to multi-task while you work, attack each project or bite-sized task as a solo action.

For best results – whether you work from an office or from home – combine these proven techniques to manage your procrastination, improve productivity and generally work more efficiently. If you can manage them without falling into the trap of social media distractions, tools like Trello, Todoist, Pomodoro timers and similar task management apps may also help you stay on top of small tasks and larger projects with ease.