Time is one of the few things in life that we can’t once it’s gone and that we cannot make any more of. Because of this, we all know that it’s something we should use as best as possible. So, why is it so hard to stop wasting time?
We can get overwhelmed with life’s daily tasks and activities. There is a constant stream of distractions and other up roadblocks that keep us from achieving our personal and professional ambitions.
The result is that we often feel that the harder we work and the busier we are the less time we have for what really matters and the less progress we make toward our goals. Luckily, there are an increasing number of tools to help us take control of our time.
Time management tools are becoming an essential resource. But why are they so important?
Why Are Time Management Tools Important?
Even those with the most casual approach to life can find time management tools rewarding. Why? Because they have an extraordinary impact on personal and professional growth, no matter your lifestyle or circumstances.
Here are three reasons why time management tools can be so useful in helping us create the live we really want:
Better decisions. These tools help tasks, activities, and thoughts become more transparent and concise. Ultimately, decision-making becomes more straightforward when there is greater clarity and intentional prioritization.
Increased productivity. Being productive makes us feel more accomplished and more fulfilled. Time management tools put things into focus so you can achieve more and stride towards your life’s ambitions.
Reduce menial tasks. Sometimes it’s hard to filter out daily things that don’t make the best impact on our lives. Time management tools can help you discover what tasks aren’t leading you down the right path.
How Do Time Management Tools Benefit Your Life?
Are you wondering how these tools benefit you on a personal level and improve your life? The results can be surprisingly profound when we consistently utilize tools that help us be more effective and intentional in how we use time.
Below are just a few ways that these tools can help you get your life in check.
Create a long-term vision for yourself.
Sometimes we can get lost amid everything that happens in life. We lose track of both long-term and short-term goals, juggle priorities, and lose focus on what we really want out of life and who we want to become.
We find our time consumed with menial tasks and unplanned activities, where the sheer number of things we can or should do distracts us from our long-term vision. However, time management tools can be an invaluable resource in tackling the challenges and obstacles life throws at us. By organizing demands between those that are merely good uses of and those that are the best uses of our time, we can keep those challenges and obstacles in perspective.
The right time management tools help bring the chaos of life into order, helping you identify what you should do from among all the things you could do.
They can also be an invaluable way to help plan for unexpected scenarios. This is because an intentional plan of action creates much more flexibility and calmness than the chaotic mindset in which most people find themselves. When we always feel like we are putting out fires, we’re not in the best mindset for when an unexpected fire arises.
Keep organized and focused.
Doesn’t life feel better when things are organized? Time management tools not only help put your everyday routine into perspective, but they also form the basis of a more precise and coherent life.
Time is better spent when you know what you’re doing. These tools can help curate the process by tracking tasks, automating some of them, and scheduling activities at appropriate times. They also analyze the best use of your day under a particular set of circumstances.
Time management tools are great for keeping organized, your life focused, and ultimately – feeling a bit better about the world every day.
Make all of life’s overwhelming tasks a breeze.
How many times a week do you feel like you’ve perfectly planned your day and you accomplish nothing because of various interruptions? It seems to happen more than we want nowadays, where we can feel a bit stressed and cornered by the ever-growing number of things that need our attention.
Time management tools provide an avenue to throw life’s inevitable tasks into one basket, sort them by priority, and filter them.
Find the things that are most important to you.
Stemming from the prioritization features of time management platforms, they also help you discover the things that you find most important in life. Once you get an overview of your frequent tasks and activities from some of these tools, you’ll start to understand your time use better.
You may feel like you need to accomplish everything set out before you, but we all know it’s not the best use of our time. Time management tools offer a birds-eye view of our lives to pick and choose what matters most and either ditch some things or put them on the back burner.
You can improve yourself and your overall well-being.
Nobody’s perfect, and we’re all going to face some bad days in our lives. However, time management tools can be an asset in helping you improve yourself and facilitate some personal growth.
They provide a medium in understanding what’s working and what’s not in your life. You can identify and eliminate some of the time-consuming burdens and free up hours where you can do something that helps you grow.
Using that recovered time more wisely will allow you to do something more beneficial to your overall health, both mental and physical. Therefore, tools that help you manage your time have a positive impact on your overall well-being.
So, we’ve identified how time management tools can benefit your life. But you’re probably wondering what these tools provide this holistic level of help?
Here Are 5 Time Management Tools You Need to Know About
These tools come in various formats, methods, and skills. There’s no set-in-stone rule that someone must do or have one thing to have the desired impact on your livelihood.
However, modern problems require modern solutions, as they say. The best time management tools are digital, mainly apps and software. Why? Because of their comprehensive functionality and adaptability to any lifestyle.
These tools can enhance your life, whether you’re a career-driven professional, a mum of three, a power couple, or anyone. Here are several time management tools that you need to know about.
1. A Digital Calendar or Diary
Time management is all about getting organized. There’s no better way to lay the groundwork for an organization schematic than a calendar or a diary. The date and time-based documents are great for getting an overview of what tasks you need to do, how long they will take, and how much to do.
Paper calendars and diaries are great, but we live in a world that is busier than in the past when these were popular organizational tools. Today, digital calendars and diaries provide extra features that help time management.
Not only will you have an overview of everything planned, but those tasks will also be accessible from various devices. The best digital calendars and diaries are apps that span across your phone, web, and tablet, with scheduling and editing functionality at the click of a button.
Furthermore, providing notifications and an easy-to-read dashboard of your upcoming events can benefit those seeking better time management. You’ll have a foundation of everything at the tap of a button, whether it’s work planning, family life, or social activities.
So, what are some of the best digital calendars or diaries for 2022? Each one provides much better time management potential adapting to any lifestyle, personal or professional.
- Google Calendar – best all-around calendar
- Apple Calendar – great calendar for iOS and Mac users
- Fantastical – works with devices like Apple Watch and more
- Outlook Calendar – best for professionals
- Timepage – one of the most beautiful, intuitive calendar apps
Consider looking into each further and see which one suits you best!
2. Productivity Apps
Ever wondered how to become more productive? We’re sure you’ve heard of productivity apps in a professional environment. They’re all those little tools that help make life easier in a workplace like email platforms, task assignment software, budgeting apps – and lots more.
However, there are plenty of unique apps that greatly assist time management in your personal life, too. They mainly center around tools that minimize distractions, create focus, track habits, and automate those menial things you need to do.
Not every productivity app is a to-do list or a workflow management system. Some of the best assets for time management are as simple as inspiring you to organize yourself and focus.
We’ll list some of our favorite flexible productivity apps for time management below:
- Todoist – a simple app that enhances personal and professional productivity
- Momentum – a dashboard that provides motivation and inspiration
- Brain FM – creates playlists that help you focus
- Forest – helps you put your phone down and manage time better
- Engross – remove distractions out of your life3. Task and Project Management Platforms
Task and project management platforms sound a bit too tailored to a professional environment. Still, you’d be pleasantly surprised at how they can positively impact your time management potential. Their core purpose is to overview everything you need to do and organize it in a fashion accustomed to your preferences.
Planning family life such as kid’s activities, group occasions, individual needs, and more becomes remarkably simple in task and project management platforms. You can categorize things that need to be done, make others aware of tasks, and highlight their urgency.
Time management becomes much easier when everyone is on the same page about what needs to be done, when to do it, and how to accomplish it. The apps below are excellent task and project management platforms, adapting to personal and professional lives.
- Trello – Easy-to-use digital board that creates, assigns, and shares tasks
- Remember the Milk – Great platform for keeping on top of life’s small to-dos
- Microsoft Todo – comprehensive task management platform for both personal and professional activities
- Things – an app for iOS or Mac users
- Google Tasks – syncs with other Google applications if you use them.
4. Time Trackers
What would an effective time management tool be without an actual asset dedicated to time? These apps and platforms can be crucial to use your time to provide the most results.
Time trackers help everyone by subtly capturing how much time you spend on a task, analyzing it, and reporting how it should get scheduled in your plans. It also has the functionality of pushing you to be more productive and use your time a little more wisely.
Even if you are working with other people or managing a family, time trackers can help gain a comprehensive overview of how everybody uses their time. You can understand how much time something takes, set limits on a task, and pull away from distractions.
So, what are the best time trackers out there?
- TogglTrack – great for simple virtual time tracking
- Timely – synchronizes with tasks to understand timing and planning better
- HourStack – time tracking with an integrated calendar
- Float – Scheduling and time tracking all-in-one
5. Note Taking Apps
Finally, one of the best time management tools around is note-taking apps. Why? Because they bring focus to your organization and productivity by recording events and helping to create a long-term vision for what you want to accomplish.
Note-taking apps are versatile and flexible, adapting to any lifestyle you lead. These platforms allow you to create vision boards, outline short and long-term goals, develop diaries of today’s events, collect and record valuable articles and references, and so much more.
You might ask, ‘but I can just write those down; why to bother with a digital app?’ Naturally, you can record them in a paper log. However, there are multitudinous benefits to storing these on tech platforms.
First and foremost, they are a backed-up copy of every resource you could need in your life in the future. They help time management by eliminating finding or replicating paper logs.
Other benefits include sharing your notes, so others contribute towards a better time management schematic. Also, having these notes across all devices ensures you are reminded, motivated, and inspired about anything that helps you become more productive and organized.
Great note-taking apps for those purposes include:
- Evernote – a dedicated note-taking platform accessible across most devices
- Simplenote – an easy-to-use app that makes note-taking simple
- OneNote – great for quick notes
- Zoho Notebook – rich in features for advanced note-taking
- Google Keep – share your notes quickly and easily
Conclusion
So, here we have the reasons why time management tools are so significant and the creme of the crop in making yourself a more focused and organized person. Not every person has a one-size-fits-all approach to time management. Still, the tools provided here are flexible, scalable, and ultimately beneficial to your personal growth.
Please give them a whirl and see your life start to sort itself!
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