The Most Helpful Planning Tools for Proper Time Management

It’s impossible to combine different activities, rest, and work without proper planning. This tool helps bring order to life, make it more organized, and get rid of stress. So, you have firmly decided to master the technology of time management to have more free time and increase your efficiency. How do you choose the right planning tools? How to use them to successfully distribute all the cases and get extra time to rest or solve important tasks?

In fact, the choice of a scheduling system depends on the user’s personal preferences and the everyday things they have to do regularly. Let’s take a look at popular methods of to-do organization to make it easier for you to decide which one suits you best.

The Best Tools for Effective Time Management

Paper and Pen
Using these tools is as easy as searching for the most accurate Tonybet predictions or cooking your favorite meal for breakfast. You simply take a piece of paper and write down all your daily to-dos regularly. Then you highlight the most important ones and proceed to fulfill them, gradually crossing out the completed tasks.

Pros:

• Simplicity and accessibility. No matter where you are, you can always find something to write about.
• It’s a versatile method that’s suitable for everything.

Cons:

• It takes a lot of time to master the simplest time management techniques on paper. For example, you’ll have to rewrite your lists repeatedly to rearrange tasks.
• The paper won’t be able to remind you of important events or appointments.

Paper Diary

This is a notepad with a markup in the form of a calendar grid that can be used to plan various events. It also has numbered pages for making to-do lists. You can choose a standard planner or a creative version with tips, tests, and descriptions of modern planning algorithms.

Pros:

• Regular use of a daily planner disciplines and helps maintain order in work and routine tasks.
• The paper diary has an attractive design; it looks stylish and modern.

Cons:

• The capabilities of a notepad are limited by the markup. If it’s designed for a specific type of planning, it will be difficult to adapt it to something else.
• Like regular paper, a day planner can’t send reminders. You will have to fill it out carefully, which takes a lot of time. Otherwise, you will have a hard time sorting out your own entries.

Apps

Task managers are handy tools for personal and team planning. They are designed to create, monitor tasks, and maintain collaborative, personalized projects. These programs include a full set of time management techniques (Pomodoro methods, GTD, Eisenhower matrix, and kanban boards).

You can make plans, adjust them with a single click, track progress, and delegate tasks to other executives. Find out about important events or appointments from notifications sent to messenger, email, or as push messages to the home screen of your digital device.

Many apps work without the internet. They are synchronized with different platforms. They can be installed on your computer, laptop, or phone, so the app will always be at your fingertips.

Pros:

• Automation of all work processes. Thanks to a good set of functions, electronic planners simplify the work with tasks. They can be structured, sorted by priority, or have deadlines.
• These apps are suitable for almost all existing time management systems and techniques, and they help increase productivity.

Cons:

• At a minimum, a digital device (computer, tablet, or smartphone) is required to work with electronic planners.
• Some programs require additional time to master.

Effective Planning Techniques

Time Blocks

With this method, you can intelligently distribute any day. This idea is based on Parkinson’s law. Its essence is in the following: people deliberately stretch the work to take all the time allocated for its fulfillment. But when you have clear deadlines set for each task, you are obliged to honor them. If you have a lot of things that need to be completed by a certain deadline, this method will help you stick to your planned schedule. You’ll finish them exactly on time, despite the occasional bout of procrastination and a host of other distractions. As a result, you will have time not only for work but also for some pleasing activities like exploring esport-nba2k Betting Odds or watching your favorite Netflix series.

By dividing a standard 40-hour week into time blocks, you can accomplish the same amount of work as you would with a 60-hour week. To do this, make a schedule, just like in school. Write down the name of the task and specify a time period for it. Concentrate only on this activity without distracting yourself with anything. This approach allows you to get a quick, high-quality result.

But the method has disadvantages. For example, the difficulty of predicting some processes. Sometimes, at the planning stage, it’s difficult to understand how much time is required to complete some task. Because of this, time blocks aren’t always accurate.

Gantt Chart

This tool is convenient to use for long-term strategic planning. It’s also actively used in project management. It helps visualize the structure, complexity, and timing of tasks. It looks like a line diagram consisting of two axes:
The vertical scale reflects the tasks themselves.
The horizontal scale shows the time of their fulfillment.

With its help, work processes become more understandable to team members, as all complex projects are divided into separate stages. You can build such a schedule manually or use special electronic services for this purpose, ranging from Word or Excel and ending with specialized programs.

Kanban Board

This is any surface divided into three or more columns, where stickers with tasks are attached. The board can be physical (paper or plastic) or electronic. Its first column contains the task cards. The second column shows the activities currently in progress. The third column includes completed activities. Looking at the board, we can see at a glance what stage the tasks are at, which ones are fully completed, and what is to be done in the near future.

Source: OccupyGh.com 

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