When you’re running low on time, everything becomes that much more frantic and stressful. You want to get everything done to standard, but some things just take so much more time than others. So how can you manage your day better? We’ve got some helpful tips to help you get everything done with time to spare!

Group like tasks together

If you’re doing a task or job, you’ll be in the right headspace to get that particular thing done well, so it makes sense that you would keep doing similar tasks at the same time. When you switch from one task to another, your brain has to make the switch as well and that can take time. Try to group similar jobs, such as ones that require good mental capacity or ones that require physical labour, all around the same time so you can really focus and get them done faster.

Take the time to plan

You might think that doing this is actually wasting more of your precious time, but taking 15 minutes out of your day to put a plan in place will actually save you time! You’ll be running on a schedule so you don’t have to use more time to think about what you’re going to do next, and you can actually plan in extra space in case things run over. Maybe you or your team do physical tasks better in the morning, so you’d plan to get those done first.

Use the 2 minute rule

Ever heard of this one? A guy called David Allen wrote a book about it and he says that if a task is going to take you less than two minutes to do, you should do it straight away. This helps you avoid a pile-up of tonnes of niggly tasks that will end up taking you more time if you leave them. There’s no point having these small tasks on your to-do list so it’s good to get them out of the way quickly.

Allocate your time

This one’s kind of like the planning tip above, but it’s good to do this in advance so that you have a general idea of how long something is going to take. If a certain type of job takes a really long time to do, make sure you allocate it to a day where you know the workload is lighter. This isn’t always possible, but it helps you set more realistic expectations for a completion time with both your team and your clients.

Get rid of clutter

Having clutter everywhere on your desk or on the jobsite just isn’t ideal. You’ll always be looking for things and getting distracted by other clutter you find in your search. Creating a particular place for different items and putting some kind of order in place will help you save time, but this will also translate to your mind – a cluttered mind leads to stress and confusion too!