You’re probably aware by this point in your life that you’re probably not doing everything you could be doing with your day. You probably had the lazy days, and the days where you didn’t do everything you’d initially set up to do. Below you can find some tips to a better time management, letting you save precious hours that can be used to reach the smaller goals that you have lined up in your to-do list.

1. Don’t do every single item on this list. It can drive you insane living like this. Chaos is a part of our lives and it’s ok to have some of it. Do a couple of them, and save yourself that one extra hour every day that you need to do everything you set up to do. Or do most of them for a week if you’re on a really tight schedule. This is not meant to turn you into a robot, just to help you reach your goals. It’s about personal improvement, not turning into the perfect workaholic.
2. Make stocks of items you regularly use. Make a list of all items that you usually run out  of and before you go shopping check if you got enough of each to last you for a while. Printing paper, pens, notepads, envelopes, stamps, coffee, any item that makes you leave the house if you don’t have it, because you need it right then. If you have to spend half an hour of your day to go buy printing paper then that is time wasted. Plan your shopping ahead.
3. Go shopping only once a week. Again, plan ahead and buy all your groceries in the weekend for the next week. No point going every two days to buy milk and waste all that time if you can buy it all in one go.
4. A straight line is the fastest way to go. If you do need to buy something fresh every day, then try to find it on your regular route, while returning home from work. No point in doing a detour and wasting 20 minutes every day if you can find that item in a store along your regular route. The power of habit can be quite strong, but there is no rule that says you need to make all your shopping in a single place, if going somewhere else can save you time.
5. Build yourself a daily routine and stick to it. A daily routine you probably have already, but try to build one that’s more efficient. Instead of jumping on the computer after you wake up to read your emails, do other tasks, like taking a shower, eating, getting dressed, and if time allows check the emails at the end. Essential tasks first, fun ones at the end.
6. Make a to-do list and prioritize. Do the harder, more boring or more important tasks first. The fun ones are the easiest to do, but the boring ones you need to do anyway, so why delay them if they’re more important. If they need to be done, then do them first, in the morning when you have more energy. As the day passes, unexpected events might use up the time you were hoping to use for the important parts of your list.
7. Never assume that you’ll have time to do it later. Time is one thing that you can never be sure that you’ll have it when you need it most. Something can always come up and eat all your afternoon or a good chunk of it. Again, important stuff first, fun later. If you have time to do it in the morning, do it then.
8. Save time in the morning by doing things the night before. Prepare your clothes, pack your lunch, write the to-do list for the next day, write the letter that you want to send out in the morning. Anything that you do in the morning and can be done the night before, do it. Make it part of your routine before bed time.
9. Sleep well. Sleep is an important part of time management. It may seem to you that you’re  saving time if you get up 2 hours earlier, but what you make in time you loose in productivity if you’re not sleeping enough to recharge. A good sleep can keep you going all day long. If you’re tired, a task that takes 20 minutes might take you an hour or more. If you do need to wake up earlier then normal, then go to sleep early as well.
10. Leave the drinking for the weekend. Being hangover isn’t the best way to start a day. It kills your productivity and any mood to work. Go out with your friends, but don’t over do it.
11. Always carry with you something to do while waiting. If you’re going to a coffee shop to meet with a friend, and he/she’s not there yet, then take out a pen and a piece of paper, and do your to-do list for the next day. Or some documents that you need to read. There is plenty of dead time in our life, where we just wait and do nothing. Use it! You’d be surprised how many things you can accomplish like that.
12. Do something light on your TV time. If you’re watching the news or a show on TV, that time can also be used for other things. You can pay your bills, write a letter, do some ironing, make your shopping list and so on. No point on just sitting on the couch.
13. Keep the stuff you need in a regular place. Put all your bills, CD’s, office supplies, receipts, manuals, in a place of their own. If you need to look all over the house for the manual of the VCR, then you’re wasting time. I keep a drawer for any paper I need to hold on to.
14. Organize everything. It’s much easier to find something if you organize everything. Your gas bills can have their own folder, and the same goes for phone bills, or any other papers that fall in the same category. Write on the folder what’s in it, or pick different colors for them to make it easier to find the one you need.
15. Cook for more then one meal. When you cook, make larger quantities, enough to last you for a day or two. Heat it up when you’re hungry and you’re done. Cooking can be very time consuming if you want to eat something new at every meal.
16. Don’t just let your computer to stay idle. If you’re away from the computer, why not give him something to do? Start a virus scan, a disk defragmenter, a download that would make your browsing slower if done while you use the computer, burn a DVD, anything that can be done while you’re away.
17. Clean your house, but don’t be compulsive about it. A clean house is important, but being obsessed with it eats up a lot of time. Yes, that collection of CD’s doesn’t need to be ordered alphabetically right now, it can wait until you finish a more important task.
18. Plan your work, but also your breaks. Split your work time in chunks of half an hour or more, or by tasks completed. When you finish an item on your to-do list, use 10 minutes to relax a bit if you feel the need. Don’t over do the breaks, but don’t burn out either.
19. Make your own coffee. You can save both money and time by making your own coffee at home. You can look for recipes on the Internet if you’re looking for the exact taste you get at Starbucks.
20. Don’t plan all your available time. Leave 20-25% of your time free, to compensate for emergencies and interruptions.
21. Compete with yourself. If a certain task usually takes you 30 minutes to complete, try to do it in 25. If you make it, give yourself a reward, something that will make you try harder.
22. Don’t eat too much at lunch. A big lunch makes you sleepy. Eat light and it will be easier to work during the afternoon.
23. Group together similar tasks if they’re small, split them in chunks if they’re big. Switching tasks can be time consuming. For example, booting up the computer, opening the browser, email client, connecting to the Internet. Any activity you need to do daily can be done in one chunk, so you don’t have to start the computer several times a day. This applies to other tasks as well, not just to the computer. If its a big task, then you can split it in smaller pieces over a few days to make it easier to do.
24. Take a break. Find something you enjoy doing, that let’s you blow some steam. All work and no play affects productivity.
25. Avoid unnecessary meetings. You can ask a friend if he can do you a favor over the phone instead of spending one hour meeting with him at a coffee shop.
26. Find out which time of the day works best for you. Each of us usually has a certain period of the day when we do the most work done. Find out when you do the most work and you can schedule the most important tasks in that time period.
27. Avoid noise. Noise is a distraction for most of us. Make sure you block the background noise that might affect you and you’ll find that you can concentrate better.

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