There’s no shortage of tips, tricks, and hacks out there to help you better manage your time. From blocking out chunks of your schedule to get work done sans email to waking up an hour earlier for a focused work session, we’ve seen it all.
But what happens when you try all of these different methods—and every single of one of them completely backfires?
For those of you who feel like you’re time management failures, there’s still hope: We’ve found some more unconventional pieces of advice to try. Starting with these:
- Poor time management could be limiting your potential and scrambling your priorities, so the sooner you ask the right questions and figure out what’s most important to you, the better you’ll be able to have the schedule you want and need to succeed. (99U)
- Ditch all of those high-tech time management apps and pick up a pen and paper. (Forbes)
- The basis for any great time management trick is a stellar to-do list. Once you master that, the rest gets easier. (Fast Company)
- Building on that, it’s time to get your priorities in check, and Oliver Emberton uses a hilarious Star Wars metaphor to make you understand their importance. (Quora)
- Here’s some good news for people who feel like they can never master that one special time management technique: That’s not what’s supposed to happen. (Harvard Business Review)
- Don’t assume that one tiny change will suddenly fix all of your scheduling issues; it’s about making many smaller changes and fine-tuning them. (Lifehack)
- A lot of the time, people are confusing poor time management with simply being overworked and over-scheduled. If you know how to cut down on your commitments, many of your issues with time will fix themselves. (Marc and Angel Hack Life)
- Remember that how you end your day is just as important as how you start your day. (Psychology Today)
- Treating your schedule like a financial statement may be what you need to reclaim tons of time in your jam-packed schedule. (The Daily Muse)