Most of us don’t have time to consistently do the things we truly enjoy. Between work, family, friends, staying healthy, and side projects, finding time to do everything we want can seem impossible.
The truth is, without a solid plan, time slips through our fingers. We’re left feeling like we’ve barely made progress on our ever-growing to-do lists.
But what if you could take control of your day, carving out space not just for obligations but for the activities that bring you joy and fulfilment?
The secret is mastering time management. By creating a well-structured time management routine, you can have time for deep, impactful work while also having room for your hobbies (or video game habit, in my case 😜).
I’ve been experimenting with various time management strategies for years. Through trial (and a lot of error), I’ve learned what works and what doesn’t. In this article, I’ll share my seven proven steps for building a time management routine:
- Know how you’re spending your time
- Know what lifts your energy
- Set goals
- List your tasks
- Schedule tasks and free time
- Plan for unexpected distractions
- Reflect and readjust
Hopefully, these tips will help you make the most of your time and, ultimately, find more joy and fulfilment in your life.
So let’s get into it.
1. Know how you’re spending your time ⏲️
We often think we can accomplish more than we actually can. This is a phenomenon scientists call the planning fallacy. This cognitive bias makes us underestimate how much time a task will take, causing us to be overly optimistic about how quickly we can finish things.
To make sure you plan your time management routine accurately, conduct a time audit on yourself, tracking how long each task takes you to complete for one week.
There are a bunch of different ways to do this, but all of them are based on the principle that you want to be able to track how much time you are actually putting into the things that matter to you.
The way I’ve been doing this for quite a while is with a Google Doc I call the Quest Log (just to make it more fun). I write down the date and the task I’m working on, play some Harry Potter music and start working. Once I lose focus I stop the music, check for how long it has played, and record it in the Quest Log.
This is like a low-key, low-friction, free way to track your time. You don’t need any apps and you don’t need to pay for anything.
Automatic time tracking
But there are also apps for automatic time tracking. The one I’ve been using for this since 2021 is called Rize (I actually loved it so much that I became an investor in the company). This app figures out what app you’re using at that moment or which website you happen to be on, and then it categorises what you’re doing.
For example, in February 2024, I spent 21% of my time focusing, 44% on meetings and 12% on breaks. My average work week was 34 hours and I spent 44% of my time on video calls, 12% writing, 11% documenting and 8% designing (this means 9 hours drawing boxes on pages in Figma).
So, I like to use these two systems, but any other time-tracking app will do the job just as effectively.
During this one week, record everything, from work to leisure activities. By recording the whole day, you’ll get a comprehensive view of how you’re spending your time.
Here are some examples:
- Morning Routine – Track how much time your morning routine takes, from the moment you wake up to the moment you start working. You might think it only takes 30 minutes to go from your bed to your desk, but the truth might be it takes much longer, and you aren’t aware of it.
- Gym Routine – The same goes for your time at the gym. You might think that you spend only one hour lifting weights at the gym, but you ignore the time it takes you to get changed before the session, shower afterwards, and get back home.
- Work Routine – You might think that your job as a software engineer involves working with code, but if you’re actually spending 60% of your time in meetings, it might be time for a change.
To track small moments, turn on the screen time function on your phone and you’ll see a report of how much time you spend on apps, websites, and social media (usually way more than what we expect 😅).
Understanding these patterns is the first step towards building an effective time management routine. Once you see where your time is going, you can start taking charge of it instead of letting it control you.
2. Know what lifts your energy ⚡
The idea behind this step is simple: assess how your daily activities align with and impact your energy levels.
To do that, conduct an energy audit on yourself. Review your calendar for one week and classify each activity based on the energy it gives or takes.
Does a particular meeting leave you energised or drained? Is your morning routine setting you up for success or slowing you down right from the start?
Mark the activities that add energy to your day in green and those that drain your energy in red.
I do this directly in Google Calendar, but you could do it on a physical schedule or any other calendar app you use.
The idea is that not all tasks are equal. Some fill your cup, while others quickly eat into your energy reserves. By identifying these patterns, you can curate your time management routine for maximum energy, leading to a more productive life.
3. Set goals 🎯
Clear goals act like a roadmap, helping you focus your time on what really matters.
Without clear goals, it’s easy to drift and get side-tracked by tasks that don’t support your personal or professional dreams. Well-defined goals cut through the noise and keep you on track towards true achievement and fulfilment.
So, how do you set goals effectively?
I like to do this in two parts.
10-year goals
The first is about thinking long-term. One of the most popular strategies is setting SMART goals. But after researching and trying various goal-setting strategies, I’ve created one that really resonates with me.
It’s a combination of methods by Jim Rohn and Zig Ziglar (old-school personal development gurus from the 20th century), fleshed out a little and refined in ways that appeal to me.
It works like this. You set a 10-minute timer and start making a list of everything you might want as “goals”, “dreams”, or “desires” over the next 10 years.
You can think about questions like, “What do I want to learn?”, “What do I want to have?”, “Who do I want to be?” or “What do I want to do?” as starting points.
Here’s part of my list:
At some point in the next 10 years, I want to…
- Learn snowboarding
- Have a happy, wholesome family
- Write a book about Time Management for Normal People
- Learn cooking – I want to host dinner parties where I cook delicious stuff
The next step is to write a number next to each item, showing how many years it will take to achieve that dream (1, 3, 5, or 10 years). Here’s what my list looks like after doing this:
- Learn snowboarding: 1
- Have a happy, wholesome family: 10
- Write a book about Time Management for Normal People: 3
- Learn how to cook – I want to host dinner parties where I cook delicious stuff: 5
The numbers next to each item correspond to the time horizon for that particular dream. For example, there’s a 10 next to having a family, which signals: “This is a 10-year dream”. A 1 next to snowboarding signals “I reckon I want to do this in 1 year”.
Those goals purely reflect the direction you’d like to be headed in right now. But it’s useful to have those as directional milestones to give yourself a better sense of where your life is broadly going.
NICE goals
Once you have your goals defined, write them down and break them into smaller ones. This will make them more manageable and help you create a clear action plan.
To do that, I came up with a framework called NICE goals. This stands for:
- Near-term: Goals should be doable daily or weekly. This neatly avoids getting overwhelmed by the big picture.
- Input-based: This is about emphasising the process instead of the end result. For example, when writing my book, I tried to focus on writing 100 words each morning, instead of hitting a best-seller list.
- Controllable: The goals need to be within our control. For example, spending 8 hours a day writing my book isn’t something I could do, given all my other responsibilities. Instead, I aimed to spend 20 minutes writing daily, which was far more realistic.
- Energising: This is about making the goal fun and enjoyable. What would it look like if the goal was fun to do? Maybe you could work in a café to make a tedious task more pleasant? Or curate a playlist with your favourite songs to make your time in the gym more fun?
You use your 10-year goals for your long-term objectives, but your NICE goals for the here and now.
In my case, for example, the goal is to learn snowboarding within the next year, and the NICE goal is to exercise for 30 minutes daily, focusing on fun balance and strength workouts.
4. List your tasks 📝
With your goals in mind, write all the tasks you’re required to finish during a specific week.
Making a list of what you need to do each week can help you see all the stuff you’ve got coming up. This way, you can organise it all and figure out when to do what.
To do that, I make a to-do list in Todoist, listing everything that needs to be done during the week. This includes personal things, like calling my grandma or going to the gym, and work stuff, like writing a script for an upcoming YouTube video.
To make sure I don’t forget anything, I assign tasks that repeat regularly, like meeting my brother to play music and have dinner every Tuesday evening, a recurring due date.
Next, I check my emails to remind myself of upcoming deadlines. For example, I might find an email from a team member asking me to plan the destination for our next team trip, or a message from a sponsor reminding me to post a specific video within the next three days.
5. Schedule tasks and free time 🗓️
It’s now time to schedule every part of your week in the calendar.
Use your current to-do list to build a clear schedule. Your time audit can help you estimate how much time to budget for each task.
Then, plan the empty blocks. Make time for things you might want to do, like taking piano lessons or learning to code.
Think of it like making a reservation at a restaurant. By booking a specific time for dinner, you ensure that you have a table waiting for you. Time blocking does the same for your daily tasks, providing a dedicated space for each one.
This is a technique that has really helped me stay on top of my weekly tasks, like writing my newsletter, LifeNotes. Having a set period of time to sit down and write means I’m much more likely to get it done.
Become a prioritisation pro
And how do you prioritise tasks if you have a lot of them?
When planning your tasks, ask yourself: “Does this task bring me closer to my goals?”
Prioritise the ones directly related to your goals, ensuring you’re taking steps towards achieving them each day.
If a task doesn’t align with your goals, it may need to be delegated or deleted, because your time is reserved for what matters.
Then, use your energy audit to quickly check if the tasks in your calendar will increase or drain your energy.
Reschedule or delegate energy-draining tasks using this set of questions:
- Does this activity need to happen?
- If yes—do I need to be the one doing it?
- If yes—what would make it more enjoyable?
Some tasks are easier to delegate than others. And no matter how many times you audit your calendar, you’re still going to have a few you don’t enjoy. That’s just life. The idea here is to minimise your “energy-draining” activities as much as you can within reason.
6. Plan for unexpected distractions 📱
When creating your time management plan, make sure to include some buffer time for the unexpected.
This could include surprise meetings, questions from your team, or tasks taking longer than you thought. By budgeting extra time for these surprises, you’ll be better prepared.
If you end up needing only some of the time you set aside, use it to get a head start on your next task or enjoy a well-deserved break.
Remember, flexibility is key. Life happens, and sometimes things don’t go as planned.
So don’t stress if you need to shuffle things around. The main goal is to create a roadmap for your day that you can follow as closely as possible.
7. Reflect and readjust 💭
I like to end the week with a reflection on my accomplishments and areas for improvement.
Maybe something took me much longer than expected, or a task I thought would be energising has actually left me feeling pretty drained.
This regular evaluation helps me continually refine my approach to managing time, ensuring that my strategies remain effective and relevant.
It also helps me check if I’m making progress towards my goals. For example, if my goal is to learn to snowboard by next year and, after six months, my balance and strength still need improvement, I might need to hit the gym more often and block two hours of exercise each afternoon instead of one.
Weekly reflections are a core part of my new community, Productivity Lab. People find it really useful to reflect on their wins from the past week, while also brainstorming ways that they can make the next even better.
Spend time on what truly matters
Time management can be challenging, but it’s one of the most important skills we can develop and build today.
Building an effective time management routine isn’t just about squeezing more tasks into your day; it’s about making sure your time is spent on what truly matters to you. By setting clear goals, making to-do lists, and planning for the unexpected, you can transform how you approach your day, leading to more productivity and fulfilment.
Now it’s your turn.
Start by tracking your time and energy and setting your goals. You don’t need to repeat this action every week, but once every quarter is enough.
Then, at the beginning of each week, list your tasks and schedule them in the calendar. I like to do that on Sunday evenings to get a vision of the week ahead.
Finally, review your time management routine at the end of the week and adjust it if necessary.
With some practice and dedication, you’ll soon find yourself in control of your time.