Photo credit: www.startupcollective.com
In general, working people tend to say that twenty four hours aren’t enough for them to do the things that they should do. Time is very important for everyone and as well as the ability to manage your time. Time management is one’s ability to combine both personal life and career in the right manner. Time management is one of the major problems for all, and designers are not exception as well. So, if you want to be successful in both your professional and personal life, you are in the right place, as today we are going to introduce 15 important tips for designers to help them manage their time more effectively.
1. Start planning and create a to-do list
If you want to get everything done on time, you must create a to-do list and stick to it. You should add there all the necessary tasks that you should do and follow them. In addition, you should also create a week plan and a month plan, which will give you the chance to analyze your time.
2. Separate the important tasks from unimportant ones
If you have too many things to be done, make sure to separate the most important ones and concentrate on them.
3. Stop wasting your time
You need to understand how you are wasting your time and stop doing it. For example, you should stop taking on the phone too much or checking your social media pages every single minute.
4. Don’t work on 2 projects at once
You should understand that working on several tasks at once does not increase your productivity, instead it wastes your time. So, make sure to understand which project has closer deadline and start from it.
5. Break big projects into smaller tasks
If you have big projects and you have many things to be done, for example design a logo, create a webpage, create CTAs and so on, make sure to break down these works. It will be also easier for you, if you put separate deadlines for each of them.
6. First do the project you hate
We always skip those tasks that we hate. However, it should not be done so. First of all you should do all the projects you hate, and then pass to others that you enjoy. In this case, you will not be worried again and again.
7. Find the more productive time for you
There are people who love working in the mornings and there are people who love working late at nights. You should understand which time of the day is the most productive for you and start working at that time.
8. Create your own deadlines
A great way to make sure that you will get everything done on time, is setting your own deadlines. Make sure to set your deadline before the deadline of the client. In this case you will get the task done in advance and you will have the time to review it and correct the mistakes.
9. Don’t put everything till the last minute
Even though you have a deadline after 2 weeks, make sure to do it in advance and don’t put it till the last moment. Don’t relax during the working hours. If you do your work, you will see how enjoyable will be your relaxing time, as you won’t worry about your work anymore
10. Avoid things that interrupt you
There are many things that can distract you from your work, for example noise, too much light and so on. So make sure to work in circumstances, where there are no distractions.
11. Use time management tools
There are many applications on the web that can help you manage your time. So, try to download some of them.
12. Take care of your computer
One of the most annoying things, that both wastes your nerves and time is when your computer stops working or works slowly because of viruses and too many programs. So, make sure to maintain your hardwares and softwares in a good form.
13. Devote enough time to both personal and professional life
In order to be successful both in your career and personal life, you should devote enough time to each of them. Don’t devote your time to just one of them. Make sure to combine your personal and professional life and to live a balanced and happy life.
14. Have some breaks
If you work for example 7-9 hours, make sure to have regular breaks. If you love coffee, make sure to do a break every 3 hours and drink a coffee or eat something. If you keep working without breaks your productivity will definitely decrease.
15. Reward yourself when you finish your tasks
One of the best way to keep people motivated is diving them rewards. Do this to yourself as well. Make sure to reward yourself after finishing the tasks for example by buying a good chocolate or watching a great movie with a friend.
So, here you have 15 helpful time management tips, in order to get all the things done on time. Do you have other tips in your mind? If so, please share them with us in the comments below
Here’s another article you might like : Things That Will Boost Every Graphic Designer’s Creativity
Comments