One of our most precious assets in life is time for the sole reason that it’s limited and we’re always against the clock. It’s finite and once it’s gone there is no way of getting it back.

Just think of how much time you have to yourself and for the things that you want to accomplish like dreams, projects and personal quests. Lets say that you’re 40-years-old and have another 40 years of truly active and healthy living to do.

I don’t want to seem pessimistic, but you really don’t have that much time if you factor all the time that’s dedicated to other activities. We spend an average of 20% sleeping, another 5% performing personal care and eating, work, responsibilities and don’t forget the time we spend relaxing and in leisure which is necessary.

In the end the math will frighten and I’m not saying that after reading this you should frantically try to get things done. What I’m saying is that while this idea that time is limited is true, I also believe there are ways of still maximizing our time and being able to accomplish whatever we want.

Here are ten ways I have managed to be more productive and manage my time efficiently:

Make a list of the things that are not essential and take your time.

Go through this list and become aware of the many activities that you have planned during the day or week and understand which ones you can omit and do away with.

Prioritize

Eliminate the unessential things in your day that you believe are holding you back from being productive and move to the top the most important things. Shuffle things around so that one leads to the other and you don’t waist time between tasks.

Set goals

Be clear with your goals and set daily goals as well as what you want to accomplish at the end of the week. Sunday evening or Monday morning take some time to write these down so you can come back each day and at the end of the week to see your accomplishments. There is nothing as satisfactory as seeing a list with crossed out goals.

Set reminders

It’s very easy to get off track when you’re going through your daily activities. We don’t live in a vacuum so things will happen. Set reminders to keep you on track. You can use your smartphone or an alarm clock in your office or at home.

Limit social media use

I know this one is going to be tough for some of you, but notice how much time you spend on your phone or on the computer going through your social media.

Manage multi-tasking

Sometimes we will be forced to be doing more than one thing at the same time, but just know that multi-tasking will likely make you spend more time than you should on your activities. Unless you have laser precision you will commit mistakes that might delay your progress. This increases with the more activities you have going on.

Use free time for your projects.

Stop watching the baseball game, game of thrones, Netflix in general, novelas, and anything that is time consuming that you could be using otherwise.

Stop Procrastinating

Procrastination is the biggest enemy of productivity. That goes without saying and the sooner you are aware of your procrastinating habits the sooner you will be a better time manager. Catch yourself putting things off and get doing. It’s better to do even if you’re not ready than to not do anything. That is a fact that I have proven to myself many times, start doing and things will fall into place.

Learn to say no

This is one of the more difficult things I have learned. Saying no is difficult, especially when requests come from people you care about. You have to learn to say no and learned to live with the fact that you can’t solve everyone’s problems or situations. Saying no becomes liberating. Use your criteria and decide what’s worth the time.

Those are the ten things I am consistently working on to become more productive and manage my time more efficiently. Right about now, you might be thinking to your self, “and when do I have time for leisure?”

See, if you work on these and other methods of maximizing your time you will have extra time for projects and leisure. And spending time on yourself is equally important as spending it with your family and the more essential things in life.

Just be aware of the things you do and how they affect your productivity and time management so you can have more time for the things you want to accomplish and to enjoy your self.

What kind of things do you do to better manage your time?