Most of us believe that we could all achieve incredible things if we could learn how to manage our time better. But this is only partially true. Pushing yourself to the limit to maximize your efficiency could cause burnout instead, which can take a lot of time to recover from. So, when mapping out how you will manage your time better, make sure your plan includes breaks and rest too!
Use an app that tracks time management
If you spend a lot of your time working online, apps could help you track your productivity with ease! Many devices already have a built-in tracker that measures screen time and the length of time spent on individual apps. But by using external apps that are specially designed to help improve time management, you could see your productivity soar.
Timing App
Offering a free two-week trial for anyone interested, this app tracks how you spend time while you are on your computer and displays it clearly in a timetable format. Within this, you can rename and group certain activities together, adding in different projects you are working on and more. It allows you to keep focused on your work without constant timers going off, prioritizing reflection after you have finished.
Toggl Track
This app is ideal for small teams, big teams, and freelance workers too! It helps you stay accountable even when nobody’s checking, keeping you on top of your work because you want to be. Plus, it automatically creates invoices and detailed insights, so you can keep an eagle-eye over how much people are working and whether you need to lighten their load.
Create a realistic, goal-oriented plan
If you dedicate time every day to achieve a specific task, you’ll become so used to it that you complete it without even thinking twice. People tend to slip up when they keep their goals vague and achieve more when they are more specific. For example, instead of setting your goal as "upgrade the children’s ministry curriculum," make your goal "research kids’ ministry curriculum options and rank my top three."
But don’t overestimate your abilities. When thinking about how to improve time management skills, it’s easy to distort how efficient we are in our minds. This leads us to piling far too many jobs on our desks, leaving us running perpetually late. When we are not on top of our daily tasks, achieving long-term goals is, unfortunately, far less likely. Instead, if you notice that your Monday mornings are too busy, take a look at your schedule and see what can be moved, re-arranged, or re-assigned.
Be sure to schedule breaks too
The Pomodoro Technique suggests that a way to boost efficiency is to choose one task to focus all of your attention on. Set a timer for 25 or 30 minutes and once the time is up, take a break for a maximum of five minutes. Each time you complete a block of focused work, note it down in your workbook, and when you have reached four blocks of work (which is roughly two hours), you can take a more substantial break, make lunch or go for a walk.
This is an effective way to improve efficiency because the short periods of work are long enough to be productive but are not so long that you feel overwhelmed or exhausted. Before you know it, you will have had a productive morning as you feel more willing to stack work periods on top of one another. When we are too harsh on ourselves and try to work solidly for a period of four hours, our mind wanders, and productivity crashes.
How to improve efficiency
There are a variety of different apps and websites available for churches to use to boost their efficiency and complete some of the work that most pastors and church workers don’t want to. Removing the boring and menial work from your plate helps you carve out time for the work that really matters.
Tithe.ly
Helping to facilitate smooth communication between staff, volunteers, and members, this software removes many of the bumps in the road that emerge from misunderstandings. Make sure you don’t waste any time and keep everyone in your team on the same page with the best church management software that plans services, organizes volunteers, and more.
Playlister
Don’t waste your time memorizing rosters and class schedules. Get your ministry software that will do it for you! Not only does Playlister allow you to pre-schedule all of your classes so that the content will be ready and waiting when the class is due to begin (if you use the Orange curriculum alongside it), but the content is imported automatically too.
Take your ministry to the next level when you hold yourself accountable for your time management and efficiency. Cut a few corners along the way by equipping the help of invaluable software, and it will be easier than you could imagine.
If you're interested, listen to this TEDX talk about the Philosophy of Time Management.