Top Time Management Tips to Boost Productivity

Effective time management isn’t just about getting more done. It’s about reducing stress, staying motivated, making time for deep work, and avoiding burnout.

A third of workers surveyed for Slack’s State of Work report said they struggle with motivation, and nearly as many state that they have trouble staying focused. That presents companies with an opportunity to implement tools and strategies that can support teams and help them get back on track.

When you pair these proven time management tips with an AI-powered work OS, teams can get more done without feeling like the day’s gotten away from them. Let’s explore some top strategies and tools for managing time.

1. Prioritize tasks using the Eisenhower Matrix

The Eisenhower Matrix can help you decide what to prioritize based on importance and urgency. Using this decision matrix, you can break down your task list into these four quadrants:

1. Do (urgent and important). Complete tasks with approaching deadlines immediately. These might also include high-profile or overdue projects.
2. Schedule (not urgent but important). These tasks, like strategic planning or process revision, are vital to long-term goals but may not require set deadlines.
3. Delegate (important but not urgent). This includes tasks that are time-sensitive but not high-value, like team reminders, follow-ups, or schedule management. You can often automate these tasks using workflow builder tools or AI agents.
4. Delete (not urgent and not important). These are tasks that are not essential or relevant to your immediate or long-term goals, such as spending time on social media or answering non-urgent emails.

 

2. Break down goals into actionable steps

Teams need to implement good time management strategies to stay organized, on-task, and complete complex projects on deadline. If your project has multiple stages—planning, approvals, handoff, etc.—consider using a project template to map out its phases and milestones.

Another approach is to define your goal and project requirements. Then break it into manageable steps:

• List your to-dos. Using a checklist or template, list all required steps to complete your goal.
• Break down complex tasks. If a task takes hours or days to complete, or if it involves multiple people and different types of work (research, writing/editing, client review), create subtasks.
• Batch tasks. Group similar tasks by objective or function to stay focused and reduce context switching. Also, make sure to complete all your tasks before handing off a project to another person or team to avoid slowing down the process.

 

3. Use the Pomodoro Technique

Enhance your focus by working on a specific task during a short time block called a Pomodoro. These are typically 25-minute focused blocks, followed by a five-minute break. Follow these steps to use the Pomodoro method:

• Choose a task. Pick one urgent or important task to tackle. You can also batch multiple short tasks to complete during a session.
• Start the timer. Work for 25 minutes without interruption. It’s a good idea to eliminate as many distractions as possible. Silence non-urgent notifications or block off time on your calendar.
• Take a break. Break for five minutes and come back ready to resume work.
• Repeat. The Pomodoro method repeats with four 25-minute sessions. After the fourth one, break for 20 to 30 minutes before starting again.

 

4. Set specific time limits for each task

A phenomenon known as Parkinson’s law states that we tend to use all the time available for a task, even if it could be done faster. Tasks without time limits typically take longer due to our tendency to procrastinate, become distracted, or underestimate how long something may take to complete. For example, we’ve all been in a meeting that ran long because there wasn’t a clear agenda.

To better manage your time, set time limits that are:

• Specific. Set clear time limits, like 45 minutes to draft a report. Try to complete and move on once that time is up.
• Realistic. Match the duration to your pace, but don’t be overly generous.
• Structured. Use breaks or notifications to transition to a new task.
• Trackable. Log your time per task to measure productivity. This will also help you see which tasks take longer than others.

 

5. Learn to say no and delegate

Hopping on a quick call or checking your notifications (work and nonwork related) can distract you from deep work. To be more productive, try these effective time management strategies:

• Block off time. Use your work calendar to block off time when you are unavailable to meet or chat with others.
• Update your status. Sync your Slack status with your calendar to reduce disruptions and requests you can’t accommodate.
• Delegate or automate. Create and assign tasks to your team through team channels, canvases, or third-party project management apps. Set up automated workflows for routine tasks that eat up your time.
• Assign to AI assistants. Offload research, summarization, or report analysis to AI assistants integrated with your workspace.

 

6. Use technology to your advantage

Using AI tools for productivity can free up time for high-value work. For example, Slack AI can summarize conversations and answer questions, saving users an average of 97 minutes weekly. Its AI meeting note-taker captures key points and action items during huddles so everyone on the call can focus. Consider connecting time-tracking and productivity apps to your work OS to track progress across platforms in one place.

7. Tackle challenging tasks first thing in the morning

Brian Tracy, creator of the Eat That Frog method, believes that finishing your biggest or most important task first thing in the morning is essential to achieving peak productivity and performance. Follow these tips to tackle high-priority before lower-value work:

• Identify your “frogs.” These are typically your hardest or least desirable tasks that you’re likely to put off.
• Prioritize. If you have more than one challenging task, focus on the hardest or most important one first.
• Start immediately. Get into a habit of tackling frogs right away at the start of each day without overthinking them.
• Persist until complete. Only move on to other things once you’ve “eaten the frog.”

 

8. Review and adjust your time management plan

Assess your productivity weekly or monthly and refine your time management strategies. Time-tracking or task management tools can help you identify patterns, like delays leading to more urgent tasks or missed deadlines, that correspond with an uptick in low-value activities. Maximize your time by updating task time estimates based on your insights. Then revise your weekly schedule and set up or reconfigure automations and other task delegation.

Five time management apps to keep you on track

Practice these time management tips by exploring the top apps for organizing your daily schedule, increasing focus, and improving business productivity.

We chose tools from G2, which scores software based on user feedback, available features, and overall satisfaction. G2 uses a five-star system focused on usability, customer satisfaction, and market presence. Each app listed has a minimum four-star rating, making them top contenders for improving productivity and time management skills.

1. Slack. Improve your time management by connecting this AI-powered work OS to your calendar and business software. Use enterprise search to find organizational knowledge instantly, automate workflows, and delegate task list creation or updates to an AI teammate.
2. Notion. This productivity app has a customizable workspace with project and task tracking, an integrated calendar with color-coding options for visualizing work and personal activities, and built-in scheduling tools.
3. Trello. Individuals and small teams can use these beginner-friendly Kanban boards to manage projects or schedules by creating lists and cards to track due dates, task details, and collaborators.
4. Todoist. Manage your work or personal life by adding tasks to your to-do list, setting recurring reminders, establishing productivity goals, and receiving a daily email with a snapshot of your tasks.
5. RescueTime. Identify or eliminate poor time management habits with alerts for nonproductive activities, detailed time-tracking reports, goal-setting tools, and distraction-free focus sessions.

 

Time management benefits and best practices

Better time management skills let you get more done without the added stress. Researchers found that good mental health and less procrastination are two key benefits of using time management strategies.

According to Slack’s State of Work report, top-performing employees with better general well-being are 242% more likely to use AI at work. Those who automate workflows are also 71% more likely to exceed managers’ expectations.

Highly productive workers mentioned in Slack’s Workforce Index use time management strategies to boost their efficiency. These people are 60% more likely to time-block tasks and 120% more likely to use focus timers. Those who scheduled breaks reported 62% better work-life balance and 43% less stress than those who did not.

Overcoming common time management challenges

Although hectic schedules can’t always be avoided, minor adjustments and the right project management tools can help you make better use of your time. Look at your daily schedule and workflows to find ways to save time and improve the quality of your work, mental health, and personal life. Here’s how to overcome common challenges with time management.

Identify and eliminate time wasters

Time-tracking apps like Harvest or TrackingTime integrate with business tools, including your Slack workspace, to help you understand how you spend your time. By reviewing time logs, you can identify poor time management habits and use productivity tips to ditch time wasters. Build better time management skills by eliminating these barriers:

• Multitasking. According to the American Psychological Association, switching between activities or doing two tasks simultaneously or back-to-back without pausing is inefficient and can cause errors.
• Clutter. Psychology Today reported on research linking office clutter to lower job satisfaction, reduced performance, and mental fatigue — not to mention distraction.
• Disorganized information. Nearly half of workers surveyed by Gartner said they waste time searching for information needed to do their job effectively. Organizing data in one place and using AI-powered search tools can help teams find answers faster.

Stop procrastinating with practical strategies

Delaying tasks puts you behind schedule and can mean missed deadlines. Try these tips to stop putting off tasks and act before they pile up:

• Two-minute rule. If you can do a task in two minutes or less, do it now so it doesn’t become a distraction or another to-do list item. This concept is based on the Getting Things Done method devised by productivity expert David Allen.
• Temptation bundling. Pair something you want with something you need to do. For example, get a fancy coffee only when you have to complete training videos, or sit in your favorite remote work nook only when doing deep work.
• Next action method. When procrastinating a task, imagine the first small step you can do, like opening an app or reviewing a document. Complete that action, then break the remaining task into manageable steps.

Use calendars and planners to stay focused

Using digital planners, calendars, and AI scheduling assistants can help you fully tap into time management, reducing stress and fatigue while saving time and boosting productivity.

For example, book meetings faster with Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook Calendar apps for Slack. These apps can scan your teammates’ calendars to show available meeting times. You can also receive your daily schedule via direct message and automatically send your team’s weekly schedule or event list to your team channel.

Transform the way you work with better time management

Time management strategies help you prioritize tasks, manage workloads, and improve your overall well-being. But you don’t have to master every skill at once. Choose one strategy or tool and test it out. Even small changes can make your daily schedule more manageable and productive.

___

This article is for informational purposes only. This article features products from Slack, which we own. We have a financial interest in their success, but all recommendations are based on our genuine belief in their value.