Effective time management can be summarized into optimizing two different areas of life — planning and performance.

• "Planning" refers to the set of actions taken before you dive into a task. "What is it that I want to get done today? What are the steps I have to take to achieve this? How long will this take?" It is this effective forethought about the necessary actions of the day, and delegating time accordingly that allows individuals to succeed.

• "Performance" refers to the self-reflection of individuals while doing a task. "Am I performing at the best level I can? Is this the best use of my time right now? If not, how do I do better?" It is this constant re-evaluation of one's settings and personal abilities that allow optimization of time — that is, improvement on how time is spent day after day.

Planning

Plan in Advance!

• Make a list of all the things you need to do within three different timeframes (day, week, month) with different amounts and types of tasks in each category.
• One great way to incorporate Notion into this step is to utilize a daily or weekly to-do list. Within the list, you can add tasks you need to complete within different time frames (day, week, month, year) and create a visual representation of your tasks right on your main page, which you can regularly come back to and check off. Short-term tasks are addressed regularly on a daily basis, while long-term goals can be kept as a reminder of what you're working towards.

Our main dashboard page can be found at

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Organize and Prioritize!

• Importance vs Urgency designation. Which tasks are urgent? Which are important? Which are both?
• What is your intended outcome or goal with what you are trying to accomplish with each task, and what is the set of actions you need to take in order to get there?

Once you have your short-term tasks listed down, it's vital that you designate which ones must be addressed immediately, and require urgent attention. That being said, while some tasks are urgent, they might not be the most important in your life right now. All in all, it is up to each individual to determine what's best for them.

One day that this can be done is with an Importance-Urgency Matrix, typically known as an Eisenhower matrix. In Notion, this can be done with the "/board" function, with an example of this shown below. Here, any new tasks that come up can be added and dragged to a certain designation, and tasks that get completed can be deleted off the board. The most urgent and important tasks (far left) should be addressed first.

Importance-Urgency Matrix

How is your time spent?

• What are the regular tasks in your week that tend to consume the most time?