No one is born with all the skills we need to acquire to navigate life successfully. This includes the skill of time management. Some of us are a lot better than others at this skill. It takes discipline and determination to master the art of time management. In the meantime, the rest of us need to resort to a whole host of tricks to keep ourselves on task, especially if we’re new to the world of working from home.

Your Mindset

When we go to work every day, we get up in the morning, get ready, drink rejuvenating beverages and commute to our place of employment. These things help us with time management because there’s a schedule to keep as to when we need to report to our jobs and because the act of getting ready for our day puts us in the right frame of mind. If you’re now working from home, that mental preparation period often isn’t there. Many of us can simply get up, grab a laptop and go to work in our pajamas from the comfy nest of our own favorite blankets. It helps to establish a routine each day to get us mentally in the mindset for our job. Taking this step helps build our time management skill set by transitioning us from home-mode to work-mode, thereby allowing us to focus on the job at hand and resist the distractions of laundry and what to make for dinner. Our focus permits us to manage our time at work more productively.

Disciplinary Assistance

No, this isn’t where you have to find a corner to stand in for when you need a time-out. This is all about finding the outside assistance you need to master the art of time management. Some people use checklists. These helpful lists have to meet your needs, though. This means they can be for any time period: daily, weekly, monthly or yearly. Your to-do list can also be jotted down on scrap paper, part of a spreadsheet on your goals or a checklist in the memo app on your phone. Another way people use devices to help them with time management is to set up reminders or alarms on your digital devices. Set a wake-up alarm on your fitness watch. Allow Alexa or Google Home to remind you of regularly scheduled conference calls, classes or meetings. Set an alarm on your phone to alert you of upcoming deadlines.

You can improve your time management skills even as you transition to a work-from-home environment.