Do you want to increase your productivity and reduce your likelihood of burnout with a few simple changes? Time management is essential for creating the freedom to spend time with your family without worrying about work or other responsibilities. It requires a promise to change habits and a commitment to reaching new goals.

Consider these ideas:

Tip #1 – Synchronize all the calendars.

Select one calendar to combine all of life’s activities.  Managing multiple calendars for work, home,  and school takes lots of time and creates undue stress trying to keep track of all activities. Sync all other calendars to one. This allows for easier scanning to pinpoint important events, reduces stress, anxiety, and burnout from trying to keep things functioning as needed.

Tip #2 – Schedule time off by practicing time blocking.

Include time for fun in your daily, weekly, and monthly calendars. Mapping time on your calendar draws attention as priorities. Scheduling time off requires a commitment to completing other tasks on time and meeting all the deadlines.

Tip #3 – Be selective with the activity you choose to do.

The constant stream of emails and other demands on your time calls for being more selective with your tasks. The 80/20 principle is a popular way to manage time. The Pareto principle states that 80 percent of your success comes from 20 percent of your efforts. Therefore, it is important to focus on important tasks first and delegate work to others.  It also helps to group tasks together to improve time management by creating a stream of similar work without interruptions. Delegating tasks and rethinking your approach to work will help you reduce stress, anxiety, and burnout.

Tip # 4 – Find hidden time wasters and remove them.

Are you spending too much time checking Facebook messages or logging into Twitter multiple times a day? Social media can be one of the hidden daily time wasters and simply changing this habit will make way for tasks that will move your business forward. As you see more productivity in your day, you will experience less stress and the possibility of work burnout. Hidden timewasters can distract you from important tasks and affect deadlines. By removing them, you are back in control of your schedule and productivity as well as ward off burnout.

Tip #5 – Keep track of your time.

Certain tasks need to be timed to ensure you stay on schedule. You would be amazed at how much time certain tasks require to complete. A traditional kitchen egg timer is an easy way to keep track of tasks. It can be set up and left on a desk. Also, online timers operate in a similar way, but they do not take up desk space. They can be used to schedule tasks and help you stay focused.

Tip # 6 Create business goals and add them to your calendar.

Calendars can be used for more than just tracking meetings or phone calls. They can be powerful tools for tracking goals while providing daily reminders of what you want to accomplish with your time off. Creating a set of goals for business will help you focus. Do you want to book five more group vacations this month? Do you want to increase your presence on social media or send out better-targeted emails?  Each of these goals can be tracked with a calendar for better time management, identify progress, and help you to avoid burnout.

You can get more accomplished in your business and avoid burnout by streamlining how you handle your time. Calendars will help you keep track of daily tasks at work and home, but it is the commitment to creating positive change that matters.