Managing your time effectively is its own reward. For every day that you complete your to-do list efficiently and finish your work early, you have time to spare. The time you win back, you can put toward things that you truly want, whether that is relaxing in a sunbeam or working on a creative skill. There are many ways that people try to live more efficiently, but we have found that time allocation is the key.
It’s not what you do, but how effectively you do it. Time allocation techniques allow you to take control of how you spend your time, how much time you spend on each task, and ultimately how efficient each day can be. Once you master time allocation, you can regain control over your life and – more importantly – your free time.
Whether your goal is to perform exceptionally at work for a promotion or simply to complete your tasks with satisfactory speed, we’ll take you on a tour of time allocation techniques that you can try today.
Understanding Time Allocation
The essential time allocation meaning is to assign specific amounts of time to everything you do in the day. Rather than listing everything and completing the items in order, you decide how much time and which section of your day each task will be granted. In this way, time allocation is one of the best methods to ensure that the day doesn’t get away from you one task at a time, because time is the deciding factor rather than the checklist itself.
The definition of time allocation is to allocate tasks based on time. Keeping a planner or a time tracking app handy are both useful ways to ensure that you don’t spend too long an any one task, so that more tasks can be addressed throughout the day.
What is an Example of Allocated Time?
Time allocation can be summarized in two different examples. One is to allocate tasks based on a planner schedule. You might check your email from 7:05 to 7:15, then allocate a work focus session from 7:15 to 10:15, and so on. This is when you dedicate blocks of time to specific tasks or projects.
However, the alternative way is to give each task a set amount of time that you will focus on it, no matter when you address the task during the day. For example, you might resolve to check your emails for only 10 minutes and spend 3 hours in a focus session. Both could take all day, but assigning a limited amount of time to each task ensures you have time to address all your duties each day, then come back for another timed round later.
Proven Time Allocation Techniques
Let’s take a closer look at some of the most popular time allocation techniques currently being used. Time allocation provides many opportunities to get organized and more time-efficient, and each one has different advantages and strategies that optimize the results.
Of course, not everyone thinks, organizes, or achieves efficiency in the same way. The best way to unlock your hidden potential for efficiency is to explore all the time allocation techniques to discover which one works best for you. At least one of the following six-time allocation systems is sure to make you feel motivated and help you realize just how much you are truly able to complete in a day.
1. The Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro Technique has received a huge amount of hype and support from both organized and non-organized professionals alike. Why? Because it is simple, and it works.
The basic premise behind the Pomodoro Technique is to break up your focus into 25-minute segments in which you focus on a single task, then rest for 5 minutes. It’s really that simple. The Pomodoro Technique broken into steps looks like this:
- Choose 1 task to focus on
- Focus on your task for 25 minutes: Set a timer
- Stop after 25 minutes
- Take a 5-minute break to do whatever
- Repeat until satisfied.
There are three important elements to the Pomodoro Technique: Focus, Timer, and Rest.
Focus
The first element of Pomodoro is focus. You choose just one task. You focus on that task while the time runs without distraction. You don’t stop to scroll your phone or answer an email. You do only your chosen task for the full 25 minutes, or until the task is completely done. This eliminates the false efficiency of multi-tasking.
Timer
The timer allows you to stay in control of your time. You can’t over-focus and work too long, stealing time you need to do other things. You also can’t break off too soon because you should be focusing until the timer goes off. The short timer also ensures that you have time for other tasks.
Break
The break in the Pomodoro cycle is what keeps you from burning out with this high-intensity time allocation technique. You get 5 minutes out of every 30 minutes to close your eyes, sip some coffee, or whatever helps you refresh your mind before starting the next 25-minute task timer.
After about 2 hours of this, take a 15-to-30-minute break. This will keep the burnout at bay.
2. Eisenhower Matrix
The Eisenhower Matrix helps you organize your task list by two factors: urgency and importance. You have probably seen these little square charts before without even realizing that it’s a time allocation technique. The goal is to re-prioritize your task list and handle each task in the most efficient way possible. If you’ve ever made a punnet square in science class, you’ll recognize this one.
The concept is very simple. You are sorting your tasks by urgency and importance, and the square they wind up in determines your next course of action.
- Start by drawing a square made of four squares.
- over the top two squares, write ‘Urgent’ and ‘Not Urgent’
- Write beside the top-left square “Important” and the bottom-left square “Not-Important”.
Now you have your matrix. Within your matrix will be 4 options
- Do: Top-Left / Urgent and Important
- Schedule: Top-Right / Not Urgent, but Important
- Delegate: Bottom-Right / Urgent, but Not Important
- Delete: Bottom-Left / Not Urgent and Not Important
Sort your tasks into these four squares and follow the directions. Do the most important and urgent, book time for the important but not urgent, assign the urgent but not important, and get rid of tasks that are neither urgent nor important.
This way, your time is spent only on the most high-priority tasks, so you get the most important and urgent things done first.
3. Eating the Frog
“Eat the frog” means doing the most difficult thing first. This time-allocation strategy is credited to famous author Mark Twain, who once said “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.”
Eating the frog is one of the simplest time allocation techniques. it can be boiled (pun intended) down to a single overarching policy. Identify the thing you want to do least and do it first.
This single technique is the cure for procrastination, which is one of life’s greatest time thieves. Any procrastinator knows the time lost to avoiding that one thing you do not want to do.
If you do it first, suddenly the block is removed from your day, and you can dive into the rest of your to-do list with that thing (probably not as bad as you thought/as bad as eating a frog) taken care of.
Focus, Efficiency, and Frog Eating
Those who have looked more deeply into the “eat the frog” approach to time management have also found several important advantages.
Eating your frog first thing in your workday ensures that you have the most energy available to tackle the difficult task. It ensures you have the most time to deal with challenges or dive into a long focus session. It also provides you peace of mind because you are not distracted during your entire day worrying about that lurking frog/task.
4. 80/20 Rule (Pareto Principle)
The Pareto Principle also comes from a quote, this time by 1800s economist Vilfred Pareto. The core of the principle is that 80% of results come from 20% of your effort.
That’s a big concept to think about. When planning your time allocation, applying the Pareto Principle means that you should identify which of your tasks falls into that crucial 20%. Then narrow your focus to do those 20% tasks first and best.
20% of Effort
Pareto identified that, in general, a smaller portion of your effort will have a bigger result. It might be that the work you do on a presentation will go further than the hours you pour into the reports that back your presentation. Pareto wasn’t saying that the other 80% isn’t important, just that you’ll go further by identifying that crucial 20% and giving it an extra push.
When allocating your time, identify the most important tasks each day and give them extra effort. Then, minimize the time used on the other 80% for the greatest efficiency, knowing they will have less impact.
5. Golden Hours
The Golden Hours time allocation technique involves identifying your personal best times to work. Everyone has golden hours, and not-so-golden hours. The key is to save your hardest work and your focus blocks for those golden hours when your energy is at its peak.
Know Your Golden Hours
Most people are at their most alert between mid-morning and lunchtime. However, night owls are the most energetic between dinner and midnight. Early risers are at their best between dawn and 10 AM.
You might have two sets of golden hours. Perhaps you’re wakeful in the late morning and the early evening, with a dip in energy just after lunch and dinner. Or perhaps you’re a double-golden night owl who loves early evening and those quiet hours of the early morning.
Optimize Your Energy
Once you know your best times of day, plan your task-list to align the hardest tasks and the longest focus sessions with your golden hours. Make use of your brain at its sharpest so that you can complete the most challenging tasks with your daily peak of capability.
6. Time Blocking
Time blocking is a technique that involves breaking your day up into time blocks and then assigning tasks to each block. It’s a good way to try several time allocation methods at once in a very organized fashion. You can use Pomodoro time blocks or longer blocks for focus sessions and team collaborations.
You can block your days by the hour or two-hour segments, or in 15-minute segments if you have many smaller tasks to complete.
Time blocks have the advantage of keeping you from running overtime on a task or under-focusing by trying to multi-task because there is blocked time for everything.
Implementing Time Allocation in Daily Routines
If you’re looking to gain long-term advantages in time management, it’s best to build time allocation into your daily routines. Using the same techniques every day will build a cycle that your brain will adapt to automatically. Once you have been blocking your time or using Pomodoro segments or prioritization techniques, your brain will jump directly to these methods when a new list of tasks arises to tackle.
How Should You Allocate Your Time?
- Know how much time you have in the day
- Split up your schedule into practical segments, either time blocks or set times for each task
- Choose a time allocation technique that aligns with your work schedule
- Keep track of your time allocation in a planner or scheduling app
- Use a time tracking app to plan time blocks and avoid going over time
How Do You Allocate Time for a Project?
When you have a project ahead of you, break up the project into specific tasks and segments. Once your project becomes a to-do list, you can apply your time allocation techniques. Make sure that the time you allocate for each step of the project fits into your deadline and adapt as needed.
Planning and allocating time for projects can result in better efficiency and outcomes.
Maximizing Productivity Through Time Allocation
If you’re looking to maximize your productivity, try several different time allocation techniques to discover which ones work best for you. Every person’s brain is a little different, so some techniques will inspire you to greater productivity and help you stay on track while others might not be as effective.
Don’t be afraid to combine techniques, either. For example, you can absolutely learn your golden hours, then use frog eating and time blocking to get the hardest work done at your best times. Or perhaps you’d rather Pomodoro your Eisenhower top-priority tasks 25 minutes at a time.
Keep track of what you try and the efficiency you achieve to find what works best for you.
Discover Your Hidden Potential for Task Efficiency with Time Tracker
Using time allocation techniques can unlock your own potential for task efficiency. Tracking your time is a key element to both assigning tasks to time slots and assigning time slots to tasks. No matter what type of time allocation you prefer, Time Tracker by eBillity can help you optimize your use of time and personal efficiency.
Try the 14-day Time Tracker free trial to see for yourself whether our app is the key to mastering your schedule each day.