You’re managing your time all wrong - productivity expert discusses National Time Management Month

As most people know, the hardest part of New Year’s resolutions is sticking to them, something that becomes increasingly difficult as the year progresses.

Therefore, in honour of National Time Management Month, productivity expert Michael Cupps has shared three essential ways to revamp your approach to time management in 2025 and embrace priority management instead.

“By developing a better understanding of your priorities and goals, you’ll be able to minimize the impact of distractions and stay focused on what genuinely matters," says Michael Cupps.

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In our busy lives it’s not always easy to find time for our goals and aspirations. This is evident in the fact that 88% of people who set New Year’s resolutions fail before the end of January. Time is a precious commodity that we cannot recycle or retrieve, which is why it is essential that we learn to manage the time we do have wisely.

A man on the phone and checking his watch outside of a train station.A man on the phone and checking his watch outside of a train station.
A man on the phone and checking his watch outside of a train station.

February is National Time Management Month, a period people often use to evaluate how far they have progressed with their New Year’s resolutions to develop their time management skills for the year ahead. For productivity expert, Michael Cupps, the key to using your time wisely actually lies in shifting one’s focus from time management towards priority management.

“If an individual does not clearly understand the importance of prioritizing, they may waste time on low-value tasks or become overwhelmed by too many tasks. By focusing on priority management you can rationalize your time and prioritize your to-do list in a way that aligns all aspects of your life and work in sync” says Cupps, author of Time Bandit, and founder of the Time Bandit app.

Therefore, in honour of National Time Management Month, Cupps has shared three essential ways to revamp your approach to time management in 2025 and embed priority management into your routine:

1. Align your roles.

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To first understand your priorities you must first understand your roles. They can be categorized into three main areas: your personal role, business role and aspirational role.

  • Personal role - The personal role pertains to your home life, health and hobbies. It’s essential not to neglect this aspect of your life; upholding your relationships is important and taking a break from work to pursue personal interests is beneficial for your mental health. If you’re able to keep two separate to-do lists for personal and business tasks, that’s great. However, Cupps says most people need a central repository to manage and balance everything effectively.
  • Business role -Regardless of whether you work for a company, are self-employed or a business owner, you likely have a lengthy to-do list. Business-related tasks can be categorized as: one-off tasks, tasks within a project, or business-as-usual (BAU) tasks (the ones you have to do to keep your business running smoothly). You may want to turn some of your BAU tasks into habits to streamline your workflow.
  • Aspirational role - The aspirational role often gets neglected in our daily and weekly routines. We keep planning to get to it but then we don’t, or we suffer from ‘maybe someday’ syndrome. Which is why New Year’s resolutions often deteriorate or don’t even begin. Yet this role is vital for your long-term motivation and peace of mind. Rather than put your aspirational role on the back burner, find a passion that you can schedule time for.

By accounting for the demands of all three roles and prioritizing respectively, you’ll be able to achieve a more balanced and fulfilling life.

2. Sort tasks effectively.

At the core of effective prioritization is learning how to properly sort tasks, or anything that demands your time. By categorizing your tasks correctly, you can ensure that you are focusing on the right thing and making the most of your time. One tool that enables you to do this is the Eisenhower Matrix - it helps you easily determine which tasks need your attention and when by placing them into one of four quadrants. Those that need your immediate attention labeled urgent/important (Do First), those that are not urgent/important should be scheduled for later (Schedule), those urgent/not important which can be given to someone else (Delegate), and finally not urgent/not important which should be eliminated (Stop!). With the Eisenhower Matrix, you can focus on what actually matters now, increase your productivity and regain control over your time.

3. Limit time wasters.

Time wasters can take many forms, but they all share the common trait of stealing time away from important tasks or activities. Therefore to be able to prioritize effectively you must be able to understand what to not waste your time on. For example, social media can waste a lot of time if used excessively and will rob us of productive work time. Other time wasters include interruptions from co-workers, procrastination, multitasking, email overload, meetings if they aren’t planned well, and digital disruptions such as dealing with several streams of information. Remove or limit as many of these time wasters as you can from your life and you’ll soon find you have more time for the things that matter.

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“Ultimately, mastering time management isn’t just about increasing productivity – it also leads to a more fulfilling life by helping you prioritize the important tasks in the most efficient way. Don’t let time manage you; take control of your day and make the most of every moment,” concludes Cupps.

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