While it is obvious that you will need a budget to better manage your money, you also need similar discipline to manage your time. The same way unbudgeted funds could be wasted on nonessentials, time which is an irrecoverable asset can equally be wasted if we "fail to budget our time".

The act of creating a time budget is called time management. It’s a skill we all need.

Unlike money, unused time is not saved and does not accumulate; it is considered as being used in doing nothing. Every day you get 24 hours "paid" to your time account. Use it or lose it.

Organizing My Daily Schedule?

I treat time like cash I can’t save. So I use the Night Audit + Day Blocks method: I budget it daily, and spend the first hours on high-priority work.

While rounding up a previous day, I use five to ten minutes to run through the day's activities. Some items may have to be carried forward if they failed or were not completed.

While moving items into the new day, I will watch out for events that may have already been logged on for the day, previous appointments, a call I had to make or a place I had to go.

Some days of the week have built-in recurring events at a specific time. Once these events are loaded into the new day, all high-priority events are scheduled for the active parts of the day. I put heavy work in my 9-12am block when my head is still clear.

I use a book for my backup while the main work is on my Huawei tablet. I had always wanted an organiser, but this tablet does it all.

_{^{The pencil makes it easy to make updates and edit when necessary.}}

_{^{Budgeting my time on an electronic device}}

My Most Important Task

I work at a construction site, the daily activities of planning, directung and supervicing the work is my most important task for most of the days. I execute this tasks early. Some days I will have to contact my employes with pictures of work done so far with the aim of getting funds. Withoout these founds, the work may grind badly.

The whole process works in sequence, once one thing moves, the others will move but if a supplier fails to deliver in time, work will suffer. So calling suppliers is part of my daily activities and are essential.

Managing people is a very strainous activity and requires a lot of skills, understanding and patience.

Techniques that saves time?

A very motivated person may not be as accomplished as someone who has good work habits that conserve time and boost productivity.

Do not interrupt my work when my head is all in it, often between 9am and 12 noon, except in a case of a safety emergency. This is because frequent interrupting questions kill time bit by bit and often take me off focus.

People are already assigned tasks and some questions can be answered by our foreman. Interrupting questions like, "How many bags of cement should we use?" when I am controlling the flow of work. Before such questions get to me, they should work up the chain and would likely be answered before they get to me. Every interruption costs 10-15min to refocus.

I also make sure I address an issue once. Once a task is picked up, I follow it to the end with that starting energy and enthusiasm. It’s like beating the iron when it is glowing hot. Once it gets cool, it will need more power to accomplish the same amount.

At the end of a work day, I run through the day's tasks looking for tasks that got blocked and figuring who I should call tomorrow to make it work, what tools/materials must be ready before 8am, and what caused the spillover. Once this is set and recorded for the next day, I can fully shut down work for the day at close of work. With this habit my head stops replaying work at night. I wake up with a clear head and an already planned day, so execution moves faster in the morning and time is saved.

Struggling with poor time management

I am gaining mastery over my time but it has not always been the case. There was a time I had issues with my time. It was as if 24 hours were not enough for me. Always running to catch up with deadlines.
There was this friend of mine who always talked about a dull pencil being better than a sharp mind. He always bought a diary for himself and would religiously enter appointments, action plans and other activities. He had more mastery over his time and I loved it and started with a mechanical pencil and a beautiful note.

All ideas went into the notebook so I don't forget or lose them. Because I loved organisers, I turned to my phone's calendar and input reminders and action plans.

That is how I started my journey into time management. I also had to attend seminars on effective time management where I had to learn more

Advice for better time management

My time management advice is basic and may have a bias towards the nature of my work. While many people plan in the morning, planning the night before works better. I sometimes start at the end of work.

Protect your productive hours. Mine is 9am-12pm. Avoid any distractions during these hours to keep you focused. It is an important time block.

Write down your action plans. I do it in a sweet-looking book with a pencil that looks good. Something I can pull out in public and make notations in it. Let your brain do the processing while the storing stays in a notebook.

Control the amount of interruption you allow. They kill your time one interruption at a time, and it may take you minutes to get back to where you were.

I am inviting @josepha, @diamond and @bnrenny to participate in this contest

Media Credit

Composer	@manuelhooks
Graphics from	Galaxy-A15
Entry type	SCS32-W3
Organizer	@ahsansharif
Contest link	Click here
Community	Steem For Pakistan
Date	Satuday.. 13 June
	(@) 2026