Time management is an important tool to use to meet your goals. The good news is that time management is a skill that can be learned. It might take some creative thinking to reframe the day, but the increase in productivity and efficiency will make the effort worthwhile.

As with most things in life, one of the keys to time management is identifying what cannot be changed, what can be changed, and what needs to be prioritized to make those changes possible. For example, a person may not be able to change what time they have to be at work, or what time they have to take children to school or pick them up. However, within the parameters of the things that must be done, there is time to prioritize working efficiently. 

Here are four ways to increase your productivity to meet your goals. 

1. Top load your week. There are various catchy ways to say it, from choose your hard to eat the frog, but the basic idea is the same. The things that are difficult or challenging can create mental barriers that are hard to overcome. Put those things in the beginning of the week or day and get them out of the way. Getting those things done can create a burst of energy you can take into the rest of your list. If those things are hanging over your head all day or all week, they will sap your motivation. 
2. Work at your optimal time. Find out when your peak creativity and energy hours are, and work backwards from there to capture those precious hours. If you are an early bird, prioritize getting to bed when you need to in order to be able to wake up and be ready to work. If you are a night owl, structure your morning for sleeping in or your afternoon for a nap so that you can use those night hours for your goals. 
3. Make sure to include play and rest in your week. Just as important as scheduling your work time to coincide with your optimal times is scheduling in downtime for play and rest as well. Time for replenishment is essential to maintain your focus over the long run. If you give yourself time to relax, you’ll be surprised at how ready you are to jump back into that top-loaded week. There is a very natural cycle of work and rest and tapping into that rhythm is key to long-term success.  Rest is an important part of problem-solving as well. Your brain might be noodling along on a problem while you hike with your kids and plant your herbs over the weekend, and the solution will rise to the top on Monday when you sit down to work. 
4. Plan and assess as you go. Make the long list on Sunday , with all the hard things listed first, and be ready to hit that list on Monday morning. By Wednesday, you can re-assess and take into account what got done, what else came up, and how best to tackle what’s left. Frequent planning and reassessment sessions help sift your priorities so that you can see what really needs to get done and what can wait a little longer. Remember that you can balance structure and flexibility when it comes to your planning sessions. 

These principles can help you make the most of your work time, and they can help you meet your health goals as well. For example, if you’re working on prioritizing movement in your life, you can top load your week by planning three or four workouts early in the week for your optimal time (or right away in the morning to get them out of the way!). You can save your weekends for movement that feels fun or playful rather than like hard work, and you can plan and assess as you go to see how well it’s working. If your goal is to increase strength, plan weight workouts for Monday and Wednesday, with something to get your heart moving on Tuesday morning and a session of yoga for flexibility on Thursday. Hiking, biking, swimming, or dancing on the weekend will bring you back around to your next strength session on Monday. In a similar vein, planning healthy meals for the week and leaving some space for celebration or spontaneity on the weekend can help bring balance to your nutrition. Figuring out an optimal time to meal plan and prep for the coming week can make all the difference in how you fuel yourself. You can use these tools to create momentum in any area of your life. 

For one-on-one support in meeting your health goals, the weight loss experts at TruBalance are ready to inspire, educate, and equip you.