The more blogging and freelance work I do, the more I realize how terrible I am at time management. I spend far too much time getting distracted by Twitter, Emails, RSS feeds, Facebook, sports, news – oh wait… where was I? Oh, that’s right, be careful not to get too distracted.

I’ve just now begun to realize the importance of scheduling and prioritizing my tasks. I’d like to share with you what I’ve learned and how some of the design community deals with time management.

Making a To-Do List

First off, you should start with an overall to-do list? Afterall, it’s impossible to remember all your tasks, and amazing post ideas. Try to keep a pen and paper handy, or some kind of note taking app of your choice. I love using Evernote, it’s a cool web app that allows me to jot down all my tasks and ideas, and it’s as simple as pie.

Prioritizing Tasks

Now that you have all your tasks in one place, it’s time to prioritize them. Many of the note taking apps allow you to do this. Some folks just use a color coded spreadsheet. With different colors representing different levels of importance. The main thing is to get a system in place that helps you organize which tasks to do when.

Be careful not to keep pushing the same tasks to the bottom, or else they will never get done. It’s wise to schedule some specific time for these bottom feeder tasks.

Setting a Schedule

Speaking of a schedule, now that you have a to-do list all prioritized you can began to compile a daily schedule. I know from personal experience that It’s nearly impossible to stick to every detail, but it’s quite helpful to outline your day. I’ve found that even a flexible schedule is much better than a fly by the seat of your pants approach. A simple list of work times and tasks is usually sufficient.

Be sure to set aside times for social media, email and rss feeds. These things are important, but you should do so in moderation. Many designers/bloggers (including myself) have a tendency to be obsessive compulsion about checking these areas.

During your scheduled work time, turn off the email client, twitter and anything else that proves too distracting. You’ll find you’re so much more productive when you spend an hour focused, rather than a bunch of 10 minute bursts.

Reaching Out to the Design Community

After much thought about what I should be doing to improve my time management skills, I decided to pose a series of quick questions to some of my favorite bloggers in the design community. Their answers were honest and helpful. Here’s what they had to say…

Chris Coyier – CSS Tricks

Do you set a schedule? If so, what does your daily routine look like?

I work from home, but I probably have more of a schedule than many home-workers have. I basically work 8-5 at “the day job” right now. I spend time before and after that working on my other projects, so I put in a lot of hours at the ol’ desk. The routine is basically a hodgepodge of Communication (Email & IM), Designing (Photoshop), and Coding (Coda).

Do you use any sort of app to help you keep track of your to-do list?

I’m a Mac guy and I use Things for my to-do lists. It’s pretty nice, but I don’t “live by it” like some folks do. It’s more of my reference guide and for longer term “don’t forget this” stuff. My actual to-do list, unfortunately, is my email inbox.

What are your biggest challenges for sticking to a schedule?

Because of the expectations of my day job, I don’t find it particularly challenging. If I wandered off, or sat around watching TV all day, I wouldn’t have a job for very long.

What advice would you give for someone trying to improve his/her time management skills?

Obviously distractions is the biggest time killer. If you are putting in hours and hours at the computer only to stand up and find you didn’t accomplish anything, you have a problem. It might be time to turn off IM, quit your Twitter app, and focus on the project at hand. I do that a lot. If I start dragging I start quitting applications to prevent distractions. Apparently my brain is that easily fooled.

Chad Mueller – Inspiredology

Do you set a schedule? If so, what does your daily routine look like?

I am a freelance designer as well, so Inspiredology is another project for me, I try to keep the to-do lists separate. I try to set a schedule for posting, as well as I try to have 5+ posts sitting in WordPress ready to go if I need it. I am not a daily blogger, so I don’t have a routine, I tend to just write blog posts as they come to me.

Do you use any sort of app to help you keep track of your to-do list?

The only real app that I have been sticking to that takes care of my to-do list tasks is Gmail. I have tried Doomi, Things, Remember the Milk, but I found that since I spend so much time in my web browser, and email, it is just easier. I use a really good system for archiving emails, adding them as tasks, and such. I have also used Ta-Dah Lists – I really loved this, and I do still use it, it super simple, easy to use and looks great.

What are your biggest challenges for sticking to a schedule?

I have a full time design job 9-5 then I come home and work on my freelance stuff, and in between there I have to manage and write for Inspiredology. So it’s very tough keeping a good schedule, and finding the right time to do blog tasks, or working on projects that help pay for bills. Time management is a great skill to master, and its a very challenging thing to do. So all in all, I would say prioritizing between projects, as well as being effiecient.

What advice would you give for someone trying to improve his/her time management skills?

You definetly need some sort of to-do list, whether it’s pen and paper or a great to do app or program. Organize yourself with a good system, whether it’s rating tasks with stars, colours, tabs and etc… You will find that if you are organized, you don’t need to manage yourself as much, you can concentrate on managing your blog and projects.

Sam Dunn – Build Internet

Do you set a schedule? If so, what does your daily routine look like?

My idea schedule goes something like this:

• Check and respond to Email
• Hit up Twitter/blogs for latest in community
• Work on blog post or client projects
• Check Stats sparingly
• End day with a smile

In reality it goes something like this

• Check and respond to email
• Get hung up on twitter/articles
• Explore new Photoshop/jQuery/CSS trick
• Check stats more than I should
• Work on blog post/client work amongst all of this

Do you use any sort of app to help you keep track of your to-do list?

I have sampled both Hit List and Things for the Mac, but somehow always deteriate back to Stickies (the default note taking app for OSX). I have a rather large one on my desktop at all times with a hefty to do list. I don’t really need a calendar/to-do list application to manage that for me, I like how quickly I can deal with my Stickie note, it’s rapid fire.

What are your biggest challenges for sticking to a schedule?

Sometimes I’ll be trolling through articles or CSS galleries and stumble upon something that inspires me to write a tutorial or learn a new jQuery technique. When I get excited about something like that I get terribly sidetracked, luckily I have deadlines to rope me back in before the point of no return. I used to get hung up checking stats and responding to email all the time, but I’ve recently pumped the brakes in that regard and limit those addictions. As a result I have bundles more time now.

What advice would you give for someone trying to improve his/her time management skills?

I just read the book Four Hour Work Week by Tim Feriss and sweet goodness did that open my eyes. It’s a New York Times bestseller for a reason, definitely worth a read for those that need a new perspective on time management.

Your Turn

Please join the discussion. I’d love to hear about your time management experiences. Drop me a comment below and answer the following questions…

• Do you set a schedule? If so, what does your schedule look like?
• Do you use any sort of app to help you keep track of your to-do list?
• What are your biggest challenges for sticking to your schedule?
• What advice would you give for someone trying to improve his/her time management skills?