Tommi - Find time, get more done [iPhone]

Tommi is a mobile app for creating a time budget to plan out your day to its full potential. Inspired by the “Time Budget” time management strategy, Tommi helps you find the time that might be hiding in your daily grind and make the most value out of your time to get stuff done. Just like money, we all have limited amount of time. Tommi applies the concept of creating a Time Budget for managing your time and completing tasks in the same way as you would approach budgeting your finances for spending money and making purchases.

Key concept is breaking down your day into several time blocks and assigning tasks, while making sure no more than just enough time is allocated to each time block - Just like how you would categorize your expenses in your financial budget and allocate reasonable amount of money for each spending category.

1. Take time inventory - Break down your day
Take a hard look at how you spend your time throughout the day. What tasks are being done at what time of the day? Then group these tasks into different time blocks based on when they are performed. Assign start and finish time to each time block. The start time indicates when you expect to start working on the first task of the time block, while the finish time implies when all tasks within the time block are expected to be completed.This is your baseline time budget.

2.Find time for more stuff
Need to get more stuff done? Take a look at your current time budget, and see how much time is left to take on additional tasks. Find an open time slot that is long enough to allow sufficient time to get all tasks done, and schedule a time block. Don’t have enough time left on your time budget for new tasks? Perhaps you should look through your existing tasks and determine if all of them are truly necessary. If not, you can remove some of the ongoing tasks to free up some time for additional tasks. Or maybe now is not the right time to take on new tasks. The key is staying realistic while managing your time budget.

3. Assign new tasks to the time block
After a time block has been scheduled, add a list of tasks to be completed during this time slot. Make sure you allocate enough time to complete all tasks assigned to the time block and it doesn’t interfere with other time blocks. You can choose to prioritize the tasks and indicate which ones are important and should be completed first.

4. Stick to the plan
Most important thing about time management is your commitment. Once you plan out your day, try your best to stick to the plan. This means getting to tasks on time and fighting the urges to procrastinate. And also STOP working if you run out of the time allotted for the time block. Remember you are treating your time as you would treat money. You shouldn’t spend more time than what you’ve allotted. If you absolutely have to spend more time to get additional tasks done, you can take some time from other time blocks as needed. Stuff happens of course, so occasionally we have no choice but to adjust our schedule. We just need to be proactive about managing our time and never lose sight of where our time is being spent.

5. Review and revise
Take a shot at creating a time budget and try it out. See how it works out for your daily life, and make adjustment as you see fit.