Planning is probably the most important thing you can do in order to manage your time efficiently and effectively. When you plan your tasks and create a list of tasks, you become aware of the things you need to accomplish at any particular days and how you can most outstanding allocate your time. With a list of things to do, you have a clear view of each task and you can arrange them in the order that would help you maximize your time.
Here is a good practice: At the end of each day, create a list of things you need to do the next day. List the tasks according to their urgency. Tasks that are high priority need to go on top of your list while tasks that are low priority need to attendwards the bottom of your list.
Do further prioritizing on your high priority tasks. Among the tasks in your high priority list, which one is the most urgent? Arrange your priorities so you can execute them as fast as possible. This practice ensures that you will not miss any important tasks but at the same time, you will not neglect the less important ones.
However, if you tend to be more productive and have more energy towards the latter part of the day, reverse your list -- put the low priorities on top and the high priorities on the bottom -- and simply work through the small tasks at the beginning of the day. Don't forget to add tasks you didn't manage to complete during the previous day.
Creating a simple to-do list is a very fundamental strategy toward mastering time management. When you have a clear picture of your daily goals, you can face your tasks and tackle them. Without a to-do list or something concrete to help you manage your time, you would feel stressed and unable to function productively.