The Importance of Time Management

Everyone could benefit from making their time management skills better, definitely when it comes to working under pressure. Because if you do not manage your time, opportunities, efficiency and your work-life balance might slip.

Time management is easier said then done as we all say. As with most if not all skills, it takes time and practice to get good at it.

What is Time Management?

Time management involves the coordination of tasks and activities to maximize the effectiveness of an individual's efforts. The goal for time management is to equip people to get more and better work done in less time.

The skills that time management involves organization, planning and scheduling to best take advantage of time available.

The people that are productive manages their time well because they likely focus on the results. The results include:

• Meeting deadlines

• Produce quality work

• Experience less stress

• Have excellent professional reputations

• Better work life balance

Why is Time Management Important?

Time management is important because it's ability to assign meaning to time, which helps people make the most of their time. In a business environment, it is used to set goals and expectations for businesses and their employees. Time management when used well help deliver quality work and meet goals effectively.

Making a List

Time management starts with preparing and planning. Each morning take time to make a list of tasks that require your immediate attention. The advantages of the to-do lists include:

• Keep you focused on your objectives

• Help you remember even smallest tasks

• Help you prioritize what is more important or urgent

• Show the bigger picture

• Save time

• Keep you in control/on track

• Create record of what you've done and when

• Provide sense of achievement as you cross off completed tasks.

Personal Time Management

Even though it is important to have good time management skills for your employment, it is also important that you have time management for your personal life. These personal skills include:

1) Don't multitask: in order to get most out of time, we often feel obligated to do several things at once, but we accomplish more when we focus on one thing at a time. This can hinder productivity because it takes much more time to finish a task.

2) Learn to say no: politely decline to take on more work if you're feeling overloaded and overwhelmed.

3) Set deadlines: set realistic deadlines/make sure you stick to them.

4) Take breaks: your body needs regular breaks to prevent eye or muscle strain, headaches and leg cramps and your mind needs short breaks to rest and refresh.

How to Improve Your Time Management Skills:

1) Determine Your Priorities

In your day to day activities, some tasks are more important than others.

It can also mean the same about accomplishing your long term goals, whether it is a promotion or investing more time in a hobby.

Figuring out what your priorities are is the first step towards productive time management. You should have a clear picture of your top priorities. After all, how can you set out to accomplish your goals until you identify them clearly?

One method that seems effective is called the Eisenhower Matrix, which helps you to categorize and separate your most critical tasks from those that you can delegate or eliminate entirely.

Eisenhower Matrix:

A. Highly Urgent Tasks: crisis, urgent deadlines, important inquiries

B. Schedule/Complete ASAP: further training, project planning, process development, human relations.

C. Delegate: administrative tasks, bookings, invoices, orders

D. Eliminate: unimportant phone calls/emails, distractions.

2) Avoid Multi-Tasking:

While many people believe and praise people's ability to multitask, there are also reasons to believe it hinder your improvement of time management skills.

Multitasking can negatively affect your working memory and ability to focus on important tasks.

What makes it true is the fact that, in reality, you never truly multitask. When there are various tasks you juggle with, can be completed to some level, but none will be the best of your abilities.

It is important to learn how to devote your whole attention to the task at hand if you want to improve your time management skills. Your productivity can only increase if you manage sustained focus and effort.

3) Avoid Distractions:

Our daily lives are often fast paced and full of distractions and happens often, that distractions get in the way of improving time management. If your working from home, for example, it might be hard to concentrate on work due to having more distractions than in the office and you'll have lost hours of your time.

Great ways to avoid distractions including putting your phone aside or turning off notifications, having an office space even if your working from home and asking family members not to disturb you.

4) Learn to Say NO:

Many people will take on as many responsibilities either to make positive impressions and show their dedication to work or because they can't say no. Tasks that bear overwhelming amounts can have a toll on your work efficiency and mindset.

Creating a limit on how much workload you're willing to accept can help you manage your time and focus on the important tasks. In time, you will be able to focus and become productive in most pressing tasks.

Start by figuring out how much work is realistic for you and then be sure and confident to decline any offered workload that goes beyond it. If you feel bad or guilty about not being able to help, just explain to whoever asked that you don't have the time to do the quality work they expect or that you have other, more important deadlines to meet.

5) Use Time Management Apps:

It's all to easy to get overwhelmed with never ending daily reminders of scheduled tasks and meetings and trying to catch up can take a toll on your work flow.

By using time management apps, you can easily organize everything in one space and track your time for different tasks.

6) Organize Your Day:

A goal is nothing more than a wish without a solid plan to support it in place. And without proper day to day organization, improving your time management skills can turn into a crippling task.

However, if you organize your day, prioritize your tasks and measure your progress, you will know precisley where you stand as you work toward your bigger goals.

There are several effective strategies to organize your day and get faster results.

7) Take Breaks:

Although you might feel tempted to complete large amounts of work before taking a break, strategy could seriously harm your mental health.

To start, skipping your breaks could result in fast burnout and overwhelming stress. Stepping away from your work for a few minutes every couple of hours can help you achieve more with greater comfort and enjoyment, boosting your overall efficiency.

Benefits of Time Management

1) Less Stress:

Managing your time reduces your stress and increases your confidence. Taking control of your time redeuces stress and anxiety.

Managing your time stops the overwhelming and ensures that you don't feel tired all the time. Increased productivity helps you stay on top of your to-do list and prioritize your most important work with less stress, you feel clear and more confident about how to invest your time.

Take action. Identify three causes of stress that impact your ability to manage your time. Get clear on the causes of stress and outline the difference it would make if you could eliminate the stress.

2) Better Work-life Balance:

If you achieve a better work-life balance, you can be more productive at work and have more time to spend on your most important relationships.

Work-life balance between your professional life and personal life. When you spend long hours at work, you risk burnout and feeling tired all the time.

An essential benefit of good time management is you understand value of time. You get clear on how you can achieve your goals in less time at work and have more time for people that matter at home.

3) More Time Freedom:

Time management techniques ensure you have the time freedom to do more of the things that matter most to you. Good time management ensures you focus time on your biggest priorities.

When you have greater time freedom, you can focus your time on setting and achieving your biggest goals.

Greater time freedom ensures you have more time to spend with family and friends. More time to deepen relationships and pursue new hobbies. Having more time freedom allows you to follow your purpose in life.

Take action. Ask yourself what you would do if you could free up on additional five hours or ten hours a week. Write down the three most important things and get clear on difference doing these things would make in your life. Layout simple action plans to make those changes a reality.

4) Greater Focus:

Effective time management increases your focus and improves your productivity. Greater focus allows you to capture bigger opportunities. Allows you to spend more time on the projects, goals, and people that matter.

Time management is important in helping you achieve greater focus and prioritisation. When you better manage your time, you increase focus and take control of your day.

When you manage your time, you have greater focus on your most productive activities. This helps build positive habits. It ensures you spend more time on activities that help you reach your goals.

5) Less Procrastination:

Procrasination happens when you don't manage your time. When you aren't clear and focused on your goals, it's easy to procrasinate. Poor time management causes distraction and procrasination.

When you feel focused and in control of your time, you are less likley to procrasinate. When you are clear and focused on your goals, you spend more time, you are less likely to procrasinate. When you are clear and focused on your goals, you spend more time working on your biggest priorities.

Take action. Identify three biggest causes of your procrasination and layout the first action step you can take to eliminate each of causes by one.

Main Takeaways:

• Effective time management helps you organize your daily activities around your priorities. Before you start working on improving your time management skills, take some time to identify your key and secondary priorities.

• When you're clear on what is most important to you, you can start discovering your preferred method for organizing your time. One effective method you could use is the Eisenhower Matrix.

• Variety of time management software exists to help you in organizing tasks and tracking your overall productivity.

• To make the best use of your time, you should focus on both core and secondary skills that we've discussed.

• When you master effective time management, you shall enjoy more time for yourself, reduced stress, enhanced work-life balance and more stamina to start achieving your dreams.

If you would like to learn more about time management, book your session today.