Time flies – always. That makes time a variable that can be hard to control. And once time has slipped away, you never get it back. For companies, time lost equals dollars lost.
Time management is the process of planning and controlling how much time to spend on specific activities. Good time management enables an individual to complete more in a shorter period of time, lowers stress, and leads to career success.
Perks of Managing Time
The ability to manage your time effectively is important. Good time management leads to improved efficiency and productivity, less stress, and more success in life.
Here are some benefits of managing time effectively:
- Stress relief
- More opportunities
- Ability to realize goals
- Stress relief
- More opportunities
- Ability to realize goals
The 4 Ds of Time Management
- Do
- Defer (Delay)
- Delegate
- Delete (Drop)
Placing a task or project into one of these categories helps you manage your limited time more effectively and stay focused on what matters most to you.
“To get the most out of this simple and powerful time management technique, list and track your daily activities. It’s the only way that you’ll be able to see how you’re spending your time, and, more importantly, where it’s being wasted. You can either use a handwritten time log, your calendar, or software to track your time.” ~ (John Rampton, CEO of Calendar)
5 Key Elements of Time Management
Creating the Right Environment
To manage your time well, the first thing you can do is create the right environment.
The right environment is where you can focus on the things without any distraction.
Setting Priorities is Big Deal
For some reason, our minds really like to go in many different directions and all at once. If you want to keep track of your truly important tasks to do, set your priorities. Setting priorities is essential for time management.
Canceling Out Non-Priorities
It’s equally important to know your non-priorities as much as the priorities. You’ve to know exactly the things that are taking your time but adding no real value.
Goal Setting is Paramount
Goal setting is the process of deciding in advance the things you want to achieve. It is asking yourself questions, such as: what am I aiming at and what tasks do I need to do to achieve that.
Create Habits for Managing Time
We are all creatures of habit, who like to follow familiar routines. Unfortunately, this tool is most often used poorly and for bad rather than good. Bad habits are quick and easy to form while the good ones take effort and time. But if we can use habits constructively, it can turn into a wonderful time management skill.
Conclusion
Time management skills are what helps you get the most done with your limited time.
The prime importance of time management is that besides helping you manage time effectively, it also helps with managing stress, achieving goals, improving concentration, etc.
The main idea behind time management skill is increasing productive activities and decreasing wasteful or distracting activities. This soft skill could take you closer to success like no other. But managing time is not as easy as it sounds.
Our time is constantly under pressure from personal and professional obligations. Then there are demands made on our attention by the very addicting social media and other technologies. It’s not at all easy anymore to manage our time under all such pressures and demands.
But if you want to take back charge of your own time, you must plan and take action. As a matter of fact, I urge you to start planning a ‘to-do list’ for tomorrow right now. If you do it, you’re closer to managing your time and ultimately your money (since time is money).
Written by - Jesvin Joseph
Edited by - Prachi Raheja
Social