Time Management

Definition

“Time management” is the process of organizing and planning how to divide

your time between specific activities. Good time management enables you to
work smarter – not harder – so that you get more done in less time, even when
time is tight and pressures are high. Failing to manage your time damages your
effectiveness and causes stress. It seems that there is never enough time in the
day. But, since we all get the same 24 hours, why is it that some people
achieve so much more with their time than others? The answer lies in good
time management. The highest achievers manage their time exceptionally well.
By using the time-management techniques, you can improve your ability to
function more effectively – even when time is tight and pressures are high.
Good time management requires an important shift in focus from activities to
results: being busy isn’t the same as being effective. (Ironically, the opposite is
often closer to the truth.)

The modern concept of time management - the act of planning the amount of time you
spend on which activities - really began with Frederick Taylor's scientific management
techniques. His goal was to increase worker productivity. To do this, he conducted
time and motion studies and began to focus on the best ways for jobs to be performed
to maximize the work completed in a given amount of time. Time management has
come up as a subject in the management field to reach the goal of increasing
productivity, especially among white-collar workers for whom work output may be
hard to measure. For example, an assembly line worker's output of 60 widgets per
hour can be compared to a factory average and deemed as acceptable or not; however,
white collar outputs tend to be difficult to compare to standards. So, modern
managers in these areas look for ways to monitor worker productivity in terms of time
use.
What Is Time Management?

“Time management” refers to the way that you organize and plan how long you
spend on specific activities.

It may seem counter-intuitive to dedicate precious time to learning about time

management, instead of using it to get on with your work, but the benefits are
enormous:

 Greater productivity and efficiency.

 A better professional reputation.
 Less stress.
 Increased opportunities for advancement.
 Greater opportunities to achieve important life and career goals.

Failing to manage your time effectively can have some very undesirable
consequences:

 Missed deadlines.
 Inefficient work flow.
 Poor work quality.
 A poor professional reputation and a stalled career.
 Higher stress levels.
 Spending a little time learning about time-management techniques will
have huge benefits now – and throughout your career.

Time management is the process of organizing and planning how much time
you spend on specific activities. Invest some time in our comprehensive
collection of time management articles to learn about managing your own time
more efficiently, and save yourself time in the future.
Importance of Time Management

 Time is a special resource that you cannot store or save for later use.
Everyone has the exact same amount of time each day. Time not well
used cannot be retrieved.
 Most people, feel like they have too much to do and not enough time.
They blame lack of time for their poor finances, stress, bad relationships,
and for not exercising their body.
 You need time to get what you want out of life. If you wait for extra time
to appear, you might lose the game of life. Through right time
management, you can “create” the time you need, and not just wait for it
to come. By planning your time wisely, you will have more time to do
more things.
 Time management will help you set up your priorities.
 Time is limited to 24 hours a day, so plan your life wisely.
 Time management helps you make conscious choices, so you can spend
more of your time doing things that are important and valuable to you.
 You can learn to find the time for the things that are important to you.
Even a small amount of time once a day, or even once a week, will take
you closer to your goals, and you will be surprised at the progress you
make.
 You become more productive using improved time management skills
and tools, and can accomplish more with less effort and time. Time
management can help you reduce wasted time and energy, help you
become more creative and productive, and enable you to do the right
thing at the right time. This will of course lead to more balance and
fulfillment in your life.
 Life today presents so many distractions, and therefore, it is very easy to
lose time on unimportant activities. Ask yourself, is watching this or that
TV program, reading this or that gossip or participating in a certain
 activity is going to add anything to your life. Is the time spent on a
particular activity well spent, or is just a waste of time and energy?
 Life puts in front of everyone so many choices each day, and the question
is, do you follow what appears on your way, or do you consciously choose
what you want to do? Do you allow external distractions to deter you
from your goal, or do you use willpower and self discipline to walk toward
your goal in a straight line, without wasting time and energy?
 A certain degree of detachment and inner peace are useful in managing
your time effectively. They help you avoid spending too much emotional
and mental energy on what people say and think about you. They help
you stay calm, despite distractions or difficulties, and this saves you a lot
of time and energy, which you can spend on better and more rewarding
activities.

Method of Time Management

Delegation
Delegation of work is a very important time management technique that can
really help to save time. You should teach your employees how to break their
job into small steps that are easy to manage. When working alone, you will do
less work but when you delegate your assignment to other staff, the work will
not only be done faster but will also be done better. Every person has his/her
own unique abilities and when you share the work you will come to realize that
work is done in a better way within the shortest time possible thus increasing
the productivity of the company.

Procrastination
Procrastination is usually as a result of fear of failure or even success or
believing that you cannot do things perfectly. Indecisive and disorganized
personalities tend to procrastinate. For effective time management, you should
teach your employees the danger of procrastinating and why they should not
even think of procrastinating their work. Procrastinating will not only consume
a lot of time, but will also lower the productivity of the company.
Procrastination is actually not solving particular problem, but is avoiding it.
The sad thing is that even if you run away from your problems today, you will
wake up with more problems tomorrow. Your employees should never consider
procrastinating as an option. They should thrive to tackle every problem head
on no matter how tough the task may be. This will greatly save time.

Prioritize
You must teach your staff how to make to do list and also how to categorize
each job and prioritize according to their urgency or importance. Most
employees take a lot of time doing things that are not a priority at that
particular moment thus lowering the productivity of the company. When you
prioritize each assignment, you will not only have an easy time solving the
important issues but will also ensure that clients get their issues solved on
time. When you teach your employees how to prioritize their work, they will
greatly save time that they would have otherwise used to do tasks that are not
important.

Freedom
Giving your employees freedom to be themselves cannot not only increase
productivity but can also save time. Some employees work best by taking
unpleasant tasks while some work best when they start doing their job from
the middle. You should learn to appreciate that each member of your staff is
unique each perform his/her work differently.

One important aspect of effective time management techniques is actually

giving your employees freedom to be themselves. So long as the job gets done
in a timely manner it actually doesn’t matter which steps they did first. Some
employees may work more efficiently if they take most urgent matter or difficult
task and complete it first while others work best when their start with easy
tasks then progress to difficult ones later. Studies show that employees
perform at their level best when they are given freedom to do things their way.
You cannot actually teach your employees to be free but you can allow them to
be free when doing their tasks.

Work must be done anyway

One aspect of time management technique is teaching your employees that

work must be done; whether they dread the project for days of just accomplish
the task right away. Teach them that work must be done in one way or another
and hence they should not try to avoid them. Let them know that how they
approach each assignment given to them will make a difference in
their performance review, promotion potential and earnings. When your
employees know that, they will always strive to do quality work on time.

Reward your employees

By rewarding your employees in small ways or having them reward themselves,

you will greatly inspire them to get the job done efficiently and on time. every
employee like to be recognized when they do great work and when you do so by
rewarding them for their hard work , you will greatly boost their moral which
will improve their quality of work and will also improve on their delivery time.

Keep a log

When you first begin to teach your employees on time management, have your
employees keep a log for a week of everything they do throughout the day, then
have them analyze the log that they have kept and look for any time that was
wasted each day .If you then help then to keep that wasted time to a minimal
level, then you can greatly help them use that time to do something useful.

Create time management goals

Remember the focus on time management is actually changing your behavior
not changing time. You should teach your employees on how to eliminate time
waster. For instance, you can challenge them to set a goal of not taking
personal call while working and see who much time they will save. By helping
your employees create time management goals, you will help them be more
productive and efficient in service delivery.

In conclusion, time management is very important especially if you want your

company to be more productive and efficient in service delivery. Your
employees may not know the importance of time management but if you teach
them by following effective time management techniques mentioned above, you
will see positive result in terms of service delivery.