WHAT IS TIME MANAGEMENT? WHAT’S ITS ADVANTAGES? START PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE IN 6 STEPS
To really understand what is effective time management, we can provide a simple definition: it is the management of tasks that make each person’s efforts increasingly effective, with the central idea of doing the best work in less time.
Have you ever wondered how some people seem to have enough time to do whatever they want, while others are always running around from task to task and never seem to finish anything?
Is it because the former has so little to do?
The answer is no! They are much more likely to be using their time more efficiently and practicing good time management skills at work.
Have you ever heard of a tool that can help companies with productivity? Let’s check out what is the importance of time management, from its definition to its importance in everyone’s daily life.
What is effective time management?
Peter Drucker, the business guru who is known as the father of modern management, has a phrase about time management that captures its importance:
“Time is the scarcest of resources, and unless it is managed well nothing else can be managed.”
This means that time management must always be the first step in achieving everything we set out to do to achieve our goals. That is why it becomes an important business strategy that needs to be applied within companies.
In practice, this activity of adopting time management in our professional or personal life brings a number of benefits, for example:
- Everyone becomes more punctual and disciplined with their tasks;
- It begins to generate effective results;
- It brings confidence to day-to-day work;
- It achieves goals faster and more consistently;
- It increases the level of productivity;
- It decreases the load of stress and anxiety.
What is the importance of time management?
Ask yourself: which activity is more important and how much time should be allocated to it? If you don’t have that clear answer, then you need to start a time management regime right now.
Knowing which work should be prioritized earlier and what can be put off until a little later is the first step to working the tool efficiently.
Time management doesn’t have to be a difficult concept to understand, but it can prove much more difficult to do in practice.
It requires everyone to invest their efforts to prioritize and organize themselves. But once started, you will find that with small adjustments your day becomes more organized, optimizing the time for everything you need to do.
How do you use time management in 6 steps
Now that you know the real significance and what actually is time management, how about learning how to do it in practice? Here are a series of time management tips in 6 steps that will help you to implement it.
1. Do the planning
Plan your day well in advance. Prepare a task list noting the important activities that need to be done in a single day in relation to the time that should be allocated to each activity.
High priority work should be at the top, followed by those that do not need much immediate attention. You can also adopt a small checklist with the rules you intend to carry out, for example:
- Complete the unfinished tasks one by one;
- Do not start work unless you have finished your previous task;
- Tick the activities you have already completed;
- Make sure you complete the tasks within the deadline;
Studies show that fulfilling a detail of a job when performing task management gives your brain a sense of achievement, increasing your motivation and productivity.
2. Define goals and objectives
Working without goals and objectives within a company would be similar to a situation where the ship’s captain can’t find his way at sea.
That is, you would be lost. So, set goals and objectives for yourself and be committed to them being realistic, challenging and achievable.
3. Set deadlines
Set deadlines for yourself and strive to complete tasks before deadlines. Don’t expect your superiors to do that part. The person who can best define the deadlines is yourself.
Examine how much time needs to be dedicated to a specific task and for how many days. Use a scheduler and productivity tools to mark important dates against set deadlines.
4. Say “no”.
Learn how to say “NO” in the workplace. That way you don’t do it all by yourself. You should not accept something you know will be difficult or disrupt your task planning.
Roles and responsibilities should be delegated according to the interest and expertise of the employees so that they complete the tasks on time.
Learn more: How to say no at work: 6 time management tips
5. Prioritize tasks
Prioritize tasks according to their importance and urgency. Start by knowing the difference between important and urgent work, which involves identifying which tasks must be done within a day and those that must be done within a month, and so on.
Tasks that are more important must be done first!
See more: How to use the process prioritization matrix?
6. Spend the right time on the right activity
You already know a lot about time management.
With all that you’ve learned, develop the habit of doing the right thing at the right time, since work done at the wrong time is not going to be very useful. Don’t waste a whole day on something that can be done in an hour or more.
Also, keep some separate time for your personal duties, such as watching the updates on social networks.
EXTRA time management tips:
There’s nothing worse than endless, unproductive meetings to disrupt your time management.
Now that you know what time management is, check out this infographic with some tips on meetings:
4 tips to avoid boring meetings
- Reason: Know why you’re attending a meeting
- Format: The format determines the meeting. For example presentations, meetings on foot etc.
- Anticipate success: Start talking of the results
- Duration: Make the meeting as short as possible
Is it clear what effective time management is and how it brings better results and productivity?
Using corporate performance management software such as STRATWs ONE helps you manage your projects and meetings and identify opportunities to improve processes so that they become faster and require less time from employees.
Our system is capable of transforming into procedures of management methodology adopted by your company. Thus, you can ensure a larger cohort in day to day planning and increase productivity. This results in more decision making certainty.
Currently, there are more than 162,000 users of our service, in more than 1,000 companies in 20 countries. One of our success stories is Dotz, which with our tool has succeeded in improving HR processes and strengthening the corporate culture.
Get to know STRATWs ONE and see that the tool could be the missing step for your company to prosper even more!
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