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Managing your time effectively is one of the most important skills one can master as an employee, project manager or entrepreneur.
Have you ever asked yourself this question over time.
What is time management and why does it get to affect our daily lives ?
Essentially, the purpose of time management is enabling people get to know their priorities and distractions more and also produce better work in less time.
When we talk about time management, it doesn’t mean sacrificing our personal time and being busy with too much work on your plate that's actually the opposite. Managing your time means managing your attention. When you wake up with a planned schedule, it becomes easy to balance your person life and work. You are able to accomplish more tasks in less time and with high quality. One can also argue that a healthy work-life balance is a sign of effective time management.
Let’s consider a scenario:
We have all experienced the woes of time management at both home and work. You wake up early in the morning optimistic and ready to kick off the day making sure to meet all your deadlines but you also have to hit the gym and also come back to your place make a healthy home-cooked meal then life happens. You end up leaving late, you get into heavy traffic on your way to work and you are already frustrated by the time you arrive at your desk.
You sit down to finally knock out that project you have been procrastinating about for weeks, you also check on your calendar and notice you have back to back meetings till lunch time and you are even already late for the first one. You finally walk out of the first meeting and start checking through your emails but before you can even finish you are called in for another meeting with the Managing Director and he informs you its a last minute request for you it will not last long but ends lasting longer than expect now your mind is full of stress you are wondering when will I be able to finish all the pending tasks.
If you do not choose to give the right priorities your attention, what you will be left with is time without attention hence no value added to it.
That's why it is important to learn how to manage your time better. It will increase your attention which will lead to;
Increased Work Satisfaction
Working with a distracted mind leads to frustration and low output. When you are performing haphazardly because time is running out, your performance will suffer. Time management helps you get into the work flow and derive the maximum rewards from your job.
Greater Productivity
Productivity is doing things that bring the most results. If you can manage time, you can allocate your mental resources to complete the tasks efficiently. Time management helps in extracting the maximum value from the hours. As a result, you achieve more in less time.
Better Professional Reputation
Companies prefer employees that utilize the company's time and resources efficiently. Time management at the workplace helps in getting things done before the deadline.
Whether it means delivering the project on time or meeting with a client, planning your time avoids delays in progress. All this leads to a better reputation, appreciation, recognition, and good appraisals at the workplace.
Less stress
Scheduling and blocking time slots leads to mental peace and clarity. Time management helps in building a road map of responsibilities for the day. When your daily or monthly tasks are sorted out, stress will fade. You’ll also gain confidence that the day is under your control.
Time management is not restricted to the professional world. It’s a wholesome skill that eventually enriches your entire life. Even for a personal goal, breaking it down into smaller chunks and assigning them a time makes them easier to achieve important tasks or reducing time spent on redundant tasks.
Say you want to add gym in your busy schedule and this an activity you really love and always give your time but you want it to fit in your schedule. You will be able to fit it into your day by either delegating unimportant tasks or reducing time spent on redundant tasks so that you can make it happen.
Set realistic goals and make sure to manage your time according to your priorities.