Time Management Skills

Introduction

There are different life skills one needs to adopt or acquire that can contribute to life success and time management is one of those skills. Time management is the ability to effectively use time so that you do not get exhausted, even if you have a lot on your plate.

Time management is a skill that can only be acquired if practised. The ability to manage time also takes discipline. When you possess this skill, it tells in everything you do and makes people respect your time even more.

What is Time Management?

Time management can be defined as a process that entails the proper use of time, planning, and deliberate effort to allocate certain amount of time to different activities. Time management is a skill that is always used whenever people intend to achieve a certain goal.

It is usually used to enable effectiveness and productivity and to instil discipline in people, especially a team of people in a working environment. Time management is also used by individuals who deem it fit to improve their output and way of life.

Time management skills involve the act of multi-tasking, juggling between activities to meet a set target. People tend to be more productive when they have a set time target to meet. Time management skills allow you to respect time and not waste it on irrelevant and less productive activities.

Some things are necessary for consideration in managing time and planning time as they help you stay on track. These include;

Drawing a priority list: When planning and managing time, one must consider what things are important and less important in a hierarchical order. With this, time will be spent only on important things. Placing activities on a list of priorities can help determine what can be done later. By drawing a priority list, you are sure to spend time wisely.

Creating a conducive environment: An environment you know can support your productivity within a set time or target is one to have in mind when planning your time. Depending on preferences and personality types, some people are more productive when they work alone, while others are more conscious when they have people around them.

Some people have absolutely no problems working in a noisy space, which is a big issue for some people. You want to know what works for you when planning your time.

What are Time Management Skills?

Time management skills are those practices one can indulge in actually to have a productive and effective schedule.

List of Time Management Skills

Some of the most important time management skills you can actually practice are;

Delegating: To have an effective time management schedule, it is important to learn to delegate things to people, especially when there is a set target to meet and you know a task is not an area of strength for you. Delegation makes work easy.

Decision making: In everything we do, we are always stuck at the point where we need to make decisions. Making swift and reasonable decisions can save us a lot of time. Too often, the time we spend contemplating and counting costs could be used to do more productive things. If we can learn to make decisions, we will practise crucial time management skills.

Record Keeping: After the time is planned, and things have been drawn on a priority list, it is of utmost importance that we keep track or record the things we have successfully achieved and can check on our list. This way, we can be motivated to complete even more tasks, especially if we notice we are right on time.

Goal Setting: Goal setting is primary regarding time management skills. This in particular, works hand in hand with time itself. With set goals, one has a set time for a group of activities to be done. Goal setting helps you pay little or no attention to things not on the plan.

Multitasking: A person who is good at multitasking will do a great job managing time and being productive. Multitasking is a skill. It is the ability to be involved in achieving varieties of activities at the same time. When you multitask, you show competence and manage time and can actually save time. Most important in multitasking is being especially productive in the said activities.

Scheduling: This is equally an important time management skill. Scheduling is allocating different activities to be achieved at different times. It could be to cook a meal at a particular time or to prepare a document within a set time.

When you schedule, you want to be sure you do not get engaged in a different activity that is set for another time. If activities are misplaced, probably because of distraction, you just might be managing your time wrongly.

In conclusion, time management is an important life skill. With time management, you are sure to not be late for meeting because you would have prioritized activities for the day and set goals for things to be achieved, whether within a year or on a daily basis.