Time Management

Summary

An area I’ve struggled with most of my adult life, particularly on the social side, has been time management. In this context, I’m referring specifically to being on time for social engagements. While it has become a running joke with those closest to me, it is most certainly a work in progress for me as being regularly late (or just in time) for events is annoying, inconvenient, and can sometimes be stressful. I don’t want any of those things for me or those close to me. Reflecting on this trait opened a more expansive curiosity on what time management is as it is not just the ability to be on time. There is a little more to it than that.

In this blog, we’ll explore the concept of time management, including pitfalls of poor management of your time, benefits of good practice, and ways you can begin to improve.

What is Time Management?

Time management can be described as the process of organizing and planning how to allocate your time effectively between specific activities. It involves setting intentions, goals, prioritizing tasks, and using appropriate tools to manage your time efficiently.

How a person consistently manages their time will have a material impact on their personal and professional life. We’ve all been late for something important at some point. It doesn’t feel very good when it happens leading up to and during the event. By the same token, managing your time to ensure you are early or on time for an event can feel good, providing a sense of accomplishment, giving you time and space to be your best self.

What Time Management Is Not

Time management is not just about being early, on time, or late. It also is not about being busy all the time; it is about working smarter, not harder. I know that is cliché but consider your definitions of the following:

• Busy versus productive
• Doing more tasks versus doing the tasks that align with your goals and priorities
• Urgent versus important
• Multi-tasking versus single-tasking

How closely do each of these statements align or diverge for you? I suspect that they diverge to the point of compromise for you, which is why the importance of understanding the concept of time management cannot be understated.

Let’s discuss some key examples of time management.

7 Tactics to Help Improve Time Management

The management of time encompasses various factors that contribute to effective utilization of available time and how productive that utilization is. Previous blogs have discussed the importance of setting intentions and goals, therefore I won’t go over old ground. Below are different aspects of time management:

1. Time blocking

• Allocating specific time periods for focused work, then scheduling tasks to be progressed within the dedicated time slots. This may be regular time you devote to specific tasks, or the time might be more general where you pick the tasks based on a variety of factors, such as those discussed in the task prioritization section.
  • The time that you book will be determined by what you intend to achieve in that time. For example, it could be 60-seconds for mindfulness practice between meetings, or weeks at a time dedicated to writing your next chapter. The benefit of blocking time is that you have the time already prescribed and can use it for the most productive means. Drawbacks of time blocking come to the fore if you suffer from a lack of discipline or focus

2. Task prioritization

• Firstly, understanding what the task is, the level of effort and resources required to complete, logical sequencing, urgency, and where it ranks in importance when compared with other tasks is key
  • • Creating prioritization criteria is important. This could be in the form of quantifiable priorities, for example:
      • Priority 1 – Urgent (0-24 hours)
      • Priority 2 – Important (24-48 hours)
      • Priority 3 – Standard (3-5 business days)
    • There are various schools of thought around what tasks to tackle first. Some suggest tackling the hardest ones first to provide a feeling of accomplishment, while others recommend tackling the easier ones first to build momentum. There is no right or wrong answer to this, and it will be dependent on personal preference, circumstance, importance, resource availability, and the need to maximize productivity

3. Delegation

• Transitioning responsibility of tasks to another party will help you optimize time and resources, freeing you to work on other tasks. For the delegation to be effective, the task must be suitable for delegation, as must be the recipient, in terms of skill set, capacity, motivation, and desire to accept the task
  • Note: Delegation does not always translate into completely freeing your time from delivery of the task. There may still be a requirement to employ strategies to support, monitor progress, and / or still have some level of responsibility. Be mindful of this while considering the impacts to your time availability and management

4. Procrastination management

• We have all been susceptible to avoiding, delaying, or postponing action on a task. Further, we have all experienced struggle to simply get started. The art in managing your procrastination tendencies is to proactively recognize them, then understand both the causes and the consequences on your management of time. You can do this during your planning phase by honestlylabeling certain tasks as high-probability candidates for procrastination, then creating strategies that will increase the likelihood of task initiation. Capturing this information, leaning into your proposed strategies, recording, communicating, and tracking progress will increase your level of accountability and your likelihood of managing the procrastination out of the equation

5. Technology

• There are many electronic options open to you to assist with managing and tracking your time. These can range from a calendar that will display and notify you of where you need to be, when, and what you’re doing at a given point in time, to tools and apps that will help you organize tasks and schedules (both of yours and others). The key for technology is to do your research, then apply your own reality to the available features and functionality. If it’s too simplistic, it won’t help move you forward. If it’s too complicated, you either won’t use it or won’t get the maximum benefit from it. Establish what you need assistance with and conduct appropriate research from that data point to select a technology that will help you manage your time. And remember, sometimes the best technology is no technology

6. Energy management

• A key part of managing your time is appreciating the influence of your energy on your focus, efficiency, motivation, effort, and quality of your end result. If you have times of the day, week, month, and year that you know are optimum for your energy levels, then plan your time and desired achievements accordingly. Conversely, if you know of key times when your energy levels are depleted, you must also acknowledge and plan around these. You are the best at being you, so practice self-care and deep introspection to come up with a realistic plan that will maximize your energy and your time

7. Distraction control

• I’ve talked about distractions in numerous blogs to date as it is a constant in today’s world. You will know what your main and consistent distractions are. Make a point of identifying your most common distractions that impede your productivity, and create strategies and micro-strategies to establish boundaries, and provide you the best opportunity to be distraction-free. Similar to managing your procrastination, by capturing, recording, communicating, and tracking your progress, you will afford yourself a better opportunity to manage your distractions

Dedicating your time and attention to investigating each of these areas will provide you with a level of clarity that can be used for the betterment of your time management going forward.

Why do Some People Struggle with Time Management?

The challenges we can face with time management will vary based on various factors. For example, your own preferences, skill set, personal habits, and the given circumstances will have an impact on your ability to manage your time appropriately. Alongside the items mentioned in the elements section above, some areas that will impact your ability to manage your time are:

• Lack of clear goals: Without a clear direction, it can be challenging to allocate time effectively to tasks

• Poor planning and organization: In the absence of a structured approach to managing time, you may feel overwhelmed by the volume of work or lack a systematic method for task prioritization

• Inability to say no: Difficulty in setting boundaries can result in overloading your schedule

• Lack of time awareness: We’ve all had those days where time either seemed to drag or fly by. Some people simply have a poor sense of time in the moment. Others lack skills in accurately estimating duration and effort for tasks

• Perfectionism: Spending excessive time on minor details and striving for flawless outcomes can lead to inefficiency and delays in task completion

• Fear of failure: Harbouring feelings of fear of failure can impact your approach to task, thus negatively impacting your time, your energy, your approach to the work, and whether you even do the work at all (avoidance)

• Overwhelm and stress: Stress and anxiety can hinder productivity, performance, and decision-making. Their negative distractive tendencies are bad news for your time management. While some can purport to ‘working well under stress’, this is a short-term approach that can yield undesirable longer-term implications (e.g., health, relationships, reputation)

• Lack of self-discipline: If you struggle with self-discipline, you will find it challenging to stay consistent in your time management practices. Who wants to be reliant on someone who lacks self-discipline and is consistently inconsistent?

These factors can contribute to challenges that we face with our own management of time. By identifying underlying potential issues and implementing strategies to address them, we can move forward with clarity, openness, and more importantly a clear plan that allows for the nuances present in each circumstance.

Impacts of Time Management Practices

Consider the range of people or organizations in your life and consider how they manage their time. What demonstrable behaviours do you see and experience? Reflect on the range of experiences and emotions you have from poor to excellent. The table below describes impacts of poor versus positive time management.

What would you prefer to feel or experience this list? What do you want to make other people important to you feel or experience from this list? What are you going to do about it?

 

Ways to Improve Time Management

Throughout this blog I have included subject matter related to a topic and what strategies and tactics can be employed for improved time management performance. Consider the list below an abbreviated summary of the content contained above:

• Set clear and specific goals
• Prioritize
• Use time-blocking techniques
• Minimize distractions
• Delegate
• Break down large tasks into smaller, manageable steps
• Use technology when helpful
• Practice effective communication, constantly
• Review and adjust your schedule regularly
• Learn how to say no
• Develop a routine to establish consistency
• Set deadlines
• Focus on one task at a time
• Incorporate self-care
• Regularly reflect and adjust as required

Remember that time management is a constantly evolving phenomenon and to do it well takes… yep, you guessed it, time! Also, effort, energy, focus, and discipline. It doesn’t just happen by accident. Consider how you manage your time today and whether any of the content in this blog gives you food for thought on tweaks and improvements you can make for even better performance in the future.

Coach Gaz Challenge: Consider the pointers provided in the ‘Ways to Improve Time Management’ section. What resonates with you as something that you could implement right away? I challenge you to try one and drop me a line to let me know how it’s going. Let’s go!

I’m always open to a conversation on your thoughts, opinions, and experiences on this or any topic in the library. Get in touch by subscribing below, or by using the form on the Book Gary of the site.