CAREER COMPETENCIES: Time Management Skills

Benefits of Effective Time Management

One always has time enough, if one will apply it well.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

An important key to your success in work or life, is being able to manage your time effectively. There is no way around it. There is only so much time in a day to be productive. Time management is essential to working efficiently; being able to meet deadlines; being productive; being methodical; being dependable; and being stress and anxiety free. Given its importance, let’s first try to understand what “Time Management” is. After all time is one of our greatest resources.

So what is time management exactly?

The American Heritage Dictionary on the English Language defines time as a non-spatial continuum in which events occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future. It also defines managing as exerting control over; regulate or limit toward a desired end and management is the act, manner, or practice of managing; handling, supervision, or control.

Wikipedia has a good definition of Time management which it expresses “as the act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity.”

So essentially, time management can be summed up as the ability to exert control over the time – the non-spatial continuum in which events occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future, in the most effective manner possible. It is about managing these events which could be our-selves, our family, our jobs and our activities etc. in relation to time.

M. Scott Peck, the author of The Road Less Traveled said, “Until you value yourself you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.”

Richard Koch in his book the '80:20 Principle' argues that adhering to a time management system can give you time savings up to 20%. This is the basis of the Pareto principle which states that on average 80% effort only produces 20% results.

What this essentially means is that if you are working a 40 hour work week, to be successful 20% of that time should be spent on tasks that contribute to 80% of your results. In his book, ‘Living the 80/20 Way,’ Koch focuses on how to succeed personally as well as professionally, to make a good life, as well as a living while doing less. So plan, prioritize and schedule your day so that you ensure the highest possible payoff to create a work life balance that is productive.

The Benefit:
Work Life Balance or Mental Health and Wellness

What is work life balance? Well only you know what it means to you. It’s different for everyone. First find out what’s important to you or for your day to be productive, and then try to prioritize the various professional and personal events according to their urgency and importance.
Maintaining a work life balance is essential to your mental health and physical wellness. It reduces the stress and anxiety that is inherent in a chaotic and unstructured day and provides you with the satisfaction of meeting your important commitments in your four life quadrants: Work, Family, Friends and Self.