“Time isn’t the main thing. It’s the only thing.”
— Miles Davis

Introduction

Have you ever wondered how some people seem to have enough time to do everything they want to do? Whereas others are always rushing from activity to activity, and never seem to complete anything?

Does the first group of people have fewer tasks to complete? No, it’s much more likely that they are using their time more effectively and employing good time management skills.

The Importance Of Good Time Management Skills

Time management is a skill that sounds as if it comes naturally but in reality, most people wish they had it and people who already have good time management skills wish they could improve.

A fundamental key to note when it comes to time management is understanding the difference between urgent and important tasks.

Urgent tasks require your immediate attention. Whether you give them your undivided attention may or may not matter. An example of an urgent instance would be; your ringing phone. If it isn’t answered the caller will discontinue the call and there won’t be any real implications of missing the call (unless it was from your mom, get ready to be yelled at)

Important tasks matter the most. Not doing them may incur massive repercussions on your end. An example of an important task would be; going to the hospital for a check-up. If you don’t get a check-up you may not know if you’re harboring a fatal complication that could have been dealt with earlier if only you had kept your priorities in line.

You can have tasks that are both urgent and important. Tasks like; saving your pet cat from a burning building, it’s very important and needs to be done there and then, otherwise, you risk having a cats-kabob.

There are more examples, but I sure you get the jest of it.

Being able to manage your time well will not only increase your productivity, but it will help you stay focused and less hesitant to tackle tasks that would have otherwise been put on hold for no good reason. If you can successfully manage your priorities and keep it consistent, you will have more time on your hands which can be used to pursue activities that will benefit your overall progression toward success.

How To Manage Your Time

(Time Management Necessities)

#1 Self-awareness

Different people have unique and tailored ways of working which no one else has. We all have preferred ways of killing a bird. Most people prefer working in the mornings and others at night, we have different sources of motivation and different styles of engagement. Time management is not a one size fits all, it’s more like what works best for you. Understand when you will be able to do your important tasks best and, during your not so great hours do your urgent work.

Find your optimum working time here: https://thesuccessdoctrine.law.blog/2019/12/14/219/

#2 Decision Making

Make the choice to work on your tasks according to your tailored management system. Asking these simple yet effective questions will help you out with your decision making.

Which task to do first?
Which tasks didn’t get completed?
How long should I take to complete the most important task at hand?
Is there anyone who can help with this one?
What are my appointments of high importance?
How much time do I have at my disposal?
What resources do I have left in availability?
My energy levels?
Funds to complete certain tasks?

If you understand the time and resources needed to finish any task, you will be better at deciding what to complete at any given moment.

#3 Planning

There will often be times when one task cannot be started until another task is finished. Your schedule will also be impacted by the schedules of others. These factors need to be considered at the beginning of each project and, monitored throughout. Failure to do so can lead to delays and missed deadlines.

Planning is an essential time management skill because it allows you to foresee all of the tasks which will be required to complete a project and, how they will best fit your schedule.

A well-made plan will save you a great deal of time.

Planning is a time management skill that comes naturally to us. We use it regularly and throughout life. But unfortunately, we have been taught an alternative way to plan which doesn’t work and inhibits us from performing at our best. Allocating 30 mins to 1 hour before you do a task will give you leeway as to anticipate any obscurities presented by daily life. After all, all plans tend never to play out as intended.

#4 Communication

Fortunately, you don’t live in a human-less simulation. So, it is important to effectively communicate your plans with the people you interact with daily. It is unlikely that you will perform every aspect of your work by yourself so, you’ll need to enlist the help of others. Strong communication skills will enable you to build supportive relationships with those whom you work with. You will be able to work better together and achieve more than you ever could apart.

When you require another person to do some work for you; you will want to communicate in a manner that will enable them to perform the work to the desired standard, in the fastest time. Should any errors occur, you will want to raise the issue quickly and explain clearly about the adjustments that need to be made. In these situations, the quality of your communication directly impacts the quality of the work that gets done.

#5 Stress makes a mess

With work comes pressure. Pressure in itself is usually a good thing. It motivates you to take action and to do a good job. However, once you begin to feel that you can no longer cope with the demands placed upon you, you begin to move from pressure to experiencing stress. Stress is not a good thing. People often speak of good stress but that is just an inappropriate way of labeling pressure.

When you experience stress, your body and mind begin to suffer. Large arrays of mental and physical problems have been linked to prolonged exposure to stress. Before you get to that stage, stress begins to harm your performance and your time management.

If you experience stress, you will have so many things on your mind that will make it practically impossible to focus on the task at hand. As a result, it will take you longer to perform even the simplest of tasks. A backlog will start to build up as you fall behind which in turn increases your stress levels and so the spiral continues.

What To Do If Your Behind Schedule

What can you do if an important task continually gets bumped down the list by more urgent, but still important tasks?

First, consider whether it is genuinely important. Does it need doing at all, or have you just been telling yourself that you ought to do it?

Be sure to look at the bigger picture and assess whether the task was of high impact or if it was of low impact, then make it an urgent and important task, this will help you get things back on track.

End

Thanks for reading! I know for a fact you got something interesting from this. Having said that, I trust you’ll revisit next, when we take a look at “Leadership skills”

If you enjoyed this be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments, like and share. It will mean the world to me.