An Effective Time Management Method

Why do some people consistently succeed in managing their time efficiently and distinctively while others fail and some face many difficulties in maintaining their project deadlines?

Peter Drucker, the best mentor in business, said about time: “Time is one of the most scarce resources for a manager. Nothing else can be managed if it is not managed.”

Relying on the above, time management is defined as the process by which every second of the day is utilized by focusing and working to positively raise a person's daily productivity. It is also an essential factor that helps in professional advancement.

Employees who possess effective time management skills have the potential to have good job opportunities and achieve many accomplishments as well as lead a balanced and stress-free life. Time management skills help them prioritize their tasks and perform them more efficiently and effectively throughout the day. Those who lack effective time management skills take longer than the allotted time to prepare an assignment.

What are the barriers to a successful time management process?

There are two obstacles standing in the way of those seeking to improve their time management practices which are procrastination and not keeping pace with change.

Procrastination:

It may be the result of a person taking things as they are or as a result of sticking to the desire to achieve perfection. When you are too busy implementing projects, meeting deadlines, and preparing to-do lists, you will find yourself overwhelmed with difficult things to implement. We advise you to be realistic in preparing your to-do list and re-scheduling whenever necessary. As for your obsession with extreme and excessive perfection, your productivity can be directly and very negatively affected by wasting a lot of time paying attention to all the details. We also advise you to overcome this obstacle by reminding yourself that you did your best and dedicated the time needed to implement this project. In the end, you must accept that the concept of perfection is a personal and subjective concept that may or may not be applied.

Resistance to change: 

Learning time management skills may be useless if it is not accompanied by flexibility, will, and a strong desire for change. Successful time management requires having the desire to get rid of ineffective time-wasting habits and replace them with more effective and flexible ones. We advise you to remind yourself that you can become more skilled in your work and that you are able to regain control of your time and life after mastering time management practices.

Time management benefits:

Time management brings many benefits to the practitioner in general. The following are some of the positive outcomes that directly arise from time management practices:

Reducing stress and work pressure: Effective organizational practices and good planning methods reduce one's frustration rates at both work and home tremendously and freeing a person from doubts about his productivity and creativity.

Sense of achievement: When a person shows a serious commitment to managing their time and dividing their main goals into smaller goals that can be achieved and evaluated, it is easier for them to identify and evaluate their position and the direction in which they are  going, in addition to setting reasonable achievements.

High energy levels: When you move away from the practices of procrastination, start to prioritize duties, get rid of bad habits, and your awareness of the amount of effort required to perform your duties, your confidence and motivation will increase.

Spend more free hours with family/friends: A successful "time manager" can make full use of the most sought-after valuables such as work-life balance. The possibility of spending quality leisure time with family, friends, or even yourself becomes a reality as you master time management skills.

What are the tips to apply for implementing time management at work?

Here are the tips of annajah.net, the largest website in the Middle East, to help you master your time management.

1. Don't overlook the emails in your inbox:

take the time to check your mail daily. Ensure that your messages are answered on time.

2. Organize your email into files:

This makes it a lot easier for you and gives you a faster way to access your files in a very stressful work day.

3. Make a to-do list every night before you leave work:

"Everything becomes necessary if you look long enough," said Danny Cox, a renowned leader and author on leadership and motivation. You can't manage your time if you don't know what to do the next morning. Make daily to-do lists.

4. Prioritize your duties:

The concept of making a daily to-do list is very different from the concept of managing it. Rank your duties in order of importance and necessity.

5. Know when your productivity is at its peak:

Monitor your productivity during a specific period and then work on organizing your schedule so that you allocate the period of work in which you are most productive to work on the most important task.

6. Minimize work on more than one task as time permits:

Focus on completing your duties one by one within a reasonable schedule, following your daily to-do list based on your priority list.

7. Assign tasks whenever necessary:

Make sure you assign the right task to the right person.

8. Avoid unnecessary meetings and improve your communication skills:

Communicating information clearly through an open and effective communication channel saves you and others time and effort. Peter Drucker emphasized, “The company that meets every hour is the company in which no one can get anything done."

9. Commit to change:

Make new habits of prioritization, planning, and organizing a part of your daily routine.

10. Last but not least, don't forget the true essence of time management:

Aim to use your time well and effectively so that you don't get stressed and forced to allocate time in any way."

Conclusion:

Achieving a healthy work-life balance becomes a possible goal after you stick to good time management techniques and set priorities on a daily basis.

Mark McKinley, the author of Time Management, said, "We are more productive than any generation in history." We now have the technological, strategic, and personal tools that help us in our efforts to organize our time, enhance our effectiveness, and improve our management of our lives.