Time management is a process in which an individual plans out how to utilize their time. The time management skills help you in being more organized. They help us choose how we should divide their time for every specific activity to make the most productive result out of it.
In today’s fast-paced life, working smarter has become more important than working harder. And this can only happen when you can ace the art of time management successfully. Nowadays, life is moving so fast. And thus the 24 hours are also not enough for a majority of us.
But then there are people out there who are working as the CEO of some multinational company or leaders running the country. So how are they able to do much more work than you could do even though both of you are provided with the same amount of time in a day which is 24 hours?
The answer is simple- “Time Management Skills.”
Top Time Management Skills you need to know to manage your term better
1) Goal setting
Now, this is the first and the most important aspect of your time management skills. You need to be able to set your goal first. By setting your goals, you will be getting a vision of your work. You will feel more focused and determined since now; you will know exactly what you want to do and ultimately improve your time management skills.
You will be having a clearer mind on the point that exactly where do you want to go. When you set your goals straight, you will be able to identify the things that are worth spending your time on and the things that will only lead you to distraction.
So know for setting your goals there are a few of the basic questions that you will need to ask yourself first. You can take help from the examples given below-
- What are your ultimate goals? (It can be daily, monthly basis, half-yearly basis or yearly basis)
- What do you want to achieve in the different zones of your life?
- What are the things that you want to learn?
- What is your main vision of life?
And similarly depending on yourself, you can ask the question to yourself and note down the answer to it in your journal or a notebook. This will help you in setting your goals more effectively.
2) Setting priorities
Prioritizing things is one thing that you can’t miss when it comes to time management. This is the next important thing after you are done with your goal setting.
Now for many it is quite a difficult take to decide on which tasks are more important to them should be done first and which task holds the least priority but sooner or later you will eventually be able to do so in a very effective manner.
Also, prioritizing becomes much easier when you have set up clearer goals and have an idea of how important they are, how you are going to complete those tasks, how much time will it take. If you aren’t able to prioritize your tasks, here’s a little help.
You can ask yourself these three questions that are mentioned below and know which task you want to keep on top of your priority list and which ones at last.
- Why are you doing this particular task or activity?
- How will this task help you in achieving your goals?
- What will be the extent to which you will need to do that task so that you will be finally able to achieve your goals?
And in this way, you will come to know the list of preference in which you want to complete each of your tasks.
3) Self-awareness
Now, this comes from the fact that no two people are the same. Each of the individuals has their own set of working schedules, their preference of time at which they can work the most when they are most productive.
For instance, some people are morning people, while some love to work late at night.
Now instead of blindly following others, you have to decide this by yourself as to when do you want to work, at which part of the day do you feel the most active, and then try to do the maximum amount of tasks during that particular time.
For this, you need to take a little out timeout of yourself and reflect on yourself. This way, you will be able to observe how you can bring the best in you.
4) Self-motivation
This is yet another important time management skills to have when it comes to effective time management. Now self-motivation is essential on days when you don’t feel like working at all. You may lack self-motivation because maybe you are feeling sick or tired or simply bored.
On days like these, you have to test your will power. You will need to motivate yourself for work. Also, one of the best ways to get self-motivation is first to become self-aware.
It will give you enough reason as to why you should work.
5) Focus
Focus is the key to the success of any task that you are doing to improve your time management skills. Without focus, you will be wasting a good amount of time on things that are not necessarily contributing to your productivity.
Focus is one of those most important time management skills where you will only realize its importance until or unless you are struggling with it.
Now for this one thing that you should know is that always try to focus on quality rather than quantity.
Many people things that working on a lot of tasks at the same time will increase their productivity. But this is true in very rare cases where some people have mastered the art of multitasking. But this art of multitasking only comes with experience. And for many people, this is not so common.
So instead of multitasking try to focus on only one task at a time so that you can improve your time management skills. So no matter how many tasks you have to do, work on only one task at a time and try to do it with full concentration.
6) Decision-making skill
This is also a very important time management skills that one holds has, and only a few of us do. If you are good at the decision making, you will automatically notice the positive impact of it in your day to day life.
By making clear and effective decisions, you will be able to make a difference in your life. Your productivity will increase ten times, and you will also succeed in managing time and improve your time management skills.
If you are stuck at a situation where you want to know which task you want to do next consider asking yourself a few questions like these that are mentioned below-
- How much is more time left with you?
- What are the resources that you will need to complete your next task, and how many of them are available to you?
7) Constantly keep questioning and challenging yourself
Now if you want to work to your highest standard, the most important thing is to challenge all of those things that don’t seem to meet your standards while looking for time management skills.
Also if there comes a situation where you don’t think that the task that is assigned to you is something that you are not in charge of which usually happens at the workplace, raise the question to the person who is assigning you that task.
This way by avoiding unnecessary work or the work that you are not responsible for, you will be able to delegate the task and focus on the one that you are in charge of, and then you will be able to do them in a better way.
Also, at times if you are unable to decide if you should be doing a particular task or not, try asking a few questions to you.
- What is the task that you are assigned?
- How much time will it take to finish?
- Are you the one responsible for completing this task?
- Do you have all the necessary details that are required to complete this task?
8) Coping skill
Now, no matter how much your plan, there is always a possibility of things going wrong. Time management skills are more or less a behavioral skill too.
So to effectively manage time, you need to work on your behavior as well. Now things’ going wrong is inevitable.
In this case, instead of worrying about it, take it as a challenge and start working on it without wasting your time.
Figure out ways in which it can be corrected and if you are unable to find one, try finding an alternative solution to that. And in this way, your coping skills will help you in your time management since you will not be wasting your time now.
Conclusion of Time Management Skills
Thus by having the skills mentioned above, you will be successfully able to manage your time and increase the time management skills.
Some of these you will be having already but to acquire more you will need to practice it in your daily life, and soon enough you will be able to see a difference in how effectively you are managing your time and understanding the importance of time management skills.
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