Defining Time Management | The Ultimate Guide For Beginners With +5 Tips

We all have 24 hours daily, regardless of gender, skin colour, or ethnicity. But in reality, with those 24 hours, some people succeed, some fail, and some create a lot of value for themselves and society, but some do nothing.

One of the differences between them is that there are those who’s defining time management well and know what skills are required. And those who do not.

Therefore, if you feel overloaded and do not have time for yourself, or you have once asked, “If only a day could be longer”? And you always face with a thing called “deadline” and don’t know what time management is. Perhaps this article will help you with a helpful guide to time management.

Table of Contents

• Overview
• What is Time Management?
• Why Defining Time Management Important?
• 5 Effective Time Management Tips and Techniques
• Key Takeaways
• FAQs

More Tips From AhaSlides

Not only providing you with effective time management skills, but AhaSlides also has:

• Emotional intelligence
• 5 Coaching In The Workplace Examples
• Employability skills
• Self concept examples
• Skills to put on resume
• Active Listening Skills At Work 
• Time Boxing Technique 
• Planning a Training Session Effectively
• Interpersonal Skills Definition, Examples, and Importance
• How To Be More Social?

Overview

What is Time Management?

Time management is planning and organizing time for each specific activity, in detail step by step, until all goals are accomplished. Since each person only has a certain amount of time, the better your time management skills, the more effective your time will be. 

So, defining Time Management is super important! The effectiveness of time management is evaluated based on the results of work done in the most optimal period. Remember, whether you are busy or idle has nothing to do with whether you do things effectively.

Defining time management consists of 4 main steps:

• List and prioritize tasks by day, week, and month based on your goals and direction.
• Measure and estimate the time it takes to complete the set tasks.
• Make a detailed plan, and determine the order of priority to work each day.
• Implement and stick to the set plan.

Each of the above time management steps has tools, techniques, and supporting skills to match each person’s work and life goals.

Why Defining Time Management Important?

Many people wonder why defining management is so important. Here are the benefits of time management for you.

Increase Work Productivity – Defining Time Management

Knowing how to manage your time helps you organize your daily plans and tasks by importance and priority. With this “to-do” list, you will focus on the essential tasks that should be done first, thereby increasing work efficiency.

When you manage your time well, you will prevent wasting time and energy, and it will take less effort to get things done. It also helps you improve your creativity thanks to the free time you save. 

Relieve Pressure and Help Make Better Decisions

The lack of time management skills often leads to working with a lot of pressure, indirectly making wrong decisions when there is not enough time to consider. 

On the contrary, if you control your time well, you avoid the pressure of “deadline” and make more informed decisions at work because you have more time to think and evaluate the problem.

Create More Motivation

Bad habits such as procrastinating work and not practising planning for work will cause immeasurable harm to individuals and the team. Time management will help you eliminate those habits and motivate you to embark on big projects thanks to a well-defined plan with clear goals and a precise timetable.

Better Work-Life Balance

We all have 24 hours daily to dedicate to ourselves, family, and work. A specific time arrangement will help you have a reasonable life balance. This means you can focus on getting things done well and have enough time to relax and care for your loved ones and yourself.

5 Effective Time Management Tips and Techniques

Dividing Tasks Into Groups – Defining Time Management

Good time management often requires dividing tasks into groups, based on the importance and urgency of those tasks. It includes the following four main groups:

• Important and urgent tasks. This group of tasks must be done immediately and often causes the most crisis because it can happen suddenly. For example, “forgot” the schedule to submit work reports to resolve conflicts with customers that arise.
• Important but not urgent task. It is often related to health, family, career, and friends. This group does not require immediate action but is essential to you. You must make it a habit to be patient, work through moments of lack of motivation, and make time for it. For example, exercise to maintain health.
• Not essential but urgent. The characteristic of this group is that although they need to be implemented immediately, they do not significantly impact the intended goal—for example, useless meetings, unnecessary reports, etc.
• Not important and not urgent. It provides no significant benefits such as gossip activities. To avoid wasting time, not only should you learn to say “no” to these things, but also develop the habit of eliminating them during working hours.

Set SMART goals – Defining Time Management

Clearly defined goals will give you motivation. And these goals need to be precise and achievable. You can refer to how to set SMART goals as follows:

1. Specific: Define clear, specific goals from the outset.
2. Measurable: Goals need to be measurable and can be easily measured.
3. Attainable: See if the goal is achievable by answering the following questions for yourself: Is this realistic, feasible, or not? Is the target too high?
4. Relevant: Goals should be relevant to your life and work to motivate you.
5. Time-bound: Break big goals into small goals for best completion.

Avoid Being A Multitasker

Multitasking means doing more than one thing at the same time. If you lack enough expertise, multitasking does not work for you. Better yet, you should break the task down to complete it step by step. Along with that, focusing on single tasks will increase efficiency.

Keep Your Workplace Neatly

A cluttered workplace with new – old, important – inconsequential documents clutter not only makes you feel chaotic but it also wastes time when you need to find something. So, keep your workplace organized and intelligent, then you will have more time, so you don’t have to waste time on useless tasks.

Take Good Care Of Mental Health

Keeping yourself comfortable is one of the ways to be effective at time management. For this reason, if you have a relaxed, stress-free mind, you will make more accurate and rational decisions. Here are ways to help you adjust your mood quickly.

• Laugh: This action helps you reduce stress hormones and increase happiness.
• Meditate: Meditating for at least 10 minutes helps relieve stress.
• Listen to music: Enjoy a favourite song that will make you relaxed and comfortable.
• Dancing: This activity is both uplifting and healthy.

Key Takeaways

When defining time management, you will feel that your time “box” is much larger and brings many benefits. So, right now, take a hard look at yourself to see how you have managed your time, effectively or not, or what reasons you’re wasting your time. Then you will know what you need to do not to lose another minute of yourself.

In addition, we also have a lot of ready-made templates for you to explore!

Frequently Asked Questions