Effective Time Management Skills

Making sure that your time management skills are adequately communicated in your resume is a great way of impressing how you manage your time and this can even make or break your career. Hiring managers are scouring your resume for time management experience. There is nothing worse than feeling that you don’t have time and are forced to rush an important project, conversation or task.

Afterwards, when you reflect on a sub-standard outcome, you wish that your time management skills were a little more proficient. Time management has a direct effect on your impact both as an individual and an employee. In this article we look at the main types of time management skills, how to improve them and how to share some of them on your resume.

What is an example of time management?

Time is finite. There is only so much of it. When we work for an employer who needs us to achieve results (whatever that might look like) – how we manage our time matters. One example of time management might be writing a “to-do list” in the morning (on a piece of paper). It might sound old-fashioned; but getting our priorities straight at the start of the day is an efficient way to begin every morning. Then cross things off the list as you do them.

What are time management skills?

Time management skills are behavioral and?organizational techniques?and attitudes that help to improve your productivity and manage your workload. Management of time also has a direct impact on colleagues and is the missing link in a poorly performing team. It's also considered to be an important?soft skill?.?

Being deliberate and consistent in managing the most precious resource of time, you will not only be able to do more - you will also have the option of doing less but doing it better. As mental health concerns and burnout plague our workplaces, this second factor cannot be ignored. Being?productive?also means having more time to relax. This is especially important since most of us struggle with being?productive while working from home?.

What are the important elements of time management??

Put simply, you need to identify the tasks to be done, understand how long each one might take, prioritize your effort and come up with a plan of action. Then you stick to the plan and bring other people in to help if needed. This sounds easy, but it is far from the case.

7 Behavioral time management techniques and how to use them

Small decisions and practices can make all the difference when it comes to managing time effectively. Although creating these new behaviors and habits may take a few weeks of mental effort, their presence will reward you for the rest of your working days.

So, what are some time management skills from a behavioral perspective?

1. Align your focus with your future goals

When you have a clear idea of where you would like your life to flow, finding a focus for time management tasks that will help you on that journey will not be difficult.?

Focusing on any task requires a great deal of mental energy, but it is so much easier to allocate mental resources when you see the big picture at the front of your mind. If certain tasks don’t contribute to this brighter future, you might consider that they deserve less focus (if few are aligned, consider getting a different job).?

2. Say “no” more than you are comfortable

If you say “no” to enough people enough times, your boundaries start to emerge. So long as these boundaries don’t overly impede you from doing your job or others doing theirs, you will create room to maneuver. If, on the other hand you say “yes” to everyone, the demands on your time will multiply from all sides.

Such assertiveness is not easy to summon, but you need to take care of yourself, and in turn your strict time management will ensure you are there for others when it really matters. Protect your time and retain control of what your day looks like.

3. Minimize distractions

Distractions can derail your time management in two ways: they first steal your attention from the matter at hand, but you then also need some time afterwards to refocus on your task (and will likely lose your previous flow along the way).

Avoid procrastinating, move your phone out of reach and let your colleagues know that you are unobtainable for a while. We often lose focus when we are bored or frustrated – keep your mind on the task at hand, but make sure that you also don’t work on things for too long or the lure of distractions will overcome you.

4. Be accountable to yourself (and only yourself)

The key to time management is putting your own needs first. The moment that you start thinking about others is when it gets complicated because you can’t possibly understand their priorities as well as you understand your own.

“I am the master of me” is an incredibly empowering phrase. Set your own goals, reward yourself regularly and track your progress. In most team environments, success for one will mean success for all. Accountability to the team is obviously important too, but you have to look after number one.

5. Deal with stress in a way that works for you

Whenever you read any advice around mental health, you need to consider it from the point of view of your life. Advice about dealing with stress that works for one person might not work for another. Stress can throw a spanner in your time management but dealing with your worries inadequately can make things worse.

Getting some fresh air, exercising more, talking to a friend, practicing a hobby and simply listening to music can be some ways of letting off steam. What you should never do is let that steam build up, no matter how busy you are.

6. Be self-aware enough to know when to change

Being organized and following a time management routine is all well and good, but circumstances can change, and you need to realize when things aren’t working so well anymore. If you find yourself starting to struggle, ask yourself why.

What is the root cause of the time management issue? Does the fault lie within or is there an external factor involved? Taking care of your time depends on many factors, so take the time to think about what has changed.

7. Embrace flexibility when there is a better way

While much time management depends on developing a routine and sticking to it, the key to enduring success is having the flexibility to tweak a few parts of the routine that are not making a difference anymore.

Maybe you have moved to another team that values getting things done in meetings and tries to avoid one-to-one decision making. In that case, your meeting prep is suddenly critical. It might be that your new boss prefers a monthly planning meeting rather than a weekly one. You will have to fit in with their schedule.

Key Takeaways

• Taking the time to think about how you spend your time is one of the most profitable things that you can do for any employer.
• potential boss.
• Time management skills can be a great way of streamlining not only your professional life, but your personal one as well.