Time management: What it is, why it's important and ways to master it

By Fiona Stubbs , Careers & Employability Manager

A question on time management finds its way into nearly every job interview. The reason being that an employee’s time management can make or break any project you're working on.

Let’s take a deep dive into time management—what it is, why it's important and ways to master it.

What are time management skills?

Despite it being a commonly used phrase in the workplace, it’s hard to define. In a nutshell, you might say that it’s anything that helps you save time, be more efficient and meet your goals.

Why are time management skills important?

There are loads of reasons why time management skills are valuable, and some are:

• you feel in control and not overwhelmed with your to do list
• you can be proactive rather than reactive with your time
• work life doesn’t spill into personal life because of a lack of boundaries
• you’re less likely to suffer burnout.

According to the Institute of Student Employers (ISE), Skills Development Survey 2022, one of the three areas for development for graduates is time management (and FYI, others are presentation skills and writing).

Breaking down time management skills

There are lots of time management skills that can help you get the most of your day. As you read the list below, try visualising them in relation to areas of your life (eg when you’re next working on a group project or getting fit to run a race or planning an event).

Goal setting

The first thing you need to do is articulate clearly what you want to ultimately achieve. Then break the “project” into smaller steps. Each step might describe its goal with a deadline for its completion.

Goals should be a stretch but that doesn’t mean they need to take weeks or are out of reach. You might have heard of the SMART goal setting system, and this is a useful framework for structuring your goals.

Planning and task management

On a given day, you may have over 20 tasks you need to complete. Some of these may be small and quick to tick off while others are more time-consuming. The important thing is being able to identify the tasks that need to be completed and work through them without getting overwhelmed or side-tracked.

You need to have a list of your tasks that have come from a number of locations (eg email, Teams, meetings, social media, conversations, research, your brain, etc). Then, you can use various tools to help you with this task list.

"Eat the Frog"

“Eat the Frog” is one method that can help you identify your most important task for the day—the one that you're likely to procrastinate on—and feel encouraged to complete it first since it requires more energy and focus. You can then work on the less important but urgent tasks that can get you to your goal. Todoist can be a starting point for trying out this approach.

Time-blocking

There are other tools and techniques such as time-blocking which helps you divide your day into blocks of time each dedicated to a specific task/ theme. Check out Monday.com for a step-by-step guide.

The Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro Technique follows on from time-blocking and encourages you to work in 25-minute breaks followed by short breaks to help you focus. Pomofocus is an online timer tool to help you manage your tasks with this technique.

Time management apps can keep track of your progress against a list and set deadlines. Clickup, Notion, todoist and Trello are just a few time management and productivity apps/tools you can try for free.

Delegating

Delegating is giving someone else a part of the project instead of you working on it. Most students might think that you have to be in management to be able to delegate, but actually, you have the ability to delegate or ask other members to help anytime you’re part of a team.

It works well if you delegate to those that have the skills, strengths and interest in that task. It requires clear instructions, checking in and providing feedback and ultimately showing appreciation.

How to improve your time management skills

If you want to improve your time management skills, you need to track where you spend your time so that you know where to focus. You can write down everything, how long you spend for all sorts of activities and tasks (eg lunch, scroll through social media, get caught up in unrelated chats, daydream). Apps like Clockify can help with this if you don’t want to handwrite down everything.

Once you gather this information, you can ask yourself these sorts of questions:

• Are you spending your time on the right things?
• How often do you get distracted?
• How long are tasks taking you?
• How long should these tasks ideally take you?

Your answers will show where you need to improve, and there are tons resources to help you, including free training from LinkedIn Learning (access for free via the University’s website) or even ask a friend who looks like they’re always on time.

Time management might not come naturally at first but stick with it and try different methods so that it becomes a habit.

Other resources

LinkedIn Learning: Access free e-learning as a UofG student on essential skills in business, AI, tech and creative areas