Time Management - Meaning and its Importance

It is rightly said “Time and Tide wait for none”. An individual should understand the value
of time for him to succeed in all aspects of life. People who waste time are the ones who fail
to create an identity of their own.

What is Time Management?

Time Management refers to managing time effectively so that the right time is allocated to
the right activity.

Effective time management allows individuals to assign specific time slots to activities as per
their importance.

Time Management refers to making the best use of time as time is always limited.

Ask yourself which activity is more important and how much time should be allocated to the
same? Know which work should be done earlier and which can be done a little later.

Time Management plays a very important role not only in organizations but also in our
personal lives.

Time Management includes:

1. Effective Planning

2. Setting goals and objectives

3. Setting deadlines

4. Delegation of responsibilities

5. Prioritizing activities as per their importance

6. Spending the right time on the right activity

1. Effective Planning

Plan your day well in advance. Prepare a To Do List or a “TASK PLAN”. Jot down the
important activities that need to be done in a single day against the time that should be
allocated to each activity. High Priority work should come on top followed by those which
do not need much of your importance at the moment. Complete pending tasks one by one.
Do not begin fresh work unless you have finished your previous task. Tick the ones you have
already completed. Ensure you finish the tasks within the stipulated time frame.

2. Setting Goals and Objectives

Working without goals and targets in an organization would be similar to a situation where
the captain of the ship loses his way in the sea. Yes, you would be lost. Set targets for
yourself and make sure they are realistic ones and achievable.

3. Setting Deadlines

Set deadlines for yourself and strive hard to complete tasks ahead of the deadlines. Do not
wait for your superiors to ask you everytime. Learn to take ownership of work. One person
who can best set the deadlines is you yourself. Ask yourself how much time needs to be
devoted to a particular task and for how many days. Use a planner to mark the important
dates against the set deadlines.

4. Delegation of Responsibilities

Learn to say “NO” at workplace. Don’t do everything on your own. There are other people as
well. One should not accept something which he knows is difficult for him. The roles and
responsibilities must be delegated as per interest and specialization of employees for them to
finish tasks within deadlines. A person who does not have knowledge about something needs
more time than someone who knows the work well.

5. Prioritizing Tasks

Prioritize the tasks as per their importance and urgency. Know the difference between
important and urgent work. Identify which tasks should be done within a day, which all
should be done within a month and so on. Tasks which are most important should be done
earlier.

6. Spending the right time on right activity

Develop the habit of doing the right thing at the right time. Work done at the wrong time is
not of much use. Don’t waste a complete day on something which can be done in an hour or
so. Also keep some time separate for your personal calls or checking updates on Facebook or
Twitter. After all human being is not a machine.

For Effective Time Management one needs to be:

Organized - Avoid keeping stacks of file and heaps of paper at your workstation. Throw
what all you don’t need. Put important documents in folders. Keep the files in their
respective drawers with labels on top of each file. It saves time which goes on unnecessary
searching.

Don’t misuse time - Do not kill time by loitering or gossiping around. Concentrate on your
work and finish assignments on time. Remember your organization is not paying you for
playing games on computer or peeping into other’s cubicles. First complete your work and
then do whatever you feel like doing. Don’t wait till the last moment.

Be Focussed - One needs to be focused for effective time management.

Develop the habit of using planners, organizers, table top calendars for better time
management. Set reminders on phones or your personal computers.

What is Covey’s Matrix?

Covey’s Matrix is a box divided into four areas, or ‘quadrants’ (see image below), with each
representing how your work time is divided up according to importance and urgency.

Covey Matrix

The matrix as a whole represents the time you have, so the size of this cannot be changed,
but each quadrant can be changed, depending on how much time you spend in it. The general
idea is to try and shift as much of your time into quadrant two, whilst reducing that spent in
the others. To Covey, this is the simple truth behind time management and as a theory it is
very elegant.
But how does it work in practice? Let’s explore each quadrant in turn, to give you some
practical examples;

Quadrant 1: Important and Urgent (Do it now)

It is quite necessary to have some flexibility here, as it can cover crisis events that simply
cannot be planned for and can be extremely time-sensitive (often technical issues such as
servers or systems falling over can necessitate a lot of your time ending up in this quadrant
on occasion).

Tasks can fall into this quadrant because of poor time management though and that is usually
an indicator you’re not spending enough time in quadrant two.

Quadrant 2: Important and Not Urgent (Do later)

This is the quadrant where you should ideally be spending most of your time. The goal is to
work on important tasks before they become urgent and cause an imbalance in your overall
time schedule.

The key here is staying on top of your workload and pro-actively dealing with important
tasks. This is easier said than done of course and pro-active managers and business owners
have often had to fight hard and learn to delegate work effectively to reduce the volume of
work falling into the next two quadrants.

Quadrant 3: Not Important and Urgent (Delegate)

In a business setting, work that is urgent but not actually important (to you at least) will often
include problems that are brought to you from your staff. This is often referred to as ‘staff
imposed’ time and you need to reduce it as much as possible.

It is worth directing your attention here to the concept of monkey management as ‘staff
imposed’ time can be one of the biggest issues facing managers and business owners fighting
an uphill battle when it comes to their own time management.

To explain, the monkey in the metaphor refers to someone else’s problem that you take on
your own shoulders by agreeing to ‘look into it’. Not only does this stop you from getting on
with tasks related to your role, but it can hold back staff development and even create a
culture of buck passing.

Monkey management means learning to say no to people and enabling them to manage their
own problems.

Quadrant 4: Not Important and Not Urgent (Don’t do/Avoid)

You could consider tasks in this quadrant as wasteful – unnecessary meetings or phone calls,
for example.

Part of the problem with the so-called ‘distractions’ quadrant is that you don’t realise you are
in it until you have the benefit of hindsight. As such it’s important to learn to recognise
wasteful activities, even if it’s with the benefit of hindsight, so you can avoid them or
delegate them to your staff in future.

Let us go through some benefits of Time Management:

 Time Management makes an individual punctual and disciplined. One learns to work
when it is actually required as a result of effective time management. To make the
judicious use of time, individuals should prepare a “TASK PLAN“ or a “TO DO“
List at the start of the day to jot down activities which need to be done in a particular
day as per their importance and urgency against the specific time slots assigned to
each activity. A Task Plan gives individuals a sense of direction at the workplace. An
individual knows how his day looks like and eventually works accordingly leading to
an increased output.

 One becomes more organized as a result of effective Time Management. Keeping the
things at their proper places minimizes the time which goes on unnecessary searching
of documents, important files, folders, stationery items and so on. For better time
management, individuals keep their workstations, study zones, cubicles, meeting
areas clean and organized. People learn to manage things well as a result of Time
Management.

 Effective Time Management boosts an individual’s morale and makes him confident.
As a result of Time Management, individuals accomplish tasks within the stipulated
time frame, making them popular in their organization as well as amongst their peers.
People who understand the value of time are the ones who manage to stand apart
 from the crowd. Individuals who finish off work on time are looked up to by others
and are always the centre of attention everywhere.

 Individuals who stick to a time plan are the ones who realize their goals and
objectives within the shortest possible time span. Managing time effectively helps
employees to meet targets way ahead of deadlines and finish off task just when it is
required.

 Effective Time Management helps an employee to reach the pinnacle of success

quickly and stay firm at the top for a longer duration. An employee who works just
for the sake of working fails to create an impression and is never taken seriously at
work. Effective time management plays a pivotal role in increasing an individual’s
productivity. Output increases substantially when people manage their time well.

 Better Time Management helps in better planning and eventually better forecasting.
Individuals learn to plan things well and know where exactly they stand five years
from now.

 Research says that individuals who accomplish tasks on time are less prone to stress
and anxiety. Remember there is no point in wasting time and cribbing later. Finish off
pending work on time and then you would have ample time for your friends, relatives
and family members.

 Time Management enables an individual to prioritize tasks and activities at

workplace. It is foolish to stay overburdened. Do not accept anything and everything
that comes your way.

 Time Management helps an individual to adopt a planned approach in life.