Importance of Time Management

Time management is important in any situation and most people have difficulty getting started. Time management is a skill that you have to learn. Time management is a life style. The best place to begin working on time management is by changing your behaviors and your environment. The definition of time management is: getting everything done in the allotted amount of time. It is a budgeting process of effectively using the time you have and getting rid of "useless" time. Organizing your activities in a sequence that best utilizes your time. Time management includes your personal life and business life. Time management is efficiency of your time. Analyze your current time and think how you can make better use of r time. One of the greatest assets a business can have is your an employee who uses his or her time to its fullest potential. Time management is not an i instinct, and instead, must be learned. Unfortunately, few schools or parents teach children basic time management skills. Using time wisely allows a person to complete tasks in an allotted time period, take on additional work, or spend more time with family. There are many things in an office environment that prevent effective time use.

Personal time management skills are essential skills for effective people. People who use these techniques routinely are the highest achievers in all walks of life, from business to sport to public service. If you use these skills well, then you will be able to function exceptionally well, even under intense pressure.

What's more, as you master these skills, you'll find that you take control of your workload, and say goodbye to the often intense stress of work overload.

At the heart of time management is an important shift in focus:

Concentrate on results, not on being busy

Many people spend their days in a frenzy of but achieve very little, because they're not concentrating their effort on the things that matter the most.

The 80:20 Rule

This is neatly summed up in the Pareto Principle, or the '80:20 Rule'. This says that typically 80% of unfocussed effort generates only 20% of results. This means that the remaining 80% of results are achieved with only 20% of the effort. While the ratio is not always 80:20, this broad pattern of a small proportion of activity generating non-scalar returns recurs so frequently that it is the norm in many situations.

By applying the time management tips and skills you can optimize your effort to ensure that you concentrate as much of your time and energy as possible on the high payoff tasks. This ensures that you achieve the greatest benefit possible with the limited amount of time available to you.

Definition

Generally, time management refers to the development of processes and tools that increase efficiency and productivity.

In business, time management has morphed into everything from methodologies such as Enterprise Resource Planning through consultant services such as Professional Organizers.

When we think of time management, however, we tend to think of personal time management, loosely defined as managing our time to waste less time on doing the things we have to do so we have more time to do the things we want to do.

Therefore, time management is often thought of or presented as a set of time management skills; the theory is that once we master the time management skills, we'll be more organized, efficient, and happier.

Personal time management skills include:

• goal setting
• planning
• prioritizing
• decision-making
• delegating
• scheduling