10 Steps to Improving Your Time Management Skills
Time management is key to reaching academic and personal goals. Incorporating these steps may help you achieve success with less stress and more confidence.
you may see benefits
Time management is the process of intentionally planning how long you spend on specific tasks in order to increase your overall efficiency. When you’re able to do this successfully, <anchor>you may see benefits</anchor> like decreased stress, improved focus and more confidence. As Strayer Student Services Coach Michael Horvath notes, effective time management skills can serve you well in both an academic and professional setting. In both places, people have a variety of commitments and daily obligations, making time management critical.
12 Benefits of Effective Time Management | Indeed.com
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# 12 Benefits of Effective Time Management

Jennifer Herrity

Updated August 15, 2024

Time management in the workplace is a skill that can benefit any employee. By learning how to manage your time, you can improve your work life, increase your productivity, lower your stress and build a positive work-life balance. In this article, we define what time management is and explore the different benefits it offers.

## What is time management?

Time management is the skill of planning your tasks based on the time you have to work. These skills can help you prioritize items in your daily schedule that allows you to finish them on time. With practice, they can ensure you're doing what you're supposed to at the right time. Time management can take many forms like using a checklist or a timer to track your progress throughout the day.Related: Time Management Skills: Definitions and Examples

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## 12 benefits of time management

Here are 12 benefits of practicing effective time management skills:

### 1. Decreased stress

Learning to manage your time can reduce your stress levels. Because you can schedule smaller parts of your day, you can leave room for irregularities or issues that might cause stress. For example, if you think that a project might take longer than originally planned, schedule extra time for that task. Even if you work on it longer, you can still be confident you have time to finish everything else, helping you remain calm. By using tools and planning techniques to prioritize your daily tasks, you will feel less overwhelmed by what you need to do. Related: 16 Tips for Handling and Avoiding Stress at Work

### 2. Increased productivity

Once you master time management, you'll be better equipped to finish tasks or projects more quickly, increasing your productivity. You may notice that you're completing a task in less time and stressing less about deadlines. By following a calendar, tracking deadlines in management software or keeping a to-do list of impending deadlines, you can better plan your work around those deadlinesRead more: How To Calculate Productivity

### 3. Positive reputation

When you keep up with your work and remain on a schedule, your coworkers and employer are likely to realize they can rely on you and hold you in higher regard. You can become known as someone who doesn’t procrastinate or push tasks off on others because you aren’t confident about accomplishing them. A positive reputation in the workplace can lead to career advancement, increased earning potential, more responsibilities and overall better workplace satisfaction.

### 4. More energy for free time

Effective time management strategies let you know when a task will be completed, reducing the amount of energy you might spend worrying whether you can finish all of your work for the day. Instead, you can plan time for a break from your usual routine. Because time management allows you to plan when your work will be finished before you start it, you can save energy for your free time. Having more free time can improve your work-life balance and ensure you're saving some time for yourself.Related: Working Full-Time Hours: How To Find a Work-Life Balance

### 5. Clear daily goals

By using time management to organize what you need to do each day, you can simplify your day and spend less time deciding what to do or how to do it. For example, if you have a complex project with an outline that requires multiple, yet unclear steps, it might help to decide what to do for each step before beginning the project. The project then becomes a simple list of tasks that provides direction. By planning out your objectives, you don’t waste time figuring them out as you go. This can mean less time wondering what you should be working on and more time working on it.Related: 14 Ways To Get Organized at Work

### 6. Improved focus

Learning to manage time effectively can improve your focus while you work. Dedicating a specific amount of time to a project or task prevents you from juggling too many responsibilities at one time since every task has its own time slot. Time management also allows you to schedule daily tasks in an environment where you can be productive and stay focused. For example, you might answer emails in a quiet room in your home or conduct highly focused tasks in a low-traffic area of the office. Related: 5 Tips To Stay Focused Working From Home

### 7. Streamlined decision-making

Managing your time and making decisions about your schedule can build your decision-making skills in other aspects of your life. Time management allows certain decisions to be made simply and quickly because you've planned for them ahead of time. The process of making decisions in advance can improve your abilities to identify priorities and what actions need to be taken.

### 8. Reaching goals faster

A large part of time management is making goals for yourself. When you develop a pattern of setting small goals and then reaching them, you can reduce the time it takes to reach such goals. You can apply the same technique of breaking goals into smaller tasks even as you set bigger goals over longer periods.Related: 12 Strategies for Staying Focused on Your Goal

### 9. Improved quality of work

As time management becomes a habit, you can spend more time improving your quality of work because you have allotted time for each task. This can also give you time to consider all aspects of a task and make sure you complete them correctly. Doing it right the first time to prevents you from redoing a task or project. Even the best employees always have room for improvement so finding ways to better your work and processes can benefit you now and in the long term. You might even find time for career growth opportunities. This could mean taking on more assignments or speaking to a superior about a possible promotion.

### 10. More confidence

Practicing time management can boost your confidence through positive self-reinforcement. When you complete a schedule of tasks or a small list of goals every day, you can feel satisfied by accomplishing tasks and become more confident in your working abilities. When work is going well, you can feel more fulfilled by the work you complete because doing each task feels like accomplishing a goal.Related: 7 Time Management Interview Questions (With Example Answers)

### 11. Improved self-discipline

When practicing time management, you can improve your self-discipline by adhering to a schedule or plan. You will be training yourself to do what you set out to do. For example, if you have a habit of finishing your end-of-day tasks hastily because you typically run out of time to do so, sticking to your task schedule can help you better devote your full attention and energy to completing your work with the right amount of attention and thought.

### 12. Better workplace relationships

Time management can help you build workplace relationships. If you manage your time well, others will know they can rely on you and might even develop their own time management skills. If everyone in an office practices time management and maintains effective communication, there will likely be fewer opportunities for workplace conflicts.Related: Conflict Resolution Skills: Definition and Examples

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