Time Management: Definition, Examples, & Tips

As the world gets larger and more complicated, it becomes more necessary to be intentional and mindful about how you are spending your time. Mindlessly scrolling through social media or binge-watching TV are examples of activities that can steal your time away. While neither of these activities is necessarily “bad”, the time they take away from other more important areas of your life can have a detrimental effect. For example, if you want to work out but find yourself scrolling on social media for two hours a day, that is time being taken away from your physical health. With better time management, you can convert some of the time spent on social media (or other low-stakes activities) towards more productive activities, like working out.
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Better time management has been correlated with a number of benefits. One study gave employees a one-and-a-half day time management training to help with procrastination. After one month, the employees reported increased time management skills and decreased worry and avoidance behavior compared to employees who did not receive the training (Eerde, 2003). This means that increasing your time management skills can have a positive effect on your job by encouraging action and decreasing feelings of worry.

Time management can also have benefits in an academic environment. Students who feel they have greater control over their time see the following benefits:

• Less role ambiguity
• Less role overload
• Fewer job stresses
• Greater work satisfaction
• Greater life satisfaction
• Better self-evaluations of performance (Macan et al., 1990)

Feeling like you have greater control over your time is exactly the kind of power that practicing time management gives you. Instead of feeling overwhelmed, you can feel sure and prepared to tackle anything that comes your way.

Given that everyone’s life looks different, people will have different skills and strategies for managing their time. Consider the following examples of issues and solutions using time management strategies. 

• Alex would like to develop better habits around eating but she finds herself buying fast food for lunch every day because she doesn’t wake up in time to pack her own. Instead of waking up earlier, which is really difficult for her, she starts to devote one hour to meal prepping on Sunday afternoons. This means she has healthy, affordable meals ready to go all week. She also makes a plan to pack her lunch and snacks the night before so she can just grab them and go in the morning.
• Jose has been busy with school and work lately and his housework has fallen behind as a result. Instead of letting things pile up, he starts to do a little cleaning each day. While making his coffee in the morning, he sets a timer for 15 minutes and cleans up as much as possible during that time. After a few days, he makes a game of his cleaning time, trying to get as much done as he can. Jose starts to enjoy and see the value in keeping his space clean.

There are certain skills that can be helpful to create better time management habits. Try focusing on developing the following skills to gain more control over how you spend your time.

Goal-setting. 
When you have clear goals, you understand all the steps you need to achieve them. This allows you to take action and get things done. Having both long-term goals and short-term goals can help you prioritize and manage the things you need to focus on.

Organization. 
Being organized can help you manage time better because you can easily find what you need to find. This includes keeping files and paperwork tidy as well as taking detailed notes.

Planning. 
Planning out your day and week can help you stick to your schedule. This allows you to complete everything you need to. 

Prioritization. 
There are different ways to prioritize. For example, you might choose to complete short, simple tasks first to get them out of the way. Conversely, there might be a complicated task that needs your attention right away. Knowing how to prioritize is an essential piece of time management. 

Stress management. 
Feeling stressed can make it difficult to manage your time. (Poor time management can also be a cause of stress). Approaching tasks from a calm state of mind will make you more efficient. Try exercises such as yoga, journaling, or meditation to manage stress.

Creating a plan can help you structure your time to get things done while still maintaining space for activities you enjoy. Planning might take a bit more work on the front end but it does end up saving you time in the long run. Writing out a plan can also help you see if you are being too ambitious or if the schedule you’ve created seems reasonable. 

Example of a daily plan:

• 6:00 am: Wake up
• 6:30-7:30 am: Work out
• 7:30-8:30 am: Get ready and eat breakfast
• 9:00-12:00 pm: Work
• 10:00-10:15 am: Drawing break
• 12:00-1:00 pm: Lunch+walk outside
• 1:00-5:00 pm: Work
• 2:30-2:45 pm: Coffee break
• 5:00-7:00 pm: Eat dinner and relax
• 7:15-7:45 pm: Practice guitar
• 7:45-8:00 pm: Meditate

The plan above includes responsibilities, such as work, and hobbies, such as practicing guitar. Mindful, rejuvenating breaks are also built into the plan. It’s okay if obstacles alter the course of your plans–they inevitably will. Having a structure gives you something to come back to once the obstacle is taken care of.

Different tools will work for different people. Consider the following common time management tips and see if they fit into your life. Keep trying until you find tools that feel useful and comfortable to you.

Pomodoro Method
This method can help you take action and get things done if you are having trouble getting started. Set a timer for 25 minutes and work straight through with no distractions. When the timer is up, take a 5-minute break. Repeat this cycle until you get your task completed. 

Eat the Frog
“Eating the frog” is a time management tool that refers to doing the biggest or most unpleasant task first. Getting this task out of the way means it won’t be hanging over your head. Plus, getting the most difficult task done first can help serve as motivation for the rest of your day.

​Build in Breaks
While it can be tempting to pack your day with activities, it is also important to build in breaks. Research has shown that building in breaks with regenerative activities, such as walks or meditation, can boost productivity and overall well-being (Taylor, 2005). When you build a time management plan, try to include breaks. Even five or ten minutes can be beneficial.

Would you like to explore time management with students, employees, or even yourself? The following games can help you gain a better understanding of how you and/or others manage time–while also having fun in the process.

How Long is a Minute?​

1. Tell people you will be testing their perception of time.
2. Ask people to close their eyes and instruct them to open their eyes once they feel one minute has elapsed.
3. Time one minute using a phone or stopwatch.
4. Some people will open their eyes before the minute is over and some after. Discuss how different people perceive time differently.

Spend $86,400

1. Instruct people that they have $86,400 to spend in one day.​ The amount cannot carry over. You have to spend the full amount in one day.
2. Write down the activities you/others would spend the money on.
3. Talk about the fact that we all have 86,400 seconds each day.
4. Evaluate how much money was “wasted” and compare it to wasted time.
5. Discuss ways to take back control of the time you have each day.

• “Where your attention goes, your time goes.” ― Idowu Koyenikan
  
• “The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” ― Michael Altshuler
  
• “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” ― Benjamin Franklin
  
• “Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four-hour days.” ― Zig Ziglar
  
• “If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.” ― Bruce Lee
  
• “You get to decide where your time goes. You can either spend it moving forward, or you can spend it putting out fires. You decide. And if you don’t decide, others will decide for you.” ― Tony Morgan
  
• “Time is the most valuable coin in your life. You and you alone will determine how that coin will be spent. Be careful that you do not let other people spend it for you.” ― Carl Sandburg
  

If you’d like to keep learning more, here are a few books that you might be interested in.

• Eerde, W. V. (2003). Procrastination at work and time management training. The Journal of Psychology, 137(5), 421–434.
• Macan, T. H., Shahani, C., Dipboye, R. L., & Phillips, A. P. (1990). College students’ time management: Correlations with academic performance and stress. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82(4), 760–768. 
• Taylor, W. (2005). Transforming work breaks to promote health. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 29(5), 461–465.​