The Importance of Time Management
Although money is often valued more than time because it provides for our livelihood, you can recoup lost money–but you can’t recoup lost time. As a CEO or employee, you quickly realize that the two are intimately interconnected. Moreover, as a CEO, you not only have to manage your own time but manage your employees’ time, too. The more time you squander, the less money you make. Conversely, the more efficiently you make use of your time, the more money you might make. Fortunately, a wide variety of software tools, such as Outlook, can help you keep track of your time and in the process manage your financial opportunities.
While most time management software offerings are fairly simple, others like Asure Software are feature rich SaaS-based solutions that can allow you to manage an entire business. With a full suite software, you can minimize the time you spend on business analytics, asset management, resource scheduling, space utilization, and keeping track of a mobile team’s time and attendance records. Since time plays such a vital role in our wealth and success, as well as in our personal happiness, what can we do to get better at time management?
A Caveat About Software
The issue of time management is not solved through software. While software is superior to using manual methods of keeping track of time, it’s not the final solution. The reason is simple. You need to have the motivation to use it. Here’s an analogy to make this point clear. Owning a fine set of tools doesn’t make you a master craftsman; you also have to be motivated to use those tools and learn how to use them well.
3 Reasons Why Time Management Is Important
If you aren’t managing your time well, it’s not because you’re using the wrong software, it’s because you have not grasped the philosophy of time management at a visceral level. While managing your time better can be facilitated through better techniques, it’s essential to make the link between time management, business success, and quality of life.
Here are three ideas to help you grasp these subtle distinctions:
1. Time Is A Finite Resource
From the metaphysical perspective, time may not be all that important except from the perspective of physics. Time may flow backwards, forwards, and along parallel dimensions, but from a practical day-to-day perspective, time is a finite resource. Time, as we measure it, is limited to 24 hours a day and since science has increased longevity, but not yet invented physical immortality, you only have a few decades of time to carve out a satisfactory life.
2. Time Is A Measure of Productivity
Imagine three people in an office who do similar jobs for the same pay:
- Person A is slow and manages to do a few tasks during the work day.
- Person B is faster and manages to a few more than Person A during the work day.
- Person C is faster than person A and person B and does more work than both combined.
This hypothetical scenario raises some interesting questions about the value of productivity from the employee’s point-of-view.
- Why is person C faster?
- Does it matter if person C is faster considering they have the same pay?
Here are other some ideas to ponder:
- Person C is faster because he has acquired more knowledge and skills about his work. This has allowed them to be more efficient per unit of time. In addition, person C is much more motivated to do the work. It can also be assumed that person C may also be doing the work better, as they have more know how and appears more motivated.
- In the short term, person A appears to be doing the best. After all, they earn as much as his colleagues without expending as much effort. In the long run, person C has the best deal. When management is considering downsizing, person A will be at the top of the list. When management is considering a promotion, person C will be at the top. And should each of them start their own business, person C will quickly move into profits.
3. Efficiency Is A Way To Reduce Time
While there is little you can do to slow the movement of the clock, there is much you can do to speed up your own movements. This process of speeding up is based on acquiring more knowledge and skills. The better you know how to do something, the faster you can do it. Knowledge and skills are a result of study and practice.
Slash Your Stress
While there is a link between how well you manage your time and how much money you make, there is also a link between time management and stress. It may seem counterintuitive to suggest that time management reduces stress. After all, struggling to stay organized and rushing to complete tasks all day long sounds stressful.
Here are four reasons why managing your time better can reduce your level of stress:
- You have a sense of control and don’t feel rushed and overwhelmed.
- You’re not wrestling with incomplete projects that arose from procrastination and that are now piling up on your to do list.
- You have a clear idea of how long each project should take. You’re no longer frantically rushing to meet a deadline.
- You can factor in rest breaks, complete your work sooner, and enjoy more time to unwind.
