Working long hours, rushing to meet deadlines, trying to keep up with your peers – all causes a lot of stress and the resultant inability to do things well and to your satisfaction. The way to get on top of this is effective time management because it benefits you. It ensures that you spend your time productively on things that matter most to you. It helps you to stay in control of your time, life and activities.

If you don’t manage your time properly, you might end up switching between assignments so as to meet a fast-approaching deadline. This results in inefficiency and low productivity, and poor quality of work. If you try to do jobs last minute, quality gets sacrificed for speed. And you actually end up spending more time on the job, rather than less as you have to rework things not done properly the first time.

Ignoring distractions that hinder you

Effective time management basically means ignoring distractions that hinder you from trying to do jobs that are important. For example, answering personal phone calls or constantly checking emails during work hours will distract you from your work, leading to shoddy work, not meeting time schedules and overall inefficiency and maybe even getting fired from your job. The final result? More stress and unhappiness for you. Hence you need to “manage your time”, i.e. organize and plan how much time you spend on each task.

When you manage your time, you improve your life in all ways because you spend your time in the right places, on the right things. You work smarter and increase your productivity and efficiency. Good time management requires a shift in focus from activities to results.

Be effective, not busy. Figure out what is causing your work quality and productivity to suffer and then see how you can fix them.

Do not waste time in inanities

If you are being disturbed by phone-calls and meetings, block time off for when you do not want to be disturbed and stick to it. Do not waste time in inanities. Work in concentrated bits of time – focus on what you are doing and it will come out better. It will also mean less pressure and stress and better work will lead to better results, better evaluation, higher profits.

If your work suffers because you are short of manpower, ask for and get more people to work on your team. If you find yourself agreeing to “help” out others when you are running short of time, learn to say no, prioritize your jobs and finish them before taking on the responsibilities and work burden of others.

Emotional aspect of time management

You also need to tackle the emotional aspect of time management – cutting down your work time deliberately may seem as if you are not really doing your job. But try it out, fix up other activities for after work hours so that you have to leave office in time and you will find that the work still gets done – but you also have time left over for a personal life.

When you manage your time differently, you work more productively in less time, discover greater interest in your job, have time for a personal life, better your relationship with people around you, improve your health, and have greater peace of mind in your professional and personal life.