Posted by Margaret Wood, HR Professoinal & Freelancer 11/2/2026

Time Management – what is it?

The act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, specifically  to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity is what is referred to as Time Management.

Time can be one of your most precious assets. Effective time management involves planning the amount of time you spend on all of the tasks of running a business — and your personal life — to get things done in the most effective and productive manner.

By using a range of tools and techniques used to accomplish specific tasks, projects and goals, you can improve your time management skills . Some of the elements of effective time management include creating a productive environment, setting of priorities and reducing distractions

• Actions– Know what your actions are and how they align with the goals of your organization. Keep customer service in mind.
• Prioritize– Everything has a deadline. Know what you have to get done in order to support the goals of your position and organization.
• Publicize–Be sure your entire organization knows you have been given goals and initiatives to work on, what those are and how they support the strategic goals of your co-workers and the organization.
• Constant Evaluation– Re-evaluate – the way we do things may not necessarily be the way they should gt done. Research and embrace technoloy to come up with the best plan and work processes.

Deciding how to prioritize can be a challenge at times, considering the work load, its complexetiy and how much time it will take. There’s a little bit of a procrastinator that dwells inside of each of us; we’ve all had days where we didn’t want to do anythingf because we didn’t know where to start.

Dr. Steven Covey has been a shadow-mentor and has influenced several generations. He shaped and formed many of the universal principles of ethics, morals, and truths into language and practices people live and do business by all over the world. Dr. Covey and his famous books brought a new language to business. He defined one of  best ways to approach each day and is best demonstraded in this short video 

 Dr. Steven Covey’s top 7 habits

Habit 1: Be Proactive – Mohammed went to the mountain 

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind – Have a clear understanding of what your end-result should be

Habit 3: Put First Things First – Do things against the norm: Big things to little things

Habit 4: Think Win-Win – Constantly re-evaluate, never losing sight of the end

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood

Habit 6: Synergize – 

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

Other Time Management Tips

• Email – the [now] necessary evil. Many people find email to be quicker than getting on a phone call. According to a survey conducted by the McKinsey Global Institute, office workers spend 2.6 hours per day reading and answering emails. This equates to 33% of a 40-hour workweek. Smartphones, laptops, and other mobile devices have many checking their email constantly.The key is to balance personal time with emails for well rounded relationships.
• Use a single calendar and be sure you check it every day to set/reset priorities – one day at a time!
• Use a 3-tiered tray on your desk
  • Go through your stack of documents once
  • Prioritize by urgency:
    • Most important in top tray
    • Urgent, but not time sensitive
    • Least important
  • If it doesn’t go into any of those categories, trash it
• POLR – Path of least resistance
  • Work Smarter – Not Harder
  • Innovate
  • Use technology to your advantage

The list and resources on how to best manage your time is endless. By trying differernt approaches, you can pick and choose what works best for you, develop your own approach to managing your time and getting the best results from your efforts.