Dr. Engr. Md. Sakawat Ali
E-mail: sakawat_ali@yahoo.com
“Time management” is the process of organizing and planning how to divide your time between specific activities. Good time management enables you to work smarter – not harder – so that you get more done in less time, even when time is tight and pressures are high. Productivity and efficiency are vital in any workplace. Good time management allows you to accomplish more in a shorter period of time, which leads to more free time, which lets you take advantage of learning opportunities, lowers your stress, and helps you focus, which leads to more career success. Each benefit of time management improves another aspect of your life.
Time Management Soft Skills are as follows:
- Acuity
- Allocating Resources
- Coping
- Critical Observation
- Focus
- Goal-Setting
- Introspection
- Memory
- Organization
- Personal Time Management
- Planning
- Prioritization
- Recall
- Scheduling
- Sense of Urgency
- Streamlining
- Stress Management
- Task Planning
- Task Tracking
- Time Awareness
- Work-Life Balance
1. Acuity
When you have acuity, you're able to be sharp and efficient in your thinking. You are able to understand things quickly and pick up on new concepts, which helps employers save time.
2. Allocating Resources
Businesses often face resource constraints. There is often a discrepancy between the available resources and the required resources. Being able to plan and allocate business resources is essential for optimum utilization of the tools or personnel on hand.
3. Coping
Gaps in coping skills limit an employee's ability to solve problems and make effective decisions. Studies have found that an employee's coping skills are indicative of their willingness to engage in work and take initiative in projects.
4. Critical Observation
Critical observation refers to the ability to recognize subtle details that impact how you handle situations. With this skill, you can notice patterns and behaviors that may otherwise be overlooked. These observations may seem small in the moment, but they make a big difference over time to the company's bottom line.
5. Focus
Employers seek candidates with a high level of focus because they can manage their time and organize their priorities. With focus, you can work independently and complete tasks in time using a strong work ethic.
6. Goal-Setting
Goal-setting is important because it requires you to have confidence in your abilities, in addition to an attitude of hopefulness. Further, being skilled in setting realistic goals demonstrates self-awareness and time management skills.
7. Introspection
Introspection is critical to emotional intelligence, relationships, and productivity. Employers value people who are able to address personal problems rather than allow them to fester. Having introspection goes hand-in-hand with self-awareness in that it results in the ability to pinpoint internal problems so they can be addressed.
8. Memory
Having a good memory will help you keep up with the fast-paced business world. It will also prevent you from forgetting deadlines, facts, and the names of clients and business associates, which will help save you the time of having to constantly look things up.
9. Organization
Your work load will run smoothly if you are organized. Employers want to hire an organized team so time isn't lost in trying to find documents or getting projects together at the last minute.
10. Personal Time Management
Having a sense of balance in your time is a critical part of success. This involves being able to recognize how long a task will take, and take the necessary breaks in your work to keep your motivation level high.
11. Planning
When you plan, you plan to succeed. This allows you to make progress with your job and forecast your results. People who can plan effectively are also able to prepare for possible obstacles.
12. Prioritization
Employers want you to be able to recognize tasks that are time-sensitive, and get them accomplished before those that aren't. Being able to prioritize your work helps you avoid missing deadlines due to pushing a project off until the last minute.
13. Recall
When you are able to properly recall facts or information, you save yourself the time and trouble of having to reference written information. This can also allow you to help others who are struggling to remember information, if you can provide them with it right away.
14. Scheduling
Scheduling is often about prioritizing, but it is also about being able to estimate how long tasks and meetings will take. Scheduling is a critical part of time management because you have to take into account many moving parts in order to work efficiently.
15. Sense of Urgency
Having a sense of urgency leads to results because it requires bursts of creativity and activity. If you are working with inflexible deadlines, it is imperative to work with a mindset that things must be accomplished immediately.
16. Streamlining
Streamlining your work involves cutting out unnecessary tasks and reducing the amount of paperwork and excess information that isn't required for progress. This is an important business skill because it enables you to work efficiently by recognizing ways you are wasting your time.
17. Stress Management
A little bit of stress gives you motivation and a sense of urgency, but too much stress can cause you to feel like you are losing control. Employers want to work with people who can effectively manage their stress to avoid employee burnout and turnover.
18. Task Planning
Task planning involves setting goals, finding necessary resources, and scheduling events that are related to certain tasks. When you are able to do this effectively, you can achieve your goals in the amount of time that you have available.
19. Task Tracking
Keeping up with your progress is an important skill that employers look for, especially when hiring for a leadership position. Not only is it important to be able to track your own progress, it is also imperative to keep up with your employees’ tasks to make sure that everyone is working on schedule.
20. Time Awareness
In order to be successful in business, you need to have an idea of how long things take to accomplish and how much time has passed as you are working. You cannot contribute to the success of a project if you think a task will take 30 minutes and it ends up taking 5 hours without you even realizing it.
21. Work-Life Balance
You need to be able to make time for other aspects of your life aside from work in order to be an effective employee. With the availability of technology, it is easy to never disconnect from work, even if you are on vacation. However, it is important to take the breaks that you need to recuperate from work.
Key Words: Time Management Skills