What are the important & basic elements of time management | Lisnic

Time is money right? However, unlike money, you can’t get it back when it’s wasted. That’s why you need to manage your time wisely by cutting out the time wasters and instead investing your time into worthwhile projects.

How time management skills help to improve your efficiency

Time management is something we all need to focus on when running a business, especially when we have certain tasks and priorities to accomplish. We all think we are the busiest people on earth, so here’s an article to help you free up some time in your hectic schedule.

You’ll learn through the Eisenhower Matrix

According to the Eisenhower matrix, tasks can be placed in the following categories:

• Urgent/important
• Not urgent/important
• Urgent/not important
• Not urgent/not important

Although we’ll never admit it to the boss, we are all guilty of focusing our time on the not urgent/not important things. However, realistically these should be completely cut (or delegated) so that we can invest time into tasks that are urgent and important.

One of the most basic elements of time management is being able to prioritise your tasks in an order that correlates with your deadlines. If it is not possible to achieve all of the urgent tasks at hand, this is when you’ll learn the act of delegation (and fast). The point of prioritising and delegating is that you focus on the urgent/important and hand over the not so important for someone else or the ‘to be revisited at a later date’ pile.

It teaches you how to delegate responsibilities to the right people

When you have people on your team that have the right skills and knowledge, who better than them to delegate certain tasks to? In order to do this it’s important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of those in your team like the back of your hand. When you need someone to step in and help out with product management, for example, look for someone in your team who is a) willing b) can conduct market research and has knowledge around the user experience. Delegation is what you do when the urgent needs to get done but you don’t have the time to get to it yourself. High priorities will require focus and attention and you simply cannot be everywhere at once. This is why you need a team of people that you can trust to do the tasks that you can’t get around to.

It gives you the chance to make plans ahead of time

The great thing about saving yourself time is that you can step back and make plans. How will your time be spent the next day, week, or month? This is where a time audit will come in handy.

Take a moment to look through what tasks are being done and how much time it’s taking to do them. Pinpoint tasks that can be considered ‘time wasters’, eliminate them and use that newfound time elsewhere.

It makes setting goals a lot easier

With enough time, you are able to focus on setting goals. Map out the entire project starting with the end goal and working backwards. What will it take to get from point A to point B? Who will you put on that part of the project because of their skills and competence? Setting your goals and planning it all out will also put your delegation skills to the test.

You’ll be more organised than ever

Rather than worry about things being a mess, time management will lead to a more organised schedule. You know what needs to be done and by when. When you don’t manage your time, things will be a mess and you’ll run around like a chicken without a head. You’ll be frantic to get stuff done (when it should have been done the week before).

Learn from an expert

When it comes to success, time management plays a big role. It may be tough to do at first but once you get the ball rolling, you’ll notice how much time you ACTUALLY have to get stuff done throughout the day. Our Lisnic Mentors are among some of the best business minds out there. They wouldn’t be helping out business owners like you if they didn’t know how to manage their time. Connect with a mentor today and they’ll be more than happy to make time for you (no pun intended).