Time Management refers to act of managing time effectively as well as intelligently so that the right time is allocated to the right activity. It has been rightly said that the time and tide wait for none. Hence time management is the art or process of planning and exercising control over the amount of time spent that you spend on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity. Effective time management allows individuals from various fields to effectively distribute their time towards important activities according to the time slot available with the person. Usually, time management is very important for the working professionals whose job is to deliver the product at the right time as well as the student who need to effectively time their schedule to manage their studies as well as other activities of life.

As time is very limited and all of us have to manage everything in 24 hours, there can be replacement or price for a lot of things, but you cannot buy, replace or stop time. If you want to make the best use of your time then you have to manage it effectively. Time management is a very important task and may be aided by a range of skills, tools, and techniques used to manage time when accomplishing specific tasks, projects and goals complying with a due date or planning for something in general. One of the primary goals of the time management is to help yourself become aware of how you use your time as well as resource available in organizing, prioritizing the job, and succeeding in your work as well as finishing off your work on time so that you can have sufficient time for your friends and family, etc.

Initially, time management referred to just business or work activities, but eventually, the term broadened to include personal activities as well. A time management system is a designed combination of processes, tools, techniques, and methods. Time management plays a very important role in our personal as well as professional lives. Few tools towards effective planning may include:

• Setting goals and objectives at the right time
• Setting deadlines for your work or project
• Delegation of responsibilities
• Avoiding overload
• Focus on your goals
• Analyzing your potential and planning accordingly
• Prioritizing tasks and activities as per their importance
• Spending the right time on the right activity

Advantages of Time Management

If you want to be successful in your life, then hard work and time management are the keys to success. You can reach heights if you effectively time your priorities according to importance, relevance as well as the time you have. Effective time management is a primary means to a less stressful life. Managing time well enables an individual to do the right thing at the right time. The primary goals of the time management are to give you a complete control of your life and manage your time in such a way that you make full use of it, as well as to have a happier, healthier and stress-free life without the fear of your work. When you are already running ahead of your assigned time period then obviously you are not under any kind of pressure, hence you tend to give best results when you work without any kind of pressure. Few advantages of time management include:

• Punctuality and Discipline: One of the basic advantages of the time management is that it makes a person punctual as well as disciplined. One learns to work when it is actually required as a result of effective time management. Time management involves judicious use of time; individuals need to prepare a list of activities to be performed at the start of the day to jot down activities which need to be done in a particular day as per their importance and urgency against the specific time slots assigned to each activity. Hence it also teaches the importance of doing the right thing at right time.
• Right Direction: Managing your activities well in advance gives you a clear work plan as well as the direction to work in. A Task Plan gives individuals a sense of direction at the workplace. An individual knows how his day looks like and eventually works accordingly leading to an increased output. You do not have to waste your time thinking about what to do next when you have already planned your activities well in advance according to the priority as well as relevance.
• Gives Confidence: It has also been observed that people who manage their time well are in full command of their activities and are really confident about their work.  As a result of Time Management, individuals accomplish tasks within the stipulated time frame, making them popular in their organization as well as amongst their peers. When you are moving ahead of the time allotted to you for a particular project or task, then automatically you tend to gain confidence as you know that you will complete your project well before the time allotted to you. People who understand the value of time are the ones who manage to stand apart from the crowd and are always the most confident ones.
• Key to Success: It would not be wrong to say that the time management is the key to success. Effective time management techniques help an employee to perform his job and duties properly as well complete the task given to him on time which helps him to reach the pinnacle of success quickly and stay firm at the top. There are also employees who work just for the sake of working and fail to create an impression, as a result, they are never taken seriously at work. Effective time management plays a vital role in increasing an individual’s productivity as well as achievement both at work as well as in personal life. Output increases substantially when people manage their time well and prioritize their tasks.
• The Person becomes Organized: Planning your activities well in advance and sticking to an effective work plan makes a person a punctual and well-organized individual. When you plan in advance you also know what all you need to perform your task and arrange things accordingly, keeping the things at their proper places minimizes the time which goes on unnecessary searching of documents, important files, folders, stationery items and so on. Keep everything ready to use in an organized manner saves time and at the same time, you also get used to a good habit of keeping things in an arranged manner. For better time management, individuals keep their workstations, study zones, cubicles, meeting areas clean and organized. People learn to manage things well as a result of Time Management.

Importance of Time Management

• Importance of Time Management for Students: Time management basically involves fixation of priorities according to the available time and planning in advance as to what job you pick up first and how much time you spend on a particular work. We need to realize that time management is essential in every field of life because time is the precious recourse one has to accomplish a task. Everyone has only 24 hours in a day; it is the way that you utilize it that makes a major difference in your day to day activities which can either be in your office, school and college or at home. A very single moment which passed once will never come back to be availed, hence make out most of it at once. Time management helps individuals to complete their task in time and utilize their time more productively. It helps you to identify the useless activities which can be avoided and time can be saved. It helps you give proper time to a task and perform the task more efficiently.
  
  Time management is very important in the life of a student. A student has to juggle between a lot of activities in his daily routine, out of which some are related to his studies, some activities like having food and bathing etc. are essential for his life and some games, sports and other recreational activities are for entertainment or physical fitness. Every task is of great importance and has its own relevance. Still, there are also some activities have no use and just waste time in one way or the other. It is also important for students to time well their activities. Spending too much time on entertainment activities and less time on studies can lead to some negative consequences; hence it is very important that you time your activities well in advance to avoid this problem.
  
  Time management is simply the way an individual regulates or schedules his time according to the priorities and is a very important tool during student life. It is an important skill to master because it can help the student manage the various responsibilities in life, school, work, family, and many other activities. Student life is a stage where individuals are always short of the time; you have a lot to do and limited time to cover every aspect of life. One who is able to manage his time well is the one who will write a success story. If this skill is correctly learned and applied, it can actually save a lot of time.

• Importance of Time Management in Business: Hard work as well as managing your resource and time is very important for you to be successful in any field whether sports, business or studies. For a successful business, you need both hard works as well as good management of the time and resources. You need to know time management tricks very well to build a successful business. You need to know the importance of investing your time in order for you to understand its positive effect on your success. For a successful business, client satisfaction is very important which comes only when you supply the best services in the shortest time. If you have a dedicated workforce but no work plan to follow then it is useless to have a good staff unless you have a proper planning. Hence the first step towards the successful business is to have a good planning force for effective time management so that all the raw material for certain goods and services is available to be processed, prepared and to be delivered at the right time.
  
  If you are in a business then probably you would know the value of time very well. If you are given a certain time frame to complete a project then it is meant to be delivered at that time in order to show your client your seriousness towards the work as well as to make a lifelong relationship with them to carry on business relations. Time management gives you an opportunity to plan your activities in such a way that you are able to complete your project before the deadline arrives. Also, time management has many other advantages:
  • Ensures the quality of the work
  • Helps you to complete before the deadline
  • Helps in prioritizing your task
  • Helps to accomplish more in less time
  • Gives a clear idea of the time that would be required to complete a particular job
  • Gives time to arrange for the raw material and machinery or service  

Tips for Time Management

Developing time management skills is a journey that carries on until your life. One needs to practice and other guidance along the way to enhance time management skills. These days, time seems to be at a premium, everyone wants to make most of their time. We have devices that keep us constantly connected with work, with friends and family, and sometimes even with complete strangers which at times can lead to a great amount of distraction. Time management these days is very important if you want to achieve something big in your life. Few time management tips:

• Be Organized: It is very important to be organized if you want to be successful. Use time-saving tools such as appointment calendars, "to do" lists, e-mail, answering machines, file folders, etc. if you keep your things in an organized manner you don’t have to waste your time looking out for things when you need them. Have an organized workplace and as a result, you don't have to waste time constantly looking around for things you need. Being organized doesn’t necessarily means keeping your things in the place but also being organized with your work and schedule. Use your appointment calendar for everything, including listing study time to organize your appointments and time according to availability.
• Setting Deadlines: Setting deadlines is very important. Set deadlines for yourself and strive hard to complete tasks ahead of the deadlines. When you are running ahead of the time allotted it naturally gives you an inner confidence. Do not wait for your superiors to ask you every time; instead be ready with your part beforehand. Learn to take ownership of work. One person who can best set the deadlines is you yourself. It is also advised to ask yourself how much time needs to be devoted to a particular task and for how many days. Use a planner to mark the important dates against the set deadlines.
• Balance Your Effort: It is very important to strike a proper balance according to your effort. Work on small portions every day of work that will be due by the end of the week so that you can finish off the work well on time, and a better technique is to start with the most important tasks first and then move on to less important ones. Concentrate on what is at hand and do lose focus your focus by thinking of other things at the same time. Time your priorities well as perform them accordingly. Then move on to the next daily task. Once the tasks for the day are completed, mark them as such, and proceed to the next day’s tasks.
• Postpone Unnecessary Activities: When working on some really important projects it is also a time management technique to postpone tasks or routines that can be put off until your work is finished.  Be focused on the main task and forget everything else. This can be the most difficult challenge of time management. Most of the times the distracting activities tend to amuse more, hence we get attracted towards the more. Hence concentrate on your work as well as those things that are important to you.