9 Key Time Management Skills and How to Improve Them
Dasha Bunks
Liberty University
PSYC 775 - Teaching of Psychology
Dr. Winn
2022
9 Key Time Management Skills and How to Improve Them
Managing your time effectively is an important professional skill to develop. Organizing your
tasks each day helps you complete work on time, prioritize your projects and communicate
your progress to supervisors and colleagues. Having strong time-management skills can
ultimately lead to accomplishing key goals and advancing in your career.
9 time management skills
Time management skills help you manage your time well. Some of the most important time
management skills include:
1. Organization
Staying organized can help you maintain a clear picture of what you need to complete and
when. Being well-organized might mean maintaining an up-to-date calendar, being able to
locate certain documents easily, having a tidy environment and taking detailed, diligent notes.
2. Prioritization
Assessing each of your responsibilities for priority is key in being a good time manager. There
are many ways to prioritize what you need to accomplish. You might decide to complete fast,
simple items followed by longer, more involved ones. Alternatively, you might prioritize your
tasks starting with the most time-sensitive, or a combination of both.
3. Goal-setting
Setting goals
is the first step to becoming a good time manager. Goal-setting allows you to clearly
understand your end goal and what exactly you need to prioritize to accomplish it. Setting both
short and long-term goals can lead to success in your career.
4. Communication
Developing strong communication skills
can allow you to make your plans and goals clear to supervisors and colleagues. It can also
allow you to ask questions when necessary, and communicate challenges in a timely manner so
that everyone stays on track.
5. Planning
A fundamental part of time management is planning. Being efficient in planning out your day,
meetings and how you will accomplish things will help you stick to your schedule.
6. Delegation
While delegation is most often done by managers, you can also practice delegating tasks if you
are managing a project. While it can often be difficult to say “no” when someone asks you to do
something at work, it's important to practice having boundaries to manage your time well and
ultimately accomplish your goals.
7. Stress management
When practicing good time management, you should also be attentive to your mental health.
Handling stress
in a positive way can help you stay motivated and perform well when going through your
schedule. You might do this by including small breaks throughout your day, or by rewarding
yourself in small ways as you accomplish tasks.
8. Problem-solving
Strong problem-solving skills will help you overcome challenges and keep projects moving
forward and on schedule. Problem-solving will also help team members to stay on the same
page with each other.
9. Note-taking
Taking notes and keeping documents up to date are important when managing time and tasks.
Following outdated guidelines, for instance, could slow you down or cause you to have to redo
some of your work.
