Importance of Time Management: Do We Value It?

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Importance of Time Management: Do We Really Value It?

What is the importance of time management?
The paradox of time is that, for many of us, it's the least considered, worst managed, and yet most valuable resource we have. Surely up at the top of the list of our problem with time must be that we waste so much of it, and don't really value it.

Continuing our different perspective on time management, the importance of time management is based on releasing more time so that you can invest it in valuable activities.

It is the use of our time, what we choose to do with it, or what we allow ourselves to drift into doing that matters.

There are some good reasons why we need to guard our time, here are three factors that stress the importance of time management:

You can't buy it. In the sense that time is distributed equally to all, each of us gets 24 hours a day
You can't stop it. Time marches on, you can't hold time up to take a bit longer.
You can't save it. Time can't be saved to be used up at another time when you might feel you need it more.

But you can live it:

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift; that's why they call it the present."

Attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt.

To live well we should make the most of our time.

Valuing Time

Can you place a value on time? In our article "what is time management" we discussed Richard Koch's approach to time management.

He argues that if the majority of our time is spent in low-quality ways, then speeding it up, or being more efficient with our use of time doesn�t help us. That becomes more the problem than the solution! So the question we need to ask is perhaps: what value do you get out of your time?

To be clearer about the importance of time management try this interesting summary of a typical use of time in any given day. If you were asked to guess, how much free time do you think you have for yourself each day?

Lets assume that for basic needs we use:

8 hours to sleep
2 hours to eat, including cooking
1 hour personal hygiene including getting dressed, washing etc...)

that's used 11 hours already.

What about work? If we assume what are probably very conservative figures:

8 hours a day working
1 hour's travelling (on average)
that makes 9 hours

Add this to the 11 hours already used and the total is 20 hours.

That leaves you with only 4 hours to do the things you like, to take it easy, to meet friends, to spend time with the family. That of course is assuming that you don't count "taxi" duty if you have children to ferry around.

So if you don't particularly like or enjoy your work, you're not left with much time to do what you do enjoy.

The picture however could well be worse if you take two further areas into consideration.

Hidden Effects of Time

Those two areas are productivity and leisure.

First productivity. Remember Richard Koch's point that not all time is of equal value. It's not just time that it is important it is what you do with the time. In the workplace for example, you could compare UK productivity with that of the US. London School of Economic's (LSE) Professor of Economics, John Van Reenen did exactly that and provocatively makes the point: "Joe Doe in the US could take Thursday and Friday off and still produce as much as poor John Bull in the UK toiling away throughout the working week."

Long hour cultures are not necessarily productive cultures, often the activity is just busyness, as discussed in our article: time management at work. In this article we ask: should we be re-assessing the value of the time we spend at work.

Secondly, and perhaps of more concern, is the use of our leisure time and in particularly our use of Television. In: Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam summarises the position. "Most studies estimate that the average American now watches roughly four hours per day, very nearly the highest anywher in the world." If you factor that into our calculations then some of us may be using up all our free time simply watching TV.
For both work and leisure we should make sure the benefits of time management are made visible and realised, it is too important to waste.

The Importance of Time Management:: Take theTime to....

There are many lists, suggestions and formulas to be found in books and on the internet to help us manage our time. In contrast, here is an approach which uses some old prose which hopefully will inspire you to assess again the importance of time management in your life by ensuring you invest it in vaulable activities.

What value do you place on your time? What are you going to do with all this free time you will be creating?

Freeing time is crucial, time to focus on results and worthwhile work. The importance of time management though, is that it frees you to do more of what you want to do.

Here are some suggestions for how you might use some of that time that has now been freed up, put wonderfully in an old Irish text:

"Take the time to work, for it is the price of success.
Take the time to think, it is the source of strength.
Take the time to play, it is the secret of youth.
Take the time to read, it is the seed of wisdom.
Take the time to be friendly, for it brings happiness.
Take the time to dream, for it will carry you to the stars.
Take the time to love, it is the joy of life.

Take the time to be content, it is the music of the soul."

So take the time to assess the importance of time management in your life.

Why not plan to do things in each of the eight areas on a regular basis?

Don't forget that you could apply each of these to your work, and afterall we spend an awful lot of our time working, so, yes take the time.....

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