Uses of Time

>> The Harvard Business Review article highlights that three skills are necessary to be successful in time management: awareness, organization and adaptation.

A new article by Erich C. Dierdorff, professor of ADE and published in the Harvard Business Review reveals that time management goes beyond tricks and apps, highlighting the fundamental skills that determine its success. The article highlights that despite the abundance of advice and tools available, many people continue to suffer from project delays, missed delivery deadlines and an ever-growing to-do list.

With the season of New Year’s resolutions upon us, the article highlights how many people are pledging to “manage their time better” and “be more productive.” These goals, crucial to career success, are affected by the challenge of improving time management, a skill often highlighted as highly desired but hard to find.

The study highlights three fundamental skills that distinguish time management successes from failures: awareness, organization and adaptation. Among these, organization is the most well-known, as many councils focus on scheduling and planning. However, attention to awareness and adaptation skills are undervalued, despite their importance.

The main finding of the study is that all three skills are equally important for optimal performance in time management. Improving only in programming and planning leaves out two-thirds of the necessary competence.

To improve these skills, the study suggests three main tips:

• Develop an accurate self-awareness of your time management skills: find the hours of peak performance, try to time tasks in short deadlines, evaluate how realistically you deal with time…
• Develop management skills: prioritize activities and obligations, avoid the “urgency effect”, program calendaring applications…
• Develop adaptation skills: try accumulating habits, use short bursts of effort, try to reduce time wastage, block social networks at certain times…

From the NUST Network we defend once again that it is necessary to evaluate and develop tools and instruments to achieve a real change in time management in organizations. We see that improving time management emerges as a persistent objective that requires a deeper and more sustainable approach.