If you feel like your days are wasted or if you never seem to have enough time to get all of the work projects completed then it might be time to start improving your soft skills.
Time management soft skill sare critical in our modern lives because this type of skill can help us become more productive at work and home. With better productivity, you will get more done and there will be more time to allocate to your social life, hobbies, or other achievements you want to accomplish.
Our guide takes a closer look at time management in the form of soft skills and we share some of the most important soft skills to start working on right now.
Why Time Management is Considered a Soft Skill
To understand why time management is considered a soft skill, we should first take a look at what is meant by “soft skills.”
Soft skills are essential skills that are also referred to as power skills, common skills, interpersonal skills, and core skills and some even refer to these abilities as personality traits or character traits. This type of skill set refers to skills and abilities that you develop outside of the classroom or textbooks.
Instead, soft skills are typically developed through experiences in your personal life and work environment. There are many different types of interpersonal soft skills.
Here is a quick look at some of the soft skills that are most likely to assist you in your professional life:
- Communication skills
- Teamwork
- Adaptability
- Problem-solving skills
- Leadership skills
- Creativity
- Critical thinking
- Time management
Why is Time Management an Important Soft Skill?
Time management skills refer to the ability to effectively plan your day or keep track of your time. With good time management skills, you can become more punctual, productive, and able to prioritize the tasks or projects that are the most important in your personal and professional life. Time management is all about setting goals, creating to-do lists, and working hard to achieve these goals within a specific time frame.
Time management skills are considered a soft skill and may be the most important extracurricular skills you can work on improving because of their profound positive impact on your personal life, professional life, and work-life balance.
Effective time management techniques can usually be taught, but many people learn and develop these skills from personal experiences rather than inside the classroom. Your time management abilities will also improve as you continue working on them.
Top Time Management Soft Skills To Start Working On
There are many different time management skills that you can work on if you want to improve your overall efficiency or want to become more productive at work. It’s important to realize that not all of these skills or strategies will be effective for your specific life circumstances or work environment. While developing time management abilities, try various methods and time management tools. Eventually, you’ll discover the most efficient time management concepts for your needs.
Let’s take a look at some examples of time management skills that people find effective when they need to improve their personal or work lives.
Planning and Organizational Skills
Perhaps the most important time management soft skill to start working on is your ability to plan out your day and organize your life. Planning skills are a critical aspect of time management because without proper planning it can be hard to get anything done. Effective organizational skills are also important to help structure your day and environment to become more efficient.
To improve your organizational and planning skills, start by writing down important tasks, projects, meetings, appointments, or events. Then organize this list in your calendar.
After sorting these events or important tasks into your work week or month, you can begin breaking up the projects into bite-sized tasks that are easier to manage.
Digital Tools for Planning and Organizing Your Life
Many productivity apps can be used for planning your life or organizing your projects. Here are some examples of great planner apps.
Microsoft Planner: This app is a single platform where you can list all of your tasks. It’s compatible with all Microsoft apps (Word, Excel, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, and more) and is a platform that connects all of these different platforms into the dashboard.
Microsoft Planner can be used by individuals or teams and is a great platform for organizing daily tasks or projects. You can also set reminders and receive email notifications of all important projects or events.
Google Calendar: Google Calendar is a popular app because it’s completely free. This time management tool allows you to schedule all of your projects, events or appointments on a calendar. You can set the calendar to send notifications to your phone to remind you of important events like birthdays, appointments or urgent projects.
Timeneye: This app is compatible with Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar and is a good solution for team members who leverage both of these apps for their projects. Timeneye doesn’t only integrate these two apps, it can also be used as a time tracker and organizer where teams can collaborate.
Goal Setting and Sorting by Priority
Once you’ve written down your important events, projects, or meetings, it’s time to move on to the next key time management soft skill. Start setting clear goals that can help you accomplish the life you wish to live.
Learning to Identify and Set Goals
Goals fall into a couple of categories – there are short-term goals for your immediate life, long-term goals that are guided by your hopes for the future, micro-goals that are connected to specific time-sensitive work projects, and personal or psychological goals that have nothing to do with your professional life (weight loss or increased self-esteem).
Start digging deeper and identify your goals. For beginners, it’s easier to start with immediate project goals. What projects are due for you today or this week? Write these projects down. They are your immediate goals.
Next, consider what you might want to improve about yourself or your mental well-being. These are your psychological goals.
After establishing these micro-goals, start working on short-term goals. This can be a promotion you want or simply to become more organized in your office.
Finally, start planning out your long-term goals. These are goals you would like to achieve over a few years.
Sorting Goals by Priority
Once all of your goals in these categories have been listed, you can start sorting them by priority.
The Eisenhower Matrix is a great concept to use to identify urgent tasks to prioritize. This concept allows you to focus on tasks that require your immediate attention and identify unimportant projects that you can delegate to others.
Delegating and Outsourcing Tasks
For many people, it’s nearly impossible to accomplish every defined task or goal within a specific time frame. This is where delegation can be a lifesaver.
Delegating is an effective time management soft skill that every manager should incorporate, but you can also learn to delegate unimportant projects to friends, family members or colleagues.
The Eisenhower Matrix is an effective tool to help you identify tasks that can be delegated to others. By delegating these projects, you will have more time to focus on challenging tasks.
However, learning how to outsource tasks isn’t always easy because it requires asking others for help.
Start by learning to delegate at home. Practice delegating household tasks to family members. Getting everyone to cooperate can ease the burden and free up time so you can also relax.
Next, start delegating work tasks. Identify simple tasks and delegate them to subordinates or colleagues who might have more free time on their hands.
Project Tracking
Now that you know how to set goals for yourself, break these goals into more manageable tasks, and outsource projects to reduce the workload. To successfully do this, learn how to keep track of these projects. Project tracking is an essential time management soft skill because if you don’t keep track of projects, important tasks can fall behind.
Setting Dedicated Time Zones for Projects
Before you start tracking projects, create a dedicated time for each project. Determine when projects are due, set a cut-off time for each project, or think about how long each project will take to complete.
If you can estimate how long projects will take or establish a cut-off time, it becomes easier to create a work schedule for your day.
Consider the Time-Block Method
Some people enjoy using the time-block method to keep track of their projects. This time management strategy involves dividing your day into blocks or time slots and entering activities into each of these slots.
For effective time blocking, write down everything you want to accomplish for the day. This includes time for eating, resting, working, completing certain projects, exercising, checking emails, and much more.
Time blocking is a good way to keep track of your projects or day because you can easily check off your blocks of time as your day progresses.
Establish a Routine
Most people are not fond of routines but routines are great for increasing productivity levels. Routines are also great for getting small and unimportant tasks out of your way so you can focus when it’s time to tackle difficult tasks.
For example, creating the routine of making your bed as soon as you get up can save you lots of time in the morning since the temptation to get back in bed is diminished. Your room will also look tidy which will give your day structure.
Another example of a healthy routine is to clean the kitchen every night before bed. This simple routine can make your mornings more proactive and can help you be more punctual in the morning.
A routine to check your emails the moment you step into the office can get this distracting project out of the way so the rest of the day will be reserved for your projects.
Focus
The ability to focus is a critical time management soft skill to develop. If you are unable to focus on the task at hand then it will become nearly impossible to get anything done during the day.
You can do many things to increase your ability to stay focused. Here are some of the leading strategies:
Eliminate distractions
First, find ways to eliminate distractions. The best place to start is with your phone. Install notifications and app blockers so that pings from your phone won’t distract you from your work.
Next, declutter your office space. Too many items on your desk and inside your work environment can capture your attention. Clutter also tends to make us feel more stressed.
Another good way to eliminate distractions is to create a quiet office environment. Try closing the door or playing brown noise on a small speaker.
Set Timed Goals
A great way to focus on important tasks is by setting time slots for each project. These time restrictions will force you to get to work.
Take Breaks
Take regular breaks. If you focus for too many hours on end, you will start feeling fatigued. With regular breaks and lots of movement during the day, your mind will stay oxygenated and focused.
Conclusion
Improving your time management soft skills can be helpful in career development and daily activities. If you start working on your time management abilities right now then you will likely see a huge improvement in your overall productivity within just a few days.
As you practice and perfect time management soft skills, your work, social, and family life will continue improving.
If you found this guide useful then please let us know your thoughts in the comments. We would love to know what you thought about our guide and the personal improvement techniques we shared.
At Top Productivity Apps you will find lots of other helpful guides and info on apps and software that can make it easier to plan out your day. We welcome you to have a peek at some of our other guides where you will discover other life-changing concepts.
