As our lives transition to become more digital and busier, the desire to do things quickly and efficiently has grown and a greater focus and emphasis on productivity has shown, whether that is through the media or at schools and institutions. Good time management skills, therefore, are now highly prioritized both at home and at work.
Measuring Time Management
Do these techniques actually work? In a meta-analysis published in PLOS One, Brad Aeon found that these skills do work but perhaps not for the reasons we would expect. While time management skills have become more important in evaluations of job performance since the 1990s, their biggest impact lies on personal wellbeing.
Time management, in brief, is a decision-making framework that helps us structure, protect, and adapt our time in changing circumstances. It can, therefore, be measured through questions like, “do you have a daily routine?”, “do you find it hard to say no to people?”, and “do you evaluate your daily schedule?”. Work-life balance and attitudes towards time and time management are also key.
To explore the efficacy of time management, the team from Research Digest collated 158 papers from the mid-1980s to 2019 in journals in business, computing, gender studies, psychology, sociology, and education. Papers that included scales or questionnaires on time management were also included. Interestingly, time management studies became more popular between 2000 and the 2010s, suggesting a wider trend and interest in the topic.
Time Management and its Effects
By looking at the effects across all of these studies, the team found that time management has a moderate, positive impact on work performance, both in terms of performance appraisal by managers and factors like motivation and involvement with work. The relationship between time management and job performance became stronger over the years when studies were published, which gave another suggestion that time management had become a more important factor in the lives of people. This link was not as strong in academic settings – time management seemed to be less relevant to test scores or grades than it was to performance reviews at work.
Overall, the findings suggest that time management does work – though contrary to popular belief, it is wellbeing that is the most positively impacted factor, not work. Work and wellbeing are clearly linked. If you are having a horrible time at work, your life satisfaction is unlikely to be too high. However, the results could mean that wellbeing is not simply a byproduct of a successfully managed work life but can be a direct result of good time management.