Another practice which is commonly regarded as a soft skill is time management, it is considered that all people can improve it as an activity. However, there is scientifically a lot of work done in time management studies; in that sense, time management is also not a soft skill but a hard skill set informed by the psychology, neurology, and cognitive sciences. When people get to learn the details of the science of time management they are likely to enhance their productivity and get relieved from stress thus likely to experience a reduction in their work-life imbalance.
Understanding Cognitive Load
Cognitive load is the other important scientific theory bordering on time management; it is the overall number of efforts being applied in the working memory. The human mind is capable of only taking in certain quantity of information at any one time. When we attempt to do multiple things or juggle between multiple tasks, we end up coding up the thinking capacity of our brain which affects the quality of the work and the speed at which the work is done.
According to the studies, the ancient practice, commonly embodied by single-tasking, proves to be far more efficient than multitasking. In single-tasking, there is focus on a single task at a time and the brain is devoted to the particular task offered hence creating better results. This is supported by literature in cognitive psychology that explores the phenomenon of task-switching; a process that is inherently time costly and hence detracts from efficiency.
Human brain structure prefrontal cortex
Time management takes place where the human brain is planned and organized and this area is the prefrontal cortex; it is the area that is responsible for decision making, problem solving and even controlling of social behaviors. This part of the mind enables one to perform activities meaningfully, in a strategic and organized manner. However, the prefrontal cortex is a fatiguable region of the brain, and impulsive behavior is inherent in all people. Long hours of concentration cause the point referred too as decision fatigue, by which the capacity of making effective decisions and organizing time decreases.
To oppose this, useful time management techniques such as Pomodoro technique, which comprises of a series of work in twenty-five-minute intervals followed by a break of five minutes is efficient. This technique builds on the brain's natural ability to pay attention for a certain amount of time and ensures that the prefrontal cortex does not get exhausted as it is through this deficiency that people experience decision fatigue during the course of the day.
Circadian rhythms and Their influence
Also, the body's biological clocks, which are characterized by periodic alterations of physiological, mental, and behavioral states, commonly referred to as circadian rhythms, also factor in the management of time. These reflexive rhythms are regulated by the body's own timekeeper; the circadian clock, which is influenced by factors such as light and darkness. It therefore becomes easier for one to manage his or her daily schedule so as to allocate most of the difficult tasks in the periods of the day when he or she is most active.
While the time of the day that can be considered as most favorable to accomplish work on different tasks is different for everyone, cognitive functions are at the highest level in the late morning when people feel more full of energy and it is better to accomplish important and intensive work. However, mid-morning to early afternoon is considered a time for a brief energy slump, which is why it is recommended to arrange some unchallenging work hours or, on the contrary, a break during this period. This paper has presented ways of learning to time-shift one's tasks and thus increase efficiency in conjunction with the biological clock.
Since goal setting is an established science that comprehensively outlines the best ways of achieving objectives, this research will focus on …
Sticking to the plan is also directly associated with such components of time management as goal setting. The SMART criteria are known to practitioners of psychology and business as a model of writing good objectives: Specific, Meaningful, Achievable, Relevant, Temporary. At the same time, precise objectives set before us are more achievable because they allow defining a goal and a direction.
Following this, the theoretical framework from the field of psychology suggests that using specific objectives results in higher performance as compared to launching broad, abstract goals. This is because specific goals serves as aids to direct people's concentration and energy, enhance their determination and enable them to adopt strategies that may be useful in achieving such goals. Further, the division of a broad plan into sub-tasks also helps in diminishing the level of stress at a given moment and enhance the speed of exercising time management.
Procrastination and Temporal Discounting
One of the main reasons people waste time on organizing their working process is procrastination, which also has a scientific background connected with the process of temporal discounting. The preceding concept entails choosing immediate benefits over other options with greater value, which are to be received in the future. This is that often, tasks that have a concrete, tangible positive result in the short term are often accomplished before those that are of greater value in the long term.
Science has come up with findings that in the brain, especially the reward circuits, people are motivated more by immediate rewards than the future ones which make procrastination very appealing. However, an awareness of this trait improves one's ability to counter it through techniques such as setting contingent temptations in the form of a limited number of discrete but immediate rewards for finishing segments of a larger project or by using visualization to make a distant end of following through on a project appear closer at hand.
Managing time and perceptions about time, the main focus of this paper, is a revered aspect within any organization.
Another aspect in time management is time perception or how a person actually feels time slipping off his or her hands. To be precise, there are many factors which determine the perception of time, such as attention, anger or any other emotion, and the tasks in the process of their solving. For example, activities that need concentration, or we enjoy, cause time to be shorter while boring or tiresome activities cause time to be longer.
Knowledge about the general time perception can also be useful when it comes to time management and planning. For instance, arranging many complex activities into several small activities will not be as tiring and tough to accomplish. Moreover, it is equally important to promote the knowledge of how emotions and stress in particular interfere with time perception so that the person does not overwork and optimise their schedule properly.
Habits: Their Making and Unmaking
Establishing habits is another effective technique when it comes to time management. Routine is a behaviour that is highly developed and done without needing a lot of mental feedback, thus does not take much of the individual's attention. The practices recommended by Charles Duhigg regard the cue, routine, and reward concept which explains the formation of time management habits.
Through habituation around those behaviours which support time management, that is by devising regularities within which certain aspects of time management occur automatically, one overcomes the problem of will power. Through such habits the work can be done effectively and this in turn will result into gain of time and ultimately increase productivity.
To sum up, it is necessary to stress that effectiveness of time management depends on such factors as the knowledge of the ways the human brain functions, how people measure time, and such data as those mentioned above.
