Why is time management so important

If you gain one skill from being in school, it should be time management. If you are way past education, it is not too late. Having time management allows students to study properly and even offers individuals proper control over their phones. Studies have examined how someone can increase their time management skills. The reason that it is so important for everyone to have some form of this skill is because it affects our ability to perform difficult or even simple tasks. This article will showcase how motivation and time management are directly related, and how mastering motivational thinking enhances the positive correlations between the two and leads to proper time management in anyone. The effects of having proper time management tie into most other skills and allows individuals to build the simplest form of real-world experiences to prepare them for their lives after high school or college when they get jobs and careers. Time management may come naturally to others, but some have to build this skill, and today I am going to give you, based on extensive research, exactly how you can build or even strengthen your time management skills.

Do people overlook time management?

I recently conducted interviews with several high school students of each grade level for an unrelated club I am in; I asked them questions about their extracurriculars, jobs, AP/Dual Enrollment/rigorous classes, and their average amount of time they spend on homework. My results showed the obvious, students often play a sport, work jobs, and take hard classes. There was one key case in the survey I conducted. A girl, I will call her NJ, told me that she was doing the expected: she was taking multiple APs, she was in several highly demanding clubs, and she also worked two jobs. I asked her the question about homework, and she was hesitant to mention that she rarely finds time. She admitted, “oh I do my homework during my classes,” which I will come back to later, but it got me thinking about how many students feel as if they lack time for homework or even relaxing. Relaxation is super important for students, and even adults, especially when they are participating in a lot of exhausting and time-consuming events, like a job. Since NJ had two, it was clear that something like that can cause her a lot of stress, especially at such a young age, that she shouldn’t be feeling. This got me thinking about how other people manage their time, so I decided to ask my peers how they manage their time. Unsurprisingly, most of them responded with some form of saying that they don’t. Although, the rare cases had told me in depth about their experiences with time management; they had found online agendas and had countless hours of free time to complete their homework and various tasks while still having time to relax.

How can you build and improve time management skills?

The key to good time management is being able to plan, prioritize, and motivate yourself enough to organize all of your tasks properly. Many people who live their life without time management rarely realize that this is a problem that can be fixed. They believe that their lack of focus for studying and the need to go on their phones are the main things stopping them from achieving this. In fact, one of the main reasons that Americans want to cut down their phone usage is to, “Have better time management (67%),” (harmonyhit 2025). Screen time plays a big role in disrupting time management, especially with the rise of social media being used as a distraction. The ability to get off of your phone, though, takes motivation and dedication to do and so does building time management. High school is a key time to build these skills; students have to balance many hard classes along with the intensive standardized testing; not to mention any extracurriculars that you might be doing this year. Feeling anxious or worried about this can cause a person to lose track of time, which is the exact opposite of what I’m here to help you do today, and fall into a deep spiral of procrastination and bad choices towards education; we have seen this happen to so many intellectual students over the years and no one has faced the issue head on, a lack of time management. Their belief that time management is something you are born with is the only thing stopping these people, and even you.

The first part of fully committing to this building and improving this skill is to write down every little thing that you spend your time on; this includes clubs, sports, jobs, dedicated time for homework, studying for exams and standardized tests, and even time for showering, along with other miscellaneous activities. Plan far FAR ahead into the future, know what events you may be attending. Be extremely careful though, try not to plan multiple tasks at once; in fact, multitasking is the most common reason for falling behind. Humans scientifically cannot multitask. My friend NJ can’t possibly be learning anything in her classes if she is spending all of them doing homework for other ones. It is almost impossible for someone to focus properly on one thing and actually retain information while contributing to something else. The reason people believe they can do this is because modern technology, especially the rise of artificial intelligence, has allowed for people to do everything at once; looking at notifications while writing an assignment or watching videos has allowed for individuals to think this form of ‘multitasking’ can be put into balancing their life out. Another one of the biggest things in building time management is having responsibility. Being able to realize when you are struggling and understand your weaknesses regarding allocating your time is the most important step. 

Word of advice

My best piece of advice for anyone, even people who believe they have the best time management skills, is that you should start simple. Creating little goals for yourself is one of the greatest ways to reach a big life-changing goal. If you are just starting out, I would recommend creating a thorough agenda using the multitude of online resources; one of the most notable resources being Google Calendar, which is free to all students that receive a school email or have their own personal email. Having a physical agenda or a calendar to mark important dates to remember can also prove to be extremely helpful. Time management is not used to grant someone unlimited time; although this does not mean limiting yourself to having a schedule and asking your friends to, ‘make an appointment,’ go to that spontaneous hangout, take mental health breaks, and never forget to put yourself above anybody else. Another important thing to not forget is that others are going to be better than you at time management, but don’t let that discourage you from persevering, find that motivation within yourself and use it to do great things.

Works Cited

Crystal. “What Is Time Management: Framework, Techniques and Tools.” Xmind.Com, Xmind, 30 Dec. 2024, https://xmind.com/blog/what-is-time-management-framework-techniques-and-tools.

Dearden, Megan. “Simple Steps to Improve Time Management | COMPASS.” Compass, 21 Sept. 2021, https://www.compassscicomm.org/simple-steps-to-improve-time-management/.

Fu, Yangyang, et al. “Unlocking Academic Success: The Impact of Time Management on College Students’ Study Engagement.” BMC Psychology, vol. 13, no. 1, Apr. 2025, https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-025-02619-x.

Harmony Healthcare IT. “Phone Screen Time Addiction- New Survey Data & Statistics.” Healthcare Data Management Software & Services | Harmony Healthcare IT, 8 Jan. 2025, https://www.harmonyhit.com/phone-screen-time-statistics/.

Kaminske, Althea Need. “Time Management: What Is It, Who Has It, and Can You Improve It?” The Learning Scientists, 16 Apr. 2020, https://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2020/4/16-1.

Mountain, Travis. “Time Management: 10 Strategies for Better Time Management | CAES Field Report.” CAES Field Report, 14 Aug. 2025, https://fieldreport.caes.uga.edu/publications/C1042/time-management-10-strategies-for-better-time-management/.

“The Myth of Multitasking.” Neuroleadership.Com, NeuroLeadership Institute, 18 Sept. 2025, https://www.neuroleadership.com/articles/the-myth-of-multitasking.