by Althea Need Kaminske

COVID-19 has produced a number of challenges for teachers, students, and parents. We have collected a number of resources to help with at home and distance learning here. In today’s post I want to talk about another challenge that results from having our daily routines and work/study environments upended: time management.

Even under ideal circumstances, time management can be challenging. As an academic advisor I deal a lot with first year students who struggle to manage their time when they transition from high school to college/university. Even motivated, dedicated students who did well in high school can struggle to manage their time once they get to university. Students who were able to get to school by 7:30am in high school, maintain good grades,and participate in sports and other extracurriculars suddenly find themselves failing out of their 9:30am biology class because they overslept. 

There are, of course, many things that are unique about this transition at this time of life for many students. However, when I talk with students about the differences between how they spent their time in high school and how they spend their time now, one key difference seems to be structure. Before coming to university their time was highly structured and managed, or co-managed, by other people. Parents helped them to wake up on time, schools provided consistent daily routines, and even part-time jobs and extracurriculars helped to structure their days and weeks. When they get to university they find themselves with swathes of unstructured time that they have to manage on their own. Yes, there are classes, but the schedule can vary wildly day to day. Not only that, the social support network that had been carefully built over a lifetime - parents, family, friends, teachers, coaches - has all but disappeared and they have to start from scratch. 

This situation is somewhat analogous to what many of us are experiencing now: a change in our daily routines, environment, and social structure that make managing our time more challenging. So what does the research on time management look like?

What is time management?

Time management can refer to a wide range of behaviors and can look very different from person to person. There are lots of different systems and approaches to time management. Making a to-do list, keeping a planner, setting event reminders in your phone, setting goals, prioritizing tasks, and marking events on a calendar can all be part of time management. It’s therefore a little tricky to define time management. However, in general when we talk about time management we are referring to a skill that involves assessing your use of time, planning ahead, and monitoring your activities and use of time (1) .

Are there differences between people who are good at managing their time and those who are not?

Effective time management is linked to a number of personality traits. People with better time management skills tend to have higher self-control, which means that they are able to control and refrain from acting on impulses (2). People who are better at managing their time also tend to be high in self-efficacy, which is your belief in your ability to handle challenges and complete tasks successfully  (3, 4). Time management is also linked with conscientiousness, which is a personality trait that describes someone who sets a high priority on completing obligations and doing tasks well (5). However, it should be noted that all of these studies on time management used surveys and self-reports. This means that we cannot determine causality. For instance, we do not know if higher self-efficacy leads to better time management or if better time management leads to higher self-efficacy - or if there is some other factor that influences both of these things. But, these studies do indicate that there are reliable differences between people who are good at managing their time and those who are not.

Interestingly, some of these same factors (high self-control and self-efficacy) are often linked with higher levels of satisfaction and happiness (3, 6, 7, 8). Again, while we know these relationships exist, it’s difficult to determine causality. Are people happier because they have higher self-efficacy (or, by extension, time management)? Or does happiness lead to better self-efficacy and time management? It’s hard to say. But it is reasonable to assume that managing your time can help reduce your stress and help you to be more productive. So that leads to the next question: Can you improve your time management or is this just a trait that some lucky people have and some people don’t?

Can you improve your time management?

The literature on time management interventions is somewhat mixed (1). Some studies have found improvements in time management after an intervention. For example, Burrus, Jackson, Holtzman, and Roberts (2017) found an improvement in time management after an intervention for high school students who were low in time management skills (9). In this quasi-experiment half of the students were assigned to be in the intervention condition and half were in the control condition. The intervention involved an assessment of time management skills, feedback on their individual skills (e.g. if a student scored low on goal setting they were told “Remind yourself regularly of your goals. Goals are an investment in your future.”), and homework assignments over the course of 5 weeks. Homework assignments involved goal setting exercises, accounting for how they spend their time, and learning how to use a planner. Students who were in the control condition (and did not receive the intervention) took the assessment of time management skills, but did not receive feedback or homework. One month after the intervention ended all students were rated on their time management skills by their academic advisors. Importantly, the academic advisors did not know which students received the time management training and which students did not. Burrus and colleagues (2017) found that time management improved after the intervention, but only for students who scored low on time management to begin with. 

However, other studies have found no improvement in time management after an intervention. For example, Macan (1996) studied the effects of a time management training program on employees’ time management behaviors at a social service agency (10). All of the participants completed a time management survey at the beginning of the study. Half of the participants then attended a 2-day seminar that covered topics such as: goal setting, setting priorities, overcoming procrastination, desk organization, and dealing with interruptions. The other half did not attend the seminar. Four to five months after the seminar participants filled out the time management survey again. Participants in the seminar did not report engaging in time management behaviors after the training. However, they did report that they felt more in control of their time after the training.

There are a lot of differences between these two studies. They examined different populations: high school students versus employees at a social service agency. The interventions are different: feedback on behaviors and homework over a 5 week period versus a two day seminar. And the assessment delay: one month after the interventions versus four to five months. These differences highlight the complexity of research on time management and why it is difficult to make recommendations on how to improve time management. 

Can you improve your time management? Probably, but it seems that not all interventions are successful and it may depend on what you consider an improvement. Even though the Macan (1996) study did not find an improvement in time management behaviors, those who completed the training did report feeling more in control of their time which is valuable in and of itself. What does seem likely based on these studies is that any improvement is not going to happen overnight. Like any skill, it will most likely involve deliberate and consistent practice to improve - and it is a skill worth improving. Better time management is linked to improved academic outcomes and general stress relief (1, 11). 

Sadly, it seems there is no silver-bullet to improving your time management. While the literature is still mixed on how to improve your time management skills, there is no shortage of advice and tips on how to deal with procrastination and time management. We have collected some of these in previous digests on procrastination and time management.

References

1. Claessens, B. J. C., van Eerde, W., Rutte, C. G., & Roe, R. A. (2005). A review of the time management literature. Personnel Review, 36(2), 255-276. DOI 10.1108/00483480710726136

2. Osgood, J. M., McNally, O., & Talerico, G. (2017). The personality of a “good test taker”: Self-control and mindfulness predict good time-management when taking exams. International Journal of Psychology and Educational Studies, 4(3), 12-21.

3. Donnelly, D., Kovar, S. E., & Fisher, D. G. (2019). The mediating effects of time management on accounting students’ perception of time pressure, satisfaction with the major, and academic performance. Journal of Accounting & Finance, 19(9), 46-63.

4. Boysan, M. & Kiral, E. (2017). Associations between procrastination, personality, perfectionism, self-esteem, and locus of control. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 45(3), 284-296. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03069885.2016.1213374

5. Douglas, H. E., Bore, M. & Munro, D. (2016). Coping with university education: The relationships of time management behavior and work engagement with the five factor model aspects. Learning and Individual Differences, 45(1), 268-274.

6. Hofmann, W., Luhmann, M., Fisher, R. R., Vohs, K. D., & Baumeister, R. F. (2014). Yes, But are they happy? Effects of trait self-control on affective well-being and life satisfaction. Journal of Personality, 82(4), 265-277. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12050

7. Cheung, T. T., Gillebaart, M., Kroese, F., & De Ridder, D. (2014). Why are people with high self-control happier? The effect of trait self-control on happiness as mediated by regulatory focus. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 722. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00722

8. Caprara, G. V. & Steca, P. (2005). Affective and social self-regulatory efficacy beliefs as determinants of positive thinking and happiness. European Psychologist, 10(4), 275-286. DOI 10.1027/1016-9040.10.4.275

9. Burrus, J. Jackson, T. Holtzman, S., & Roberts, R. D. (2017). Teaching high school students to manage time: The development of an intervention. Improving Schools, 20(2), 101-112.

10. Maccan, T. H. (1996). Time management training: Effects on time behaviors, attitudes, and job performance. The Journal of Psychology, 130(3), 229-236.

11. Macan, T. F., Shahani, C., Dipboye, R. L., & Phillips, A. P. (1990). College students’ time management: Correlations with academic performance and stress. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82(4), 760-768. DOI 10.17220/ijpes.2017.03.002