Most importantly, you need to totally eliminate time-wasters. Approach every item in your work day with the question, How will this benefit me in my career? How will this help me improve my effectiveness in this role? How can I maximize my day to be most effective and laser-focused, using the least expenditure of time?
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# How To Improve Your Time Management Skills In 2024

By Rachel Wells Contributor
Rachel Wells is a writer who covers freelancing, AI, and remote work.

Jan 18, 2024, 11:21am EST

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To be productive most of the time, requires you to approach your work with a strategy, not randomly ... [+] allowing the day to happen to you

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Are you the sort of person who manages tasks and situations as they appear randomly throughout the day? If you are, and you're aspiring to progress in your career, especially towards a managerial role, you're in for a reality check:

Interruptions and minor distractions cost businesses in the United States around $588 billion every year, according to job board Zippia's research. Their findings also highlighted that 72% of a leader's time is spent each week on meetings. So if you are struggling to keep your time under control now, consider how little you'll be able to actually get done each day should you be considered for a promotion.

Additionally, Zippia noted that in 2023, more than half of the average work day was spent engaged in little-to-no-value work. Some of the underlying factors at the root of wasted time at work include unnecessary commuting time, endless meetings that could have been conducted in another format, time spent browsing social media while at work, procrastinating, and disorganized workspaces.

If you're guilty of any of the above, there is one highly effective time management strategy that will eliminate the noise, procrastination, and delay, and enable you to be more efficient and productive at work:

It's called the Pareto Principle, but it is commonly referred to as the 80/20 rule.

## What Is The 80/20 Rule?

The Pareto Principle, or 80/20 rule, states that 80% of results come from 20% of focused effort. In relation to effective time management, this means that you should concentrate on the most impactful tasks that will contribute the most to your overall goals.

Here's a breakdown of how this works in actual practice:

## 1. Track Your Time

The first step is to track how you're spending your time. It's often little minutes idled away here and there that add up to hours of missed opportunities. Take account for what you're doing throughout your work day, including the commute to work if you're on a hybrid or in-person arrangement, then move on to the next step.

## 2. Identify High-Value Tasks

Next, identify your key tasks—the ones that will have the most bearing on your project's success. Once you've identified them, you need to start disciplining yourself to prioritizing these above the less important or totally irrelevant ones, such as aimlessly browsing social media feeds or agreeing to attend/booking meetings that are unnecessary.

## 3. Delegate And Outsource

After identifying high-value tasks, you can think about delegating or outsourcing the less important ones in different ways. For example, you could ask a team member to assist, push the task further down your calendar as it may be irrelevant, or delegate it entirely to an AI productivity tool to save your creative energy.

## 4. Remove Time-Wasters

Most importantly, you need to totally eliminate time-wasters. Approach every item in your work day with the question, How will this benefit me in my career? How will this help me improve my effectiveness in this role? How can I maximize my day to be most effective and laser-focused, using the least expenditure of time?

Eliminate time-wasters and evaluate what's important so your career can grow

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Time management is a matter of habit, and as such, it may take a while for you and even your colleagues to adjust to the new normal and the stricter constraints you're placing on how you spend your work day. However, with patience and practice, you'll emerge a more efficient, self-motivated, and highly productive professional, ready to take on new career challenges and demonstrating to your employer that you possess leadership skills necessary for a promotion.

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