Time Management vs. Productivity: The Real Differences

Over the years there’s been so much confusion about business concepts like the difference between Time Management vs Productivity.

I would like to share some perspectives that come from all the years I spent as a Sales Manager | Trainer in the corporate world.

My goal for this article is to provide you with a useful framework to squeeze the juice from those tools in the most practical way.

So, here’s the Short, Pedal to the Floor Answer :

Productivity vs Time management : More Distinctions

So, in other words :

You employ Time Management to plan your day (or week, month, semester and so on) to optimize the accomplishment (Productivity) of one or a set of tasks / projects you are involved in.

Pretty simple, right?..

But It´s implementation and complexity are directly related to other aspects.

They include (just to name a few):

• The nature of the task itself (sweeping your kitchen floor is different than writing a scientific whitepaper).
• Total time at disposal (a day vs. a couple of months), deadlines…
• Team management strategy (if you have one) and resources availability (be them skills of financial power).

Thus, the tools for the trade can be simple as a page of your diary up to extremely sophisticated CRMs.

(Say, like a remotely managed project system of a multinational conglomerate firm😂😂😂).

(And did you know, it is normally way more difficult to manage time on a long window span instead of a short one…. But this is enough for another article – follow the link to find more!)

How To Measure Productivity?

Well, in reality, it can become complex enough, since your valuation should include other important details…

Some can be subtle like the effectiveness of the results coming from your work (the earnings, the real gains).

Those could include e.g. :

• the acquisition of a better market share for your business
• the triumph in a sports competition of the team you train
• the wonderful party you did organize for your son’s birthday…

Furthermore, being it a measurement, it needs a benchmark to relate itself to:

And that can be for instance:

• Similar data from the previous period (or an average of x periods)
• A market-related benchmark
• An average of the % growth of a startup in the same market segment)
• Or even simply a competition-based benchmark (did I bake this week more apple pies than Cindy?)

Seems boring and complicated, isn´t it? Well, it doesn´t have to be….

Read on, and see how the two naturally combine :

Time management : Your Tool To productivity

In essence, everybody needs to improve their time management skills in order to boost their productivity results to the next level…

But you do not have to be a world-class manager to optimize your day,

In essence we plan to enjoy more time on the things you really value the most.

Read more : no BS practical tips for Time Management

In my personal experience, I found that practical examples can go a long way to explain complex subjects.

So, Let’s try to stay with both feet on the ground and discuss briefly some real-life situations :

Time Management vs. Productivity for Students :

Ex.1 – it is Monday morning. You are a student in need to complete your assignment for Thursday.

That include also give a presentation to give to the class on Friday.

Time Management : Yor daily time span is 8 hours a day (breaks included).

You will invest the first 1-2 hours on Monday planning your task on paper / digital apps.

(By the way, if you invest some time googling around, you can learn about the best time management apps).

And let me do some advertising for myself here, I also wrote a full article about how modern technology can really help you reach your goals and reduce stress

Implementing The Plan

Back to the story : Your planning will not only take care of how to divide your assignments into manageable chunks.

You have to also provide a simple and fast method to assure you stay on track.

It would be also useful to have points of control and recap, to help the new concepts to sink and integrate with your existing knowledge…

Since you are going to give a presentation on Friday, why not planning how to give the listener the best experience possible?

You can enhance your gig through the use of media (Videos, Infographics), that will add to the spoken content.

Oh, and make sure you take breaks accordingly and don’t skip them (like I often do…oh my my..!!).

Productivity : The points of control will also be useful from a productivity standpoint, there you can track if you are respecting the planned deadlines.

My suggestion would be to set aside 20-30 minutes every day at the end of the learning session to resume and examine.

Take the first 5 to relax and then measure your results for the day and how they relate to the whole project.

When the time is up, you are done IT IS TIME TO STOP! You made it.

Believe me, if you managed your time properly everything will fall into place as planned.

Now, take your rest and see you tomorrow! 😉

Time Management vs. Productivity for Working Moms :

Ex. 2 – It is Friday. On Sunday your family (Mom, Dad, 16yrs daughter, 9yrs Son) is going to give a beautiful party in your garden for your son’s 10^th birthday.

Time management : Realize you are actually part of a team of 4, and given the scarce time at disposal, you will capitalize on that.

List the activities, prioritize the list (you will be actually surprised at how natural it is), and most important learn and USE Task Delegation ! Fear not DELEGATING the tasks your kids can do.

It will help to reduce the pressure on the parents as well as create good habits that will be useful every day.

Your guys will learn precious concepts like timing, responsibility and focus. They will thank you later. Trust me.

Productivity : Without going so deep like in the previous example, a rapid check at the end of the day will do the job just nicely.

Being a relatively small project to complete in a reduced time span, the final result (the party) will speak for itself about how “productive” the team was. 😎

Time management vs. Productivity in the Workspace :

Ex. 3 – It is December. In the last quarter meeting, the results for the year suggest improvements to boost productivity, while at the same time reducing employee turnover and risk of injury.

You are in force of designing and organizing a training plan for the employees. The first results will be tracked at the last quarter’s meeting next year.

Time management : as a Leader of a team, you will be in charge to prepare the main workflow to present and discuss with your collaborator.

Any of them will implement his part, referring constantly to you on a daily base.

Regular team briefings will keep the schedule on track and stick to the deadlines.

The new course will be created within two months and taught to the employees according to divisions /areas of expertise.

The tests conducted at the end of every course will provide data about the quality of the course itself, as well as a reasonable prediction of the results to comegoing ahead.

An important meeting will be planned with the whole management after the first semester, to discuss the results obtained so far and plan any eventual adjustments.

Productivity : The concept of productivity can become very articulated in a business environment…

Classical productivity metrics in the workplace are:

• output vs. costs

• % differences in revenues from different periods

• output vs. work hours vs. injuries
  
  
  
  

and the list could go on and on…

But clearly, solid Time Management techniques are critical in a strategy to improve productivity in a successful and sustainable workforce.

Conclusion

Now after all of those “hi-level” ranting, let me wrap up this article with something a bit more personal instead :

Here we discussed deeply the real differences between time management vs productivity, and treasure it because it could serve you very well…

But when touching on sensible concepts like Time, never forget that your final goal should be a happier life.

You are in charge to guide yourself in the most fulfilling direction according to your own goals.

Never underestimate that.

And now, what about your personal journey? Tell me all your insights in the comments!