Time Management: Time Management Theories

Time management theories

Time management theories can help you understand what you’re doing with the time in your life and how to improve things. If you use them effectively you can really gain some great benefits.

There are two time management theories that I like, Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the pickle jar theory and Pareto’s principle (or the 80:20 rule). Between them I’ve found that you can get some great insights into how you use your time.

Abraham Maslow

Abraham Maslow was born in April 1908 in Brooklyn. He grew up there eventually pursuing psychology as his interest. He developed the first of the time management theories; the hierarchy of needs.

This is a great theory since it is simple and easy to relate to your everyday life. There are five levels each describing a state in life. The five levels are often thought of in a pyramid structure. Level 1 is built on level 2 is built on level 3 and so on. Level 5 then is the foundation level.

Maslow explains that you need to fulfill the needs in each level before you progress onto the next. This is worth remembering when thinking about the other two time management theories since they don’t really follow this way of thinking.

At the bottom of the pyramid are physiological needs. These are things like being able to breathe, having food and water, getting enough sleep and so on. These are the basic needs that if not met you wouldn’t be able to continue. I’d guess for all of us these needs are easy to find and address.

Once you’ve met the basic needs you’ll move onto your safety needs. These needs are to do with feeling secure in life. So they include job security, personal safety, security of health and so on. To understand Maslow’s theory it’s easy to think through a scenario where your job is under threat. If this happens then generally it’s hard to think about anything else. You focus on sorting out this problem.

The third level is Social needs or belonging needs. This is where you have a need for friends and family to socialize with. For most people this is extremely important they need to spend this kind of time if they want to feel good about themselves.

Esteem is the third level and it is obviously based on the Social level. People crave feeling good about themselves. They need to feel confident and as though they are achieving things successfully. Generally this is hard to achieve and often people don’t manage it within their lifetime.

The last level is self actualization. In this level you care about achieving all you can. You need to feel that you have lived life to your full potential. Maslow notes that this is very complicated and that very few people achieve it in their lifetime.

Hopefully you can see the relevance of Maslow to your use of time. If you don’t have a job then you’re going to be unable to focus on building friendships and self esteem. You’ll be looking hard to fix that security issue. So in terms of using your time effectively you need to look at this one of the time management theories and figure out where you are in the pyramid.

By understanding where you are in the pyramid you are able to understand why you might not be making the progress you want in an area. So you can act positively to stop focusing on things you won’t succeed with and start to focus on those that you will succeed with.

Pickle jar theory

The pickle jar theory is a much simpler one of the time management theories. It is an abstract way of thinking about the tasks that you have to do each and every day.

You should imagine a jar, an empty pickle jar. Actually any type of jar will do but the theory says a pickle jar. Now imagine placing three big rocks into the jar. The jar becomes full. These rocks represent the big things that you have to do with your life at the moment. Perhaps they’ll be work, playing with the kid and doing the garden. Whatever they are they’ll be what‘s taking up most of your time.

However you’ll notice that the jar isn’t really full. Instead there are a few holes between the big rocks. So imagine now pouring in some smaller pebbles and shaking (carefully) the jar. The small pebbles now fit between the big stones.

These smaller pebbles represent the other smaller things you need to do in life. They are those things that you need to get through but they don’t take the majority of your time. They could include getting the kids to bed or making dinner. Each is still substantial but doesn’t take a huge amount of time.

Next imagine adding sand and water. Again more and more of the gaps are filled. In fact now you’ve added (well in your imagination) the water the jar should be full. The sand and the water represent all the other little things that need done in life. These are things that will take only a short time.

The pickle jar now represents your life. The idea of thinking in this way is to ensure that you focus your life correctly. You should start with the big things you have to do and then gradually move onto the smaller things. Make sure you have prioritized in the right way.

This one of the time management theories is really about setting priorities. It’s saying that if you focus on the big stuff the rest will sort itself out.

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