38 Time Management Facts: You Must Understand These if You Want to be Productive

Written by Domantas Vanagas

November 9, 2021

There are only 24 hours in a day, but how we spend those hours is what shapes our lives. Unfortunately, many ways we spend our time don’t help us achieve anything. We are also tend to waste our potentially productive days off. So where do we spend our time?

Many believe that preparing yourself to save time is actually wasting your time. But is it? We have collected many time management facts which are true in different conditions. Let’s start with one of the most relatable ones to everybody:

Time Management Facts in the Workplace

Everybody knows that time is money. You especially can feel that when you are at work. How are employees spending their time at their jobs, and how can time management increase productivity? Here are some facts:

Cell phones and texting are the main sources of wasted time at work, with employees spending nearly an hour of their workday on their phones
Employees working from home in the UK work longer hours than employees in the office, putting in an average 32.3-hour workweek compared to 27.7
In 1890, before the eight-hour workday was standard, employees could work up to 100 hours per week.
Having a messy or cluttered desk can hurt your productivity as a visual distraction, and by taking more time to find necessary equipment or notes.
Even if they take some time to care for, plants in the office can improve employees’ problem-solving, thinking, learning, and attention.
Ergonomic seating prevents back problems that could distract you from work due to pain or even take you out of the office if it becomes extreme.
When ranked against other industries, IT and Finance are the most productive.
Natural light in your workspace can increase productivity
Research shows that workers that went to the gym during their work hours showed better time management and productivity
Workers demonstrate better performance when there are no disruptions for 90 minutes, each distraction counts for a lot of productivity

Time Management Facts from Season to Season

How does each season change the way you spend your time? What impact do your habits have on your productivity throughout the year?

Here are some time management facts that change from season to season:

Spring cleaning can help you focus and increase productivity by providing you with a distraction-free environment
The feeling of being less productive during the summer is commonly called the “summer slump” and requires extra planning to ensure things get done.
Productivity tends to drop the day after daylight savings, largely due to a lack of sleep.
During the school year, a long car ride to school every day can negatively impact a child’s sleep and exercise.
People travel the least in the Northern Hemisphere between November and March, except for the Christmas season and March break.
Women spend eight hours planning their outfits for a holiday party, thinking about the outfit, browsing online, going shopping, and getting ready.

Just imagine all the time we could save by making small life changes. The impact would be amazing!

Time Management Facts about our spent Time Online

Between browsing the web, social media, and streaming content, people have plenty of options for spending time online. Some parts of the internet can be incredibly useful, such as educational resources or reading the news. Unfortunately, some parts of the internet can come with negative side effects.

Worldwide Google searches for time management peak in September and plummets at Christmas. Although it is awesome to see many students reading about time management, some people could step up their time management game during the holiday season!
Research suggests that the internet and social media use can distort your perception of time, making you think time is moving slower than it is
Smartphones have become an increasingly large distraction, with some people even developing a smartphone addiction.
Most people spend more time on their phones on weekdays than on weekends.
Many devices offer screen-time tracking and insights so users can see how they spend their time online.

So many crazy facts already. But we aren’t done! Let’s compare how other cultures see time management:

Time Management Facts Around the World

Looking at how people in other countries use their time can give us perspective on how we use ours. Here are some facts about how people around the world spend their time and how some cultures feel about it:

It takes the average person in India 7% of their day to get to their workplace
In Spain, they are relaxed about being on time, and it is normal to be 15 to 20 minutes late
Brazilians are among the highest-rating countries in the world for time spent online and using social media
People in China spend the most time online shopping compared to the rest of the world
The law in France does not allow companies with more than 50 employees to send or read emails in off-hours
People spend the most time eating in France, Italy, Greece, and Spain compared to other European countries
In the OEC Better Life Index, Norway ranks first for work-life balance, while Mexico rates last.
The Kanban, or “billboard,” time management technique became popular in Japan in the 1940s after Toyota created a new system of production based on paper instruction.

Facts about Time Management Methods

Although there are many different approaches to time management, there is more to them than their methods alone. Here are some facts about different time management methods and some of the people behind these wonderful methods:

The Eisenhower Matrix is named after former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower due to his famous quote: “I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.”
The first known use of SMART goals was in a paper by George T. Doran published in 1981
Some have used the Pomodoro time management method to battle chronic fatigue (check out why it works)
The Pomodoro method was named after kitchen timers in the shape of a tomato, as Pomodoro means ‘tomato’ in Italian.
The GTD (Getting Things Done) method comes from the self-help book “Getting Things Done” by David Allen.
OKR (Objectives and Key Results) is a method invented by Andrew Grove, CEO of Intel from 1987-1998
Multitasking as time management negatively impacts productivity because of the time it takes to switch tasks.
The Ivy Lee method was created by Ivy Lee, an American businessman, in 1918, which means it turned 100 years old in 2018!
Hofstadter’s law says that it always takes longer to complete a task than you think – sometimes twice as long.