There’s a direct link between the ability to be assertive and good time management. While they may not appear to be directly connected, assertiveness enables you to manage your time.
What are the reasons for this?
Great time management involves:
- Self-respect and self-management
- Creating boundaries
- Setting priorities
These also involve dealing with other people and you are likely to need assertiveness in relating to others in order to achieve your time management goals.
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Self-respect and self-management
To be able to look after yourself and your needs, you will at times want to say “No” to requests, to delegate and to ask for help. Taking on unwanted requests could conflict with your goals and priorities and throw good time management asunder. Trust how you feel, and provided it’s not counter to your work contract, an example is to say: “I’m not able to take that on now.” You could offer an alternative: “I will be able to on Friday, if that meets the deadline”. Assertiveness gives you the tools and confidence to say no to unreasonable demands on your time and impossible deadlines. In contrast, you may want to ask for someone else’s help. For example, “I’d appreciate if you could proofread this for me. When would you be able to finish it by?”
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Protect your time with boundaries
It’s one thing to plan your time well, and another to protect it. It’s important to prevent unwanted interruptions and diversions. You could let people know when you’re available and unavailable, and set limits on meetings and conversations. Let people know how long you have, for example, “I’ll be free at 3pm today when I have half an hour”. If it looks like a meeting or conversation in person or on the phone or online could run over, remind the person: “We have five minutes left”.
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Be very clear about your priorities
The clearer you are with your priorities, the less likely you’ll be to bend to the demands and interruptions of others, whose priorities may clash with yours. Assertiveness involves being clear, specific and direct, and the ability to make decisions such as this task is more important than that. It also enables you to clearly communicate those priorities to others.
In short
The link between assertiveness and time management is clear. In order to protect the time you allocate for yourself such as Me-time, for carrying out your tasks and achieving y our priorities, you will greatly benefit from being able to communicate your needs assertively, in a way that is respectful of yourself and others.
Get in touch
Luckily you can develop both assertiveness and good time management by learning and applying a range of strategies and skills.
If you feel life coaching would help and want to know more, you are welcome to arrange a free initial call for 20 minutes without obligation to see how it would help. Life Coaching is adapted to meet your own unique needs and circumstances.
