Stand-up comedian George Carlin once quipped that in the future a “time machine will be built, but no one will have time to use it”. This challenges the common perception that time management first and foremost enhances work performance, and that wellbeing is simply a byproduct.

We also note that time management seems to enhance wellbeing-in particular, life satisfaction-to a greater extent than it does performance. The link between time management and gender, too, seems to intensify: women’s time management scores have been on the rise for the past few decades. Further, we found that the link between time management and job performance seems to increase over the years: time management is more likely to get people a positive performance review at work today than in the early 1990s. The extremely weak correlation with gender was unexpected: women seem to manage time better than men, but the difference is very slight. Interestingly, individual differences and contextual factors have a much weaker association with time management, with the notable exception of conscientiousness. Time management also shows a moderate, negative relationship with distress. Results show that time management is moderately related to job performance, academic achievement, and wellbeing. Does time management work? We conducted a meta-analysis to assess the impact of time management on performance and well-being.

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