Time Pressure and Creativity

Does being pressured for time enhance or hurt curiosity? With business, this is a very important question for managers as they try to meet their organizational goals with the limited resources available to them. Clearly there is a relationship between time pressure and creativity, but what is it? Researchers have studied this for a long time. Acoording to researchers Teresa Amabile, Constance Hadley, Setven Kramer, in general there is a linear relationship between the two. In other words pressure helps to a certain extent, and then after that the pressure has a negative impact on creatvity.

This being said, there are cases of extreme time pressure where genious has shown through. Take for instance the NASA team during the nearly catastrophic mission. The NASA team had an extreme time pressure to try and fix the air filtration system and they succeed. On the other hand, many great ideas have come up where researchers or scientists have had no time pressure at all. In both cases these are extremes.

So what does that mean for companines and managers who seem to always be under time pressure? It sounds pretty dismal, but time pressure and creativty can act in different ways together depending on the environment and the individuals. From my experience, I would say some time pressure is great, but at some point time pressure definitely hurts creativity!

Source: Time Management, Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation 2005

Business School student and managing time

After being accepted into one of the best business schools in the country, the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, I was thrilled. But being in college in a prestigious Businesss school means not a lot of down time. We are always on the go. Our generation is know for being able to multi-task. But everyone knows it is hard to do something that doesn't have your full attention. Therefore, it is important to be able to manage your time.



As a student, there are a few time management skills that I have used over my first two years of college. One of the most important tasks in college is being able to manage a social life while at the same time manage your school work and professional requirements. There needs to be a balance between friends and school. Find the medium. Next, another important skill is finding your best time for studying. Everyone is different and studies at better times than others. Find what works for you and stick with it, get in a routine. Another thing that is important to efficiently using your time is studying in an environment that is suitable. Simply put, limit distractions. The less distractions, the more focused you'll be. Finally, it is important to take breaks when you study or do anything mental challenging. These short breaks allow you to not get burnt out while at the same time give your mind time to process the information. Overall, I've found that these are a great start to managing your time. Give them a try.



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The clock is always ticking

"If every morning your bank credited your account with $86,400 but every evening cancelled whatever part of the amount you failed to use, what would you do? Spend every cent -- of course! Well, you have such a bank account, it is called time." -John Wooden-

John Wooden is a legendary basketball coach who led UCLA to 10 NCAA National championships. But his words aren't something that just apply to basketball or business, but something that applies to life.

Time is the most important thing we have. It is something that if you don't use it, it's lost forever. There is no such thing as saving today's leftover time for tommorrow. That's why time management, especially in the business world is one of the most important assets. Use it effectively and you're golden. Use it poorly, and you'll find things harder, longer, and more painful, as well as less successful.

As an individual, think about yourself. How often do you waste time? Or do you procrastinate? Think about how time management could help you out. I am going to lay out a couple of tips to effective time management so you will be able to succeed both individually and professionally.

1. Make plans. Use a planner or calander to write out when you will do something. Don't just assume you will find time to do something, make sure you will.
2. Set reachable goals. Set goals that you can achieve but at the same time continue to challange yourself.
3. Identify "time wasters." Identify things in your life that are meaningless that you waste a lot of time on; get rid of those bad habits.

So these are just a few ways to improve your time management skills. Remember that Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Oprah, and Steve Jobs all have the same amount of time in their day as you! So use it effectively!