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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Does time management work? A meta-analysis

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Software, Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Concordia University, Sir George Williams Campus, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Roles Methodology, Validation

Affiliation FSA Ulaval, Laval University, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

Roles Validation, Writing – review & editing

• Brad Aeon, 
• Aïda Faber, 
• Alexandra Panaccio

• Published: January 11, 2021
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245066
• Reader Comments

Does time management work? We conducted a meta-analysis to assess the impact of time management on performance and well-being. Results show that time management is moderately related to job performance, academic achievement, and wellbeing. Time management also shows a moderate, negative relationship with distress. Interestingly, individual differences and contextual factors have a much weaker association with time management, with the notable exception of conscientiousness. The extremely weak correlation with gender was unexpected: women seem to manage time better than men, but the difference is very slight. 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 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. We also note that time management seems to enhance wellbeing—in particular, life satisfaction—to a greater extent than it does performance. This challenges the common perception that time management first and foremost enhances work performance, and that wellbeing is simply a byproduct.

Citation: Aeon B, Faber A, Panaccio A (2021) Does time management work? A meta-analysis. PLoS ONE 16(1): e0245066. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245066

Editor: Juan-Carlos Pérez-González, Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia (UNED), SPAIN

Received: October 27, 2020; Accepted: December 21, 2020; Published: January 11, 2021

Copyright: © 2021 Aeon et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files.

Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist

Introduction

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” [ 1 ]. Portentously, booksellers now carry one-minute bedtime stories for time-starved parents [ 2 ] and people increasingly speed-watch videos and speed-listen to audio books [ 3 – 5 ]. These behaviors are symptomatic of an increasingly harried society suffering from chronic time poverty [ 6 ]. Work is intensifying—in 1965 about 50% of workers took breaks; in 2003, less than 2% [ 7 ]. Leisure, too, is intensifying: people strive to consume music, social media, vacations, and other leisure activities ever more efficiently [ 8 – 11 ].

In this frantic context, time management is often touted as a panacea for time pressure. Media outlets routinely extol the virtues of time management. Employers, educators, parents, and politicians exhort employees, students, children, and citizens to embrace more efficient ways to use time [ 12 – 16 ]. In light of this, it is not surprising that from 1960 to 2008 the frequency of books mentioning time management shot up by more than 2,700% [ 17 ].

Time management is defined as “a form of decision making used by individuals to structure, protect, and adapt their time to changing conditions” [ 18 ]. This means time management, as it is generally portrayed in the literature, comprises three components: structuring, protecting, and adapting time. Well-established time management measures reflect these concepts. Structuring time, for instance, is captured in such items as “Do you have a daily routine which you follow?” and “Do your main activities during the day fit together in a structured way?” [ 19 ]. Protecting time is reflected in items such as “Do you often find yourself doing things which interfere with your schoolwork simply because you hate to say ‘No’ to people?” [ 20 ]. And adapting time to changing conditions is seen in such items as “Uses waiting time” and “Evaluates daily schedule” [ 21 ].

Research has, furthermore, addressed several important aspects of time management, such as its relationship with work-life balance [ 22 ], whether gender differences in time management ability develop in early childhood [ 23 ], and whether organizations that encourage employees to manage their time experience less stress and turnover [ 24 ]. Despite the phenomenal popularity of this topic, however, academic research has yet to address some fundamental questions [ 25 – 27 ].

A critical gap in time management research is the question of whether time management works [ 28 , 29 ]. For instance, studies on the relationship between time management and job performance reveal mixed findings [ 30 , 31 ]. Furthermore, scholars’ attempts to synthesize the literature have so far been qualitative, precluding a quantitative overall assessment [ 18 , 32 , 33 ]. To tackle this gap in our understanding of time management, we conducted a meta-analysis. In addressing the question of whether time management works, we first clarify the criteria for effectiveness. In line with previous reviews, we find that virtually all studies focus on two broad outcomes: performance and wellbeing [ 32 ].

Overall, results suggest that time management enhances job performance, academic achievement, and wellbeing. Interestingly, individual differences (e.g., gender, age) and contextual factors (e.g., job autonomy, workload) were much less related to time management ability, with the notable exception of personality and, in particular, conscientiousness. Furthermore, the link between time management and job performance seems to grow stronger over the years, perhaps reflecting the growing need to manage time in increasingly autonomous and flexible jobs [ 34 – 37 ].

Overall, our findings provide academics, policymakers, and the general audience with better information to assess the value of time management. This information is all the more useful amid the growing doubts about the effectiveness of time management [ 38 ]. We elaborate on the contributions and implications of our findings in the discussion section.

What does it mean to say that time management works?

In the din of current debates over productivity, reduced workweeks, and flexible hours, time management comes to the fore as a major talking point. Given its popularity, it would seem rather pointless to question its effectiveness. Indeed, time management’s effectiveness is often taken for granted, presumably because time management offers a seemingly logical solution to a lifestyle that increasingly requires coordination and prioritization skills [ 39 , 40 ].

Yet, popular media outlets increasingly voice concern and frustration over time management, reflecting at least part of the population’s growing disenchantment [ 38 ]. This questioning of time management practices is becoming more common among academics as well [ 41 ]. As some have noted, the issue is not just whether time management works. Rather, the question is whether the techniques championed by time management gurus can be actually counterproductive or even harmful [ 26 , 42 ]. Other scholars have raised concerns that time management may foster an individualistic, quantitative, profit-oriented view of time that perpetuates social inequalities [ 43 , 44 ]. For instance, time management manuals beguile readers with promises of boundless productivity that may not be accessible to women, whose disproportionate share in care work, such as tending to young children, may not fit with typically male-oriented time management advice [ 45 ]. Similarly, bestselling time management books at times offer advice that reinforce global inequities. Some manuals, for instance, recommend delegating trivial tasks to private virtual assistants, who often work out of developing countries for measly wages [ 46 ]. Furthermore, time management manuals often ascribe a financial value to time—the most famous time management adage is that time is money. But recent studies show that thinking of time as money leads to a slew of negative outcomes, including time pressure, stress, impatience, inability to enjoy the moment, unwillingness to help others, and less concern with the environment [ 47 – 51 ]. What’s more, the pressure induced by thinking of time as money may ultimately undermine psychological and physical health [ 52 ].

Concerns over ethics and safety notwithstanding, a more prosaic question researchers have grappled with is whether time management works. Countless general-audience books and training programs have claimed that time management improves people’s lives in many ways, such as boosting performance at work [ 53 – 55 ]. Initial academic forays into addressing this question challenged those claims: time management didn’t seem to improve job performance [ 29 , 30 ]. Studies used a variety of research approaches, running the gamut from lab experiments, field experiments, longitudinal studies, and cross-sectional surveys to experience sampling [ 28 , 56 – 58 ]. Such studies occasionally did find an association between time management and performance, but only in highly motivated workers [ 59 ]; instances establishing a more straightforward link with performance were comparatively rare [ 31 ]. Summarizing these insights, reviews of the literature concluded that the link between time management and job performance is unclear; the link with wellbeing, however, seemed more compelling although not conclusive [ 18 , 32 ].

It is interesting to note that scholars often assess the effectiveness time management by its ability to influence some aspect of performance, wellbeing, or both. In other words, the question of whether time management works comes down to asking whether time management influences performance and wellbeing. The link between time management and performance at work can be traced historically to scientific management [ 60 ]. Nevertheless, even though modern time management can be traced to scientific management in male-dominated work settings, a feminist reading of time management history reveals that our modern idea of time management also descends from female time management thinkers of the same era, such as Lillian Gilbreth, who wrote treatises on efficient household management [ 43 , 61 , 62 ]. As the link between work output and time efficiency became clearer, industrialists went to great lengths to encourage workers to use their time more rationally [ 63 – 65 ]. Over time, people have internalized a duty to be productive and now see time management as a personal responsibility at work [ 43 , 66 , 67 ]. The link between time management and academic performance can be traced to schools’ historical emphasis on punctuality and timeliness. In more recent decades, however, homework expectations have soared [ 68 ] and parents, especially well-educated ones, have been spending more time preparing children for increasingly competitive college admissions [ 69 , 70 ]. In this context, time management is seen as a necessary skill for students to thrive in an increasingly cut-throat academic world. Finally, the link between time management and wellbeing harks back to ancient scholars, who emphasized that organizing one’s time was necessary to a life well-lived [ 71 , 72 ]. More recently, empirical studies in the 1980s examined the effect of time management on depressive symptoms that often plague unemployed people [ 19 , 73 ]. Subsequent studies surmised that the effective use of time might prevent a host of ills, such as work-life conflict and job stress [ 22 , 74 ].

Overall, then, various studies have looked into the effectiveness of time management. Yet, individual studies remain narrow in scope and reviews of the literature offer only a qualitative—and often inconclusive—assessment. To provide a more quantifiable answer to the question of whether time management works, we performed a meta-analysis, the methods of which we outline in what follows.

Literature search and inclusion criteria

We performed a comprehensive search using the keywords “time management” across the EBSCO databases Academic Search Complete , Business Source Complete , Computers & Applied Sciences Complete , Gender Studies Database , MEDLINE , Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection , PsycINFO , SocINDEX , and Education Source . The search had no restrictions regarding country and year of publication and included peer-reviewed articles up to 2019. To enhance comprehensiveness, we also ran a forward search on the three main time management measures: the Time Management Behavior Scale [ 21 ], the Time Structure Questionnaire [ 19 ], and the Time Management Questionnaire [ 20 ]. (A forward search tracks all the papers that have cited a particular work. In our case the forward search located all the papers citing the three time management scales available on Web of Science .)

Time management measures typically capture three aspects of time management: structuring, protecting, and adapting time to changing conditions. Structuring refers to how people map their activities to time using a schedule, a planner, or other devices that represent time in a systematic way [ 75 – 77 ]. Protecting refers to how people set boundaries around their time to repel intruders [ 78 , 79 ]. Examples include people saying no to time-consuming requests from colleagues or friends as well as turning off one’s work phone during family dinners. Finally, adapting one’s time to changing conditions means, simply put, to be responsive and flexible with one’s time structure [ 80 , 81 ]. Furthermore, time management measures typically probe behaviors related to these three dimensions (e.g., using a schedule to structure one’s day, making use of downtime), although they sometimes also capture people’s attitudes (e.g., whether people feel in control of their time).

As shown in Fig 1 , the initial search yielded 10,933 hits, excluding duplicates.

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245066.g001

The search included no terms other than “time management” to afford the broadest possible coverage of time management correlates. Nevertheless, as shown in Table 1 , we focused exclusively on quantitative, empirical studies of time management in non-clinical samples. Successive rounds of screening, first by assessing paper titles and abstracts and then by perusing full-text articles, whittled down the number of eligible studies to 158 (see Fig 1 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245066.t001

Data extraction and coding

We extracted eligible effect sizes from the final pool of studies; effect sizes were mostly based on means and correlations. In our initial data extraction, we coded time management correlates using the exact variable names found in each paper. For instance, “work-life imbalance” was initially coded in those exact terms, rather than “work-life conflict.” Virtually all time management correlates we extracted fell under the category of performance and/or wellbeing. This pattern tallies with previous reviews of the literature [ 18 , 32 ]. A sizable number of variables also fell under the category of individual differences and contextual factors, such as age, personality, and job autonomy. After careful assessment of the extracted variables, we developed a coding scheme using a nested structure shown in Table 2 .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245066.t002

Aeon and Aguinis suggested that time management influences performance, although the strength of that relationship may depend on how performance is defined [ 18 ]. Specifically, they proposed that time management may have a stronger impact on behaviors conducive to performance (e.g., motivation, proactiveness) compared to assessments of performance (e.g., supervisor rankings). For this reason, we distinguish between results- and behavior-based performance in our coding scheme, both in professional and academic settings. Furthermore, wellbeing indicators can be positive (e.g., life satisfaction) or negative (e.g., anxiety). We expect time management to influence these variables in opposite ways; it would thus make little sense to analyze them jointly. Accordingly, we differentiate between wellbeing (positive) and distress (negative).

In our second round of coding, we used the scheme shown in Table 2 to cluster together kindred variables. For instance, we grouped “work-life imbalance,” “work-life conflict” and “work-family conflict” under an overarching “work-life conflict” category. The authors reviewed each variable code and resolved rare discrepancies to ultimately agree on all coded variables. Note that certain variables, such as self-actualization, covered only one study (i.e., one effect size). While one or two effect sizes is not enough to conduct a meta-analysis, they can nonetheless be grouped with other effect sizes belonging to the same category (e.g., self-actualization and sense of purpose belong the broader category of overall wellbeing). For this reason, we included variables with one or two effect sizes for comprehensiveness.

Meta-analytic procedures

We conducted all meta-analyses following the variables and cluster of variables outlined in Table 2 . We opted to run all analyses with a random effects model. The alternative—a fixed effects model—assumes that all studies share a common true effect size (i.e., linking time management and a given outcome) which they approximate. This assumption is unrealistic because it implies that the factors influencing the effect size are the same in all studies [ 83 ]. In other words, a fixed effects model assumes that the factors affecting time management are similar across all studies—the fallacy underlying this assumption was the main theme of Aeon and Aguinis’s review [ 18 ]. To perform our analyses, we used Comprehensive Meta-Analysis v.3 [ 84 ], a program considered highly reliable and valid in various systematic assessments [ 85 , 86 ].

In many cases, studies reported how variables correlated with an overall time management score. In some cases, however, studies reported only correlations with discrete time management subscales (e.g., short-range planning, attitudes toward time, use of time management tools), leaving out the overall effect. In such cases, we averaged out the effect sizes of the subscales to compute a summary effect [ 83 ]. This was necessary not only because meta-analyses admit only one effect size per study, but also because our focus is on time management as a whole rather than on subscales. Similarly, when we analyzed the link between time management and a high-level cluster of variables (e.g., overall wellbeing rather than specific variables such as life satisfaction), there were studies with more than one relevant outcome (e.g., a study that captured both life satisfaction and job satisfaction). Again, because meta-analyses allow for only one effect size (i.e., variable) per study, we used the mean of different variables to compute an overall effect sizes in studies that featured more than one outcome [ 83 ].

Overall description of the literature

We analyzed 158 studies for a total number of 490 effect sizes. 21 studies explored performance in a professional context, 76 performance in an academic context, 30 investigated wellbeing (positive), and 58 distress. Interestingly, studies did not systematically report individual differences, as evidenced by the fact that only 21 studies reported correlations with age, and only between 10 and 15 studies measured personality (depending on the personality trait). Studies that measured contextual factors were fewer still—between 3 and 7 (depending on the contextual factor). These figures fit with Aeon and Aguinis’s observation that the time management literature often overlooks internal and external factors that can influence the way people manage time [ 18 ].

With one exception, we found no papers fitting our inclusion criteria before the mid-1980s. Publication trends also indicate an uptick in time management studies around the turn of the millennium, with an even higher number around the 2010s. This trend is consistent with the one Shipp and Cole identified, revealing a surge in time-related papers in organizational behavior around the end of the 1980s [ 87 ].

It is also interesting to note that the first modern time management books came out in the early 1970s, including the The Time Trap (1972), by Alec MacKenzie and How to Get Control of your Time and your Life (1973), by Alan Lakein. These books inspired early modern time management research [ 21 , 58 , 88 ]. It is thus very likely that the impetus for modern time management research came from popular practitioner manuals.

To assess potential bias in our sample of studies, we computed different estimates of publication bias (see Table 3 ). Overall, publication bias remains relatively low (see funnel plots in S1). Publication bias occurs when there is a bias against nonsignificant or even negative results because such results are seen as unsurprising and not counterintuitive. In this case, however, the fact that time management is generally expected to lead to positive outcomes offers an incentive to publish nonsignificant or negative results, which would be counterintuitive [ 89 ]. By the same token, the fact that some people feel that time management is ineffective [ 38 ] provides an incentive to publish papers that link time management with positive outcomes. In other words, opposite social expectations surrounding time management might reduce publication bias.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245066.t003

Finally, we note that the link between time management and virtually all outcomes studied is highly heterogeneous (as measured, for instance, by Cochran’s Q and Higgins & Thompson’s I 2 ; see tables below). This high level of heterogeneity suggests that future research should pay more attention to moderating factors (e.g., individual differences).

Time management and performance in professional settings

Overall, time management has a moderate impact on performance at work, with correlations hovering around r = .25. We distinguish between results-based and behavior-based performance. The former measures performance as an outcome (e.g., performance appraisals by supervisors) whereas the latter measures performance as behavioral contributions (e.g., motivation, job involvement). Time management seems related to both types of performance. Although the effect size for results-based performance is lower than that of behavior-based performance, moderation analysis reveals the difference is not significant (p > .05), challenging Aeon and Aguinis’s conclusions [ 18 ].

Interestingly, the link between time management and performance displays much less heterogeneity (see Q and I 2 statistics in Table 4 ) than the link between time management and other outcomes (see tables below). The studies we summarize in Table 4 include both experimental and non-experimental designs; they also use different time management measures. As such, we can discount, to a certain extent, the effect of methodological diversity. We can perhaps explain the lower heterogeneity by the fact that when people hold a full-time job, they usually are at a relatively stable stage in life. In school, by contrast, a constellation of factors (e.g., financial stability and marital status, to name a few) conspire to affect time management outcomes. Furthermore, work contexts are a typically more closed system than life in general. For this reason, fewer factors stand to disrupt the link between time management and job performance than that between time management and, say, life satisfaction. Corroborating this, note how, in Table 6 below, the link between time management and job satisfaction ( I 2 = 58.70) is much less heterogeneous than the one between time management and life satisfaction ( I 2 = 95.45).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245066.t004

Moreover, we note that the relationship between time management and job performance (see Fig 2 ) significantly increases over the years ( B = .0106, p < .01, Q model = 8.52(1), Q residual = 15.54(9), I 2 = 42.08, R 2 analog = .75).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245066.g002

Time management and performance in academic settings

Overall, the effect of time management on performance seems to be slightly higher in academic settings compared to work settings, although the magnitude of the effect remains moderate (see Table 5 ). Here again, we distinguish between results- and behavior-based performance. Time management’s impact on behavior-based performance seems much higher than on results-based performance—a much wider difference than the one we observed in professional settings. This suggests than results-based performance in academic settings depends less on time management than results-based performance in professional settings. This means that time management is more likely to get people a good performance review at work than a strong GPA in school.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245066.t005

In particular, time management seems to be much more negatively related to procrastination in school than at work. Although we cannot establish causation in all studies, we note that some of them featured experimental designs that established a causal effect of time management on reducing procrastination [ 90 ].

Interestingly, time management was linked to all types of results-based performance except for standardized tests. This is perhaps due to the fact that standardized tests tap more into fluid intelligence, a measure of intelligence independent of acquired knowledge [ 91 ]. GPA and regular exam scores, in contrast, tap more into crystallized intelligence, which depends mostly on accumulated knowledge. Time management can thus assist students in organizing their time to acquire the knowledge necessary to ace a regular exam; for standardized exams that depend less on knowledge and more on intelligence, however, time management may be less helpful. Evidence from other studies bears this out: middle school students’ IQ predicts standardized achievement tests scores better than self-control while self-control predicts report card grades better than IQ [ 92 ]. (For our purposes, we can use self-control as a very rough proxy for time management.) Relatedly, we found no significant relationship between time management and cognitive ability in our meta-analysis (see Table 8 ).

Time management and wellbeing

On the whole, time management has a slightly stronger impact on wellbeing than on performance. This is unexpected, considering how the dominant discourse points to time management as a skill for professional career development. Of course, the dominant discourse also frames time management as necessary for wellbeing and stress reduction, but to a much lesser extent. Our finding that time management has a stronger influence on wellbeing in no way negates the importance of time management as a work skill. Rather, this finding challenges the intuitive notion that time management is more effective for work than for other life domains. As further evidence, notice how in Table 6 the effect of time management on life satisfaction is 72% stronger than that on job satisfaction.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245066.t006

Time management and distress

Time management seems to allay various forms of distress, although to a lesser extent than it enhances wellbeing. The alleviating effect on psychological distress is particularly strong ( r = -0.358; see Table 7 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245066.t007

That time management has a weaker effect on distress should not be surprising. First, wellbeing and distress are not two poles on opposite ends of a spectrum. Although related, wellbeing and distress are distinct [ 93 ]. Thus, there is no reason to expect time management to have a symmetrical effect on wellbeing and distress. Second, and relatedly, the factors that influence wellbeing and distress are also distinct. Specifically, self-efficacy (i.e., seeing oneself as capable) is a distinct predictor of wellbeing while neuroticism and life events in general are distinct predictors of distress [ 94 ]. It stands to reason that time management can enhance self-efficacy. (Or, alternatively, that people high in self-efficacy would be more likely to engage in time management, although experimental evidence suggests that time management training makes people feel more in control of their time [ 89 ]; it is thus plausible that time management may have a causal effect on self-efficacy. Relatedly, note how time management ability is strongly related to internal locus of control in Table 8 ) In contrast, time management can do considerably less in the way of tackling neuroticism and dampening the emotional impact of tragic life events. In other words, the factors that affect wellbeing may be much more within the purview of time management than the factors that affect distress. For this reason, time management may be less effective in alleviating distress than in improving wellbeing.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245066.t008

Time management and individual differences

Time management is, overall, less related to individual differences than to other variables.

Age, for instance, hardly correlates with time management (with a relatively high consistency between studies, I 2 = 55.79, see Table 8 above).

Similarly, gender only tenuously correlates with time management, although in the expected direction: women seem to have stronger time management abilities than men. The very weak association with gender ( r = -0.087) is particularly surprising given women’s well-documented superior self-regulation skills [ 95 ]. That being said, women’s time management abilities seem to grow stronger over the years ( N = 37, B = -.0049, p < .05, Q model = 3.89(1), Q residual = 218.42(35), I 2 = 83.98, R 2 analog = .03; also see Fig 3 below). More realistically, this increase may not be due to women’s time management abilities getting stronger per se but, rather, to the fact that women now have more freedom to manage their time [ 96 ].

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245066.g003

Other demographic indicators, such as education and number of children, were nonsignificant. Similarly, the relationships between time management and personal attributes and attitudes were either weak or nonsignificant, save for two notable exceptions. First, the link between time management and internal locus of control (i.e., the extent to which people perceive they’re in control of their lives) is quite substantial. This is not surprising, because time management presupposes that people believe they can change their lives. Alternatively, it may be that time management helps people strengthen their internal locus of control, as experimental evidence suggests [ 89 ]. Second, the link between time management and self-esteem is equally substantial. Here again, one can make the argument either way: people with high self-esteem might be confident enough to manage their time or, conversely, time management may boost self-esteem. The two options are not mutually exclusive: people with internal loci of control and high self-esteem levels can feel even more in control of their lives and better about themselves through time management.

We also note a very weak but statistically significant negative association between time management and multitasking. It has almost become commonsense that multitasking does not lead to performance [ 97 ]. As a result, people with stronger time management skills might deliberately steer clear of this notoriously ineffective strategy.

In addition, time management was mildly related to hours spent studying but not hours spent working. (These variables cover only student samples working part- or full-time and thus do not apply to non-student populations.) This is consistent with time-use studies revealing that teenagers and young adults spend less time working and more time studying [ 98 ]. Students who manage their time likely have well-defined intentions, and trends suggest those intentions will target education over work because, it is hoped, education offers larger payoffs over the long-term [ 99 ].

In terms of contextual factors, time management does not correlate significantly with job autonomy. This is surprising, as we expected autonomy to be a prerequisite for time management (i.e., you can’t manage time if you don’t have the freedom to). Nevertheless, qualitative studies have shown how even in environments that afford little autonomy (e.g., restaurants), workers can carve out pockets of time freedom to momentarily cut loose [ 100 ]. Thus, time management behaviors may flourish even in the most stymying settings. In addition, the fact that time management is associated with less role overload and previous attendance of time management training programs makes sense: time management can mitigate the effect of heavy workloads and time management training, presumably, improves time management skills.

Finally, time management is linked to all personality traits. Moreover, previous reviews of the literature have commented on the link between time management and conscientiousness in particular [ 32 ]. What our study reveals is the substantial magnitude of the effect ( r = 0.451). The relationship is not surprising: conscientiousness entails orderliness and organization, which overlap significantly with time management. That time management correlates so strongly with personality (and so little with other individual differences) lends credence to the dispositional view of time management [ 101 – 103 ]. However, this finding should not be taken to mean that time management is a highly inheritable, fixed ability. Having a “you either have it or you don’t” view of time management is not only counterproductive [ 104 ] but also runs counter to evidence showing that time management training does, in fact, help people manage their time better.

Does time management work? It seems so. Time management has a moderate influence on job performance, academic achievement, and wellbeing. These three outcomes play an important role in people’s lives. Doing a good job at work, getting top grades in school, and nurturing psychological wellbeing contribute to a life well lived. Widespread exhortations to get better at time management are thus not unfounded: the importance of time management is hard to overstate.

Contributions

Beyond answering the question of whether time management works, this study contributes to the literature in three major ways. First, we quantify the impact of time management on several outcomes. We thus not only address the question of whether time management works, but also, and importantly, gauge to what extent time management works. Indeed, our meta-analysis covers 53,957 participants, which allows for a much more precise, quantified assessment of time management effectiveness compared to qualitative reviews.

Second, this meta-analysis systematically assesses relationships between time management and a host of individual differences and contextual factors. This helps us draw a more accurate portrait of potential antecedents of higher (or lower) scores on time management measures.

Third, our findings challenge intuitive ideas concerning what time management is for. Specifically, we found that time management enhances wellbeing—and in particular life satisfaction—to a greater extent than it does various types of performance. This runs against the popular belief that time management primarily helps people perform better and that wellbeing is simply a byproduct of better performance. Of course, it may be that wellbeing gains, even if higher than performance gains, hinge on performance; that is to say, people may need to perform better as a prerequisite to feeling happier. But this argument doesn’t jibe with experiments showing that even in the absence of performance gains, time management interventions do increase wellbeing [ 89 ]. This argument also founders in the face of evidence linking time management with wellbeing among the unemployed [ 105 ], unemployment being an environment where performance plays a negligible role, if any. As such, this meta-analysis lends support to definitions of time management that are not work- or performance-centric.

Future research and limitations

This meta-analysis questions whether time management should be seen chiefly as a performance device. Our questioning is neither novel nor subversive: historically people have managed time for other reasons than efficiency, such as spiritual devotion and philosophical contemplation [ 72 , 106 , 107 ]. It is only with relatively recent events, such as the Industrial Revolution and waves of corporate downsizing, that time management has become synonymous with productivity [ 43 , 65 ]. We hope future research will widen its scope and look more into outcomes other than performance, such as developing a sense of meaning in life [ 108 ]. One of the earliest time management studies, for instance, explored how time management relates to having a sense of purpose [ 73 ]. However, very few studies followed suit since. Time management thus stands to become a richer, more inclusive research area by investigating a wider array of outcomes.

In addition, despite the encouraging findings of this meta-analysis we must refrain from seeing time management as a panacea. Though time management can make people’s lives better, it is not clear how easy it is for people to learn how to manage their time adequately. More importantly, being “good” at time management is often a function of income, education, and various types of privilege [ 42 , 43 , 46 , 109 ]. The hackneyed maxim that “you have as many hours in a day as Beyoncé,” for instance, blames people for their “poor” time management in pointing out that successful people have just as much time but still manage to get ahead. Yet this ill-conceived maxim glosses over the fact that Beyoncé and her ilk do, in a sense, have more hours in a day than average people who can’t afford a nanny, chauffeur, in-house chefs, and a bevy of personal assistants. Future research should thus look into ways to make time management more accessible.

Furthermore, this meta-analysis rests on the assumption that time management training programs do enhance people’s time management skills. Previous reviews have noted the opacity surrounding time management interventions—studies often don’t explain what, exactly, is taught in time management training seminars [ 18 ]. As a result, comparing the effect of different interventions might come down to comparing apples and oranges. (This might partly account for the high heterogeneity between studies.) We hope that our definition of time management will spur future research into crafting more consistent, valid, and generalizable interventions that will allow for more meaningful comparisons.

Finally, most time management studies are cross-sectional. Yet it is very likely that the effect of time management compounds over time. If time management can help students get better grades, for instance, those grades can lead to better jobs down the line [ 110 ]. Crucially, learning a skill takes time, and if time management helps people make the time to learn a skill, then time management stands to dramatically enrich people’s lives. For this reason, longitudinal studies can track different cohorts to see how time management affects people’s lives over time. We expect that developing time management skills early on in life can create a compound effect whereby people acquire a variety of other skills thanks to their ability to make time.

Overall, this study offers the most comprehensive, precise, and fine-grained assessment of time management to date. We address the longstanding debate over whether time management influences job performance in revealing a positive, albeit moderate effect. Interestingly, we found that time management impacts wellbeing—and in particular life satisfaction—to a greater extent than performance. That means time management may be primarily a wellbeing enhancer, rather than a performance booster. Furthermore, individual and external factors played a minor role in time management, although this does not necessarily mean that time management’s effectiveness is universal. Rather, we need more research that focuses on the internal and external variables that affect time management outcomes. We hope this study will tantalize future research and guide practitioners in their attempt to make better use of their time.

Supporting information

S1 checklist. prisma 2009 checklist..

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245066.s001

S1 File. Funnel plots.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245066.s002

S2 File. Dataset.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245066.s003

Acknowledgments

We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge our colleagues for their invaluable help: Mengchan Gao, Talha Aziz, Elizabeth Eley, Robert Nason, Andrew Ryder, Tracy Hecht, and Caroline Aubé.

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• CAREER COLUMN
• 05 December 2022

How to manage your time as a researcher

• Maya Gosztyla 0

Maya Gosztyla is a PhD student in biomedical sciences at the University of California, San Diego.

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Good time management enables researchers to set goals and priorities without sacrificing personal well-being. Credit: Getty

It took less than two years in graduate school for me to burn out. I was spending long hours in the laboratory, yet I worried that I wasn’t making satisfactory progress. Overwork-induced exhaustion made me sloppy and impaired my productivity, creating a vicious cycle.

My experience is far from unique. A 2022 Nature survey found that 70% of graduate students work more than 40 hours per week and that 68% have difficulty maintaining a good work–life balance. And, according to Nature ’s 2021 salary and jobs survey , nearly half (45%) of scientists across all career stages report signs of burnout and overwork.

How to find, read and organize papers

Time-management strategies can help to rein in work hours, but can also promote a culture of unhealthy hyper-productivity or act as a Band-Aid to cover up toxic research environments. Time management shouldn’t be about maximizing the amount of work you can cram into your day; instead, it should help you to prioritize your professional goals without sacrificing personal well-being.

In my case, that meant rethinking how I structured my days, weeks and months. Inspired by computer scientist Cal Newport, author of the 2016 book Deep Work , I’ve cut back my hours in the lab substantially, which has improved my mental and physical health. Yet I have seen no noticeable decline in productivity. To use my time more efficiently and prioritize my most important tasks, I track my goals on three timescales.

Level 1: Big picture

Big-picture planning encompasses long-term goals. For graduate students, this might include your ideal time to graduation, learning specific skills or career exploration; for a research professor, it might be completing projects, applying for funding or improving teaching and mentoring skills.

One of my favourite tools for big-picture planning is the Gantt chart, a type of horizontal bar chart that plots project timelines (Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets have templates for creating these). I created a Gantt chart shortly after joining my PhD lab, and update it a few times per year. It includes timelines for key experiments, major conferences, milestones for my doctoral programme and career exploration.

To avoid distraction from day-to-day tasks, keep your Gantt chart somewhere prominent, such as on a bulletin board near your desk.

Level 2: Academic term

At the end of each academic term, write out a plan for the next quarter or semester that considers three elements:

Reflect. What goals did you set in the previous quarter? Did you accomplish them? Why or why not?

Forecast. What events, commitments and deadlines are coming up this term?

Prioritize. What goals will you set for this quarter? Which ones will you prioritize?

Collection: Work–life balance

Your targets for the next few months should arise from and contribute to your big-picture goals. These might include completing particular experiments, writing a paper or grant application, or preparing to teach a course. Laying out your research goals alongside other upcoming commitments (teaching-assistant appointments, committee obligations and so on) helps you to set reasonable expectations.

One tool that can be helpful at this level is the Kanban board, which features columns with different labels for you to categorize and track tasks or projects. You might assign tasks based on status (such as ‘In progress’, ‘To do ASAP’, ‘To do next month’ and ‘Not started’) or priority (high, medium and low). Several online tools provide Kanban boards, including Trello and Notion. Alternatively, you can make an old-school board using sticky notes.

Level 3: Daily or weekly

For finest-grained planning, you can use a daily planner, but I prefer to work on a weekly timescale because my research often involves experiments that run over several days. In either case, you can assign specific slots for each task, known as time blocking, or use to-do lists.

Time blocking is ideal for planning experiments around other commitments and for organizing protocols across multiple days; it works best for tasks that require at least 30 minutes to complete. All you need is an electronic or paper planner. Keep in mind that your plan should be flexible: if an experiment takes longer than expected or if journal editors request manuscript revisions on a tight timescale, you’ll need to accommodate these changes.

To-do lists save you from having to schedule every minor task and can help to remind you of small but important jobs. However, they’re less than ideal for longer tasks that take several hours or stretch across several days. Without blocking out specific times, it can be difficult to predict whether your immediate to-do list is reasonable.

Time to work

Here’s how I use these three elements in practice.

First, decide how many hours you’re comfortable working in a week. This is highly personal — don’t let your answer be swayed by your perceptions of other people. Block out any fixed appointments, such as classes or meetings. Second, create slots for the most urgent and important tasks. Try to schedule recurring tasks (such as reading papers, preparing lecture materials or building next week’s plan) at the same time each week. Finally, fill any remaining time with lower-priority tasks, including responding to e-mails, ordering supplies and so on.

Collection: Time management

If you cannot fit everything you want to accomplish into your allotted hours, your options are to delay the remaining tasks or remove them entirely. Delaying a few tasks is fine, but do so sparingly or you might find your task list ballooning.

If a task does not contribute to the goals you outlined in your big-picture and academic-term plans, it’s a candidate for removal. For research tasks, it’s helpful to envision the story you plan to tell in your future paper: does this experiment contribute to that story or fall outside its scope?

Simple as it seems, this strategy has completely changed how I spend my time. I’ve found it easier to decline new commitments when I could clearly see that they would not fit into my schedule or contribute to my goals. I’ve become a better mentor for my undergraduate researchers, and carved out space for my hobbies, health and social life.

At the same time, my research is more streamlined. I don’t begin a new experiment until I convince myself that it’s both necessary and has the best experimental design to test my hypothesis. Looking back, many of the experiments that once kept me in the lab late into the night will never end up in a publication; they were often weakly designed or unnecessary.

When we value our time, we spend it more wisely.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-04364-2

This is an article from the Nature Careers Community, a place for Nature readers to share their professional experiences and advice. Guest posts are encouraged .

Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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The Impact of Time Management on Students' Academic Achievement

S N A M Razali 1 , M S Rusiman 1 , W S Gan 1 and N Arbin 2

Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd Journal of Physics: Conference Series , Volume 995 , International Seminar on Mathematics and Physics in Sciences and Technology 2017 (ISMAP 2017) 28–29 October 2017, Hotel Katerina, Malaysia Citation S N A M Razali et al 2018 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 995 012042 DOI 10.1088/1742-6596/995/1/012042

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1 Department of Mathematics and Statistic, Faculty of Applied Science and Technology University Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia.

2 Department of Mathematic, Faculty of Science and Mathematics, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, 35900 Perak, Malaysia.

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Time management is very important and it may actually affect individual's overall performance and achievements. Students nowadays always commented that they do not have enough time to complete all the tasks assigned to them. In addition, a university environment's flexibility and freedom can derail students who have not mastered time management skills. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine the relationship between the time management and academic achievement of the students. The factor analysis result showed three main factors associated with time management which can be classified as time planning, time attitudes and time wasting. The result also indicated that gender and races of students show no significant differences in time management behaviours. While year of study and faculty of students reveal the significant differences in the time management behaviours. Meanwhile, all the time management behaviours are significantly positively related to academic achievement of students although the relationship is weak. Time planning is the most significant correlated predictor.

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• v.47(12); 2018 Dec

Effect of Time Management Training on Anxiety, Depression, and Sleep Quality

1. School of Management, Yangtze University, Jingzhou 434023, China

Xiaochun WANG

2. School of Computer Science, Yangtze University, Jingzhou 434023, China

Background:

Anxiety and depression seriously affect sleep quality and mental health of perimenopausal women. Time management training is of great value in relieving negative emotions and improving subjective well-being. This study aims to explore the effect of time management training on anxiety, depression, and sleep quality of perimenopausal women.

From January 2018 to July 2018, 114 women with perimenopausal syndrome were randomly selected in Wuhan, Hubei Province of China as the objects of the experimental group (n=58) and the control group (n=56). The control group did not participate in any training in this study; time management training was conducted in the experimental group according to Getting Things Done, with a total of 12 training sessions over six months with two hours for each interval of two weeks. The effect of the intervention was evaluated before and after the experiment using relevant scales.

After the intervention, the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) score and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) score of the experimental group are lower than those of the control group ( P <0.05). The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) score and Time Management Disposition Inventory (TMDI) score of the experimental group are higher than those of the control group ( P <0.05). A positive correlation exists between the improvement in time management disposition and the improvement in anxiety, depression, and sleep quality ( P <0.001).

Conclusion:

Time management training has a positive effect on improving anxiety, depression, sleep quality, and time management disposition of perimenopausal women.

Introduction

An individual’s time management disposition is a multi-dimensional and multi-level trait of personality. It is the individual’s psychological and behavioral characteristic in the use of time, and it is composed of three dimensions, including time value (social and personal orientation), time control (goal setting, planning, priority, time allocation, and feedback), and time efficacy (time management efficacy and time management behavioral efficacy) ( 1 ). Studies showed that time management disposition is related to academic achievement and job performance ( 2 ), self-confidence, achievement motivation, psychological stressors, and personality ( 3 ). Perimenopause happens to women who are over 40 years old ( 4 ). From the perspective of physiological symptoms and time period, perimenopause is a less than one-year period after the last menstrual period of women who are close to menopause and suffer ovarian dysfunction ( 5 ). Perimenopause is an important turning point in women’s physiological development and indicates that women’s physiological development has entered a new stage. During this period, the strong fluctuations in women’s estrogen levels are likely to trigger the syndrome dominated by vegetative neurological disorders and accompanied by a series of psychotic symptoms, known as perimenopausal syndrome and “menopausal syndrome” ( 6 ).

One of the typical symptoms of perimenopausal syndrome is emotional symptoms. Owing to physical changes and endocrine disorders, women suffer from large mood swings during this period, and they tend to feel angry and experience intense anxiety. Strong depression and even severe depressive symptoms are also possible ( 7 ). Perimenopausal women had significantly higher levels of depression and anxiety than women in the general group, and such negative emotions such as anxiety and depression affected menopausal women’s sleep quality ( 8 ). More than 43% of women reported varying degrees of sleep disorders, and that these women also suffered emotional problems such as depression ( 9 ).

Complex causes of depression, anxiety, and sleep quality problems were observed in perimenopausal women, including both physiological and environmental factors ( 10 ). As the medical model shifts from simple biomedicine to the physiological–psychological–social medical model, the role of psychological factors increasingly attracts researchers’ attention ( 7 ). Research reported that the rapid economic and social development pose increasingly higher requirements on corporate employees, and the special nature of their work which should be finished within a limited time often leads to excessive burdens. As a result of greater psychological pressure, they became a high-risk group of mental illness ( 1 ). Therefore, perimenopausal women in enterprises, communities, and universities were involved in this study as the research objects to explore the factors that affect depression, anxiety, and sleep in this group from a psychological perspective and to use a targeted positive intervention. Therefore, improving the mental health level of perimenopausal women is of great significance.

Regarding the improvement in mental health problems such as depression and anxiety, time management disposition has been favored by researchers in recent years. Time management disposition reflects an individual’s attitude toward time and cognitive psychology in terms of time use as well as the individual’s time value and time-use behavior ( 1 ). Previous studies showed an important relationship between time management disposition, depression, and anxiety tendencies. Specifically, strengthening time management training will help reduce depression and anxiety levels ( 12 ). Moreover, research on the relationship between time management disposition and employees’ mental health revealed a significant negative correlation between employees’ time management disposition and each mental health factor, indicating that employees with higher mental management disposition had higher mental health levels ( 13 ). Patients with sleep disorders tended to have problems with time management disposition, especially in terms of time control and time efficacy ( 14 ). In summary, time management disposition may be negatively correlated with depression, anxiety, and sleep problems. Hence, the individual’s time management efficacy can be improved through time management training to reduce depression, anxiety, and sleep problems.

The innovation of this study lies in the application of time management training for the first time to improve mental health of perimenopausal women and the exploration of ways to deal with their emotional and sleep problems from the perspective of the psychological characteristics of perimenopausal women’s time management. On the other hand, the effect of time management training on emotional problems in perimenopausal women such as depression and anxiety as well as on their behavioral issues such as sleep quality problems was investigated in this study. Although emotions and behaviors were not comprehensively considered in previous studies, the relationship between emotional and behavioral problems in perimenopausal women is further examined in this study. This study provides a new intervention program to better improve mental health of perimenopausal women.

Materials and Methods

From January 2018 to July 2018, 128 women with perimenopausal syndrome were randomly selected from three communities in Caidian District, Hongshan District, Hannan District, two large enterprises (Wuhan Branch of China Mobile and Dongfeng Motor Corporation), and health service stations in Wuhan, Hubei Province as the objects of the experiment. They were randomly divided into 64 members in the experimental group and 64 members in the control group. A total of 14 objects withdrew from the experiment, including six in the experimental group and eight in the control group. Finally, a total of 114 objects with 58 members in the experimental group and 56 members in the control group participated. Enrollment criteria: 1) those who participated in the experiment voluntarily, desired to change themselves, and signed the informed consent; 2) those who met Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders (CCMD-3) ( 15 ). Exclusion criteria: those with organic diseases, immune system diseases, blood system diseases, mental diseases, hormone replacement therapy, and long-term use of sedative hypnotic drugs. The general information of the two groups is shown in Table 1 . Table 1 shows no significant difference between the two groups in age, education level, and occupation (P>0.05).

Comparison of general information between experimental and control groups

Research tools

• 1) Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) : Scoring Criterion: It includes 20 items and uses four-level scoring which is then converted to a full score of 100. A higher score means more apparent anxiety ( 16 ).
• 2) Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) : Scoring criterion: It includes 20 items and uses four-level scoring which is then converted to a full score of 100. A higher score means more apparent depression. ( 17 ).
• 3) Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) : Scoring criterion: The 18 self-report items participating in scoring are combined into seven components, namely, sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, habitual sleep efficiency, use of sleeping medication, sleep disturbances, and day-time dysfunction. They are assessed using the 0–3 scoring method, and the total score is 21 points. A higher score means poorer sleep quality ( 18 ).
• 4) Time Management Disposition Inventory (TMDI): Prepared by Huang et al. ( 19 ), it is composed of 44 items, including three subscales, which are time control observation scale, time value scale, and time efficacy scale. The test–retest reliability coefficient of each dimension of the scale is between 0.71 and 0.85; the internal consistency coefficient is between 0.58 and 0.83; the consistency coefficient of the three subscales is between 0.62 and 0.81. The scale has good content validity and construct validity.
• 5) Getting Things Done (GTD): Based on the time management model ( 20 ) (collecting, organizing, reviewing, and executing), the time management notebook and GTD time management software on the market are combined with the realistic life status of the participants to develop self-edited GTD time management notes.

Intervention method

• 1) Control group : The control group did not participate in any training in this study.
• 2) Experimental group : The experiment group was taught time management knowledge, practiced the GTD method, and finally formed three training feedback stages, including 12 training sessions over six months with two hours for each interval of two weeks. The first stage is the time management knowledge inculcation stage. The first task at this stage was to promote members to understand the value of time management disposition, to establish training objectives and group norms, and to achieve this through the first training. The second task was to teach relevant knowledge, the three dimensions of time management disposition, namely, time value, time control, and time efficacy, and the GTD method to achieve this through the second and third training. The second stage is the stage of time management practice. At this stage, practical management tasks were created based on the actual situation of the research objects to improve time management disposition of the research subjects to the largest extent in practice. In this stage, GTD notebooks were issued, and the objects were required to take electronic notes every day to help the objects better control their time. Taking notes not only allowed the objects to control their daily use and waste of time but also helped them reflect and find a way suitable for themselves. The counselor also discussed with the objects about their time management plan and implementation to obtain the best time management effect, which can be achieved through the 4th–11th training sessions. The third stage is the feedback stage. The GTD notes of the objects and their feelings about the activity were used to form feedbacks. The objects shared their learning experience with each other, reflected on the experience, and encouraged each other. The reflective feedback program was added to the 9th–12th training sessions. The effect of training was examined by measuring time management disposition before and after the experiment.

Statistical methods

The data were analyzed by SPSS15.0 statistical software. The quantitative data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation. The comparison between two groups of means was conducted using independent sample t test. The inter-group comparison was conducted using paired t test. The qualitative data were represented by the number of cases. The inter-group comparison was conducted using chi-square test or rank-sum test. The correlation analysis between two variables was conducted using Spearman rank correlation analysis. The difference is statistically significant at P<0.05.

General information of the research objects

The experimental groups had 64 objects, but 58 completed the intervention follow-up. The control group had 64 objects, but 56 completed the follow-up. The general information of the two groups is shown in Table 1 . It shows that the general information of the two groups is comparable.

Comparison of SAS before and after intervention

Table 2 shows no significant difference in the SAS score between the two groups before the intervention (t=1.004, P =0.318). After the intervention, the SAS scores of the two groups both decrease, and the differences are statistically significant with those before the intervention ( P <0.001); the SAS score after the intervention and the decrease in the SAS score before and after the intervention show that the effect on the experimental group is greater than that on the control group, and the difference is statistically significant ( P <0.05).

Comparison of SDS before and after intervention

Table 3 shows no significant difference in the SDS score between the two groups before the intervention (t=0.587, P =0.559). After three months of intervention, the SDS scores of the two groups both decrease, and the differences are statistically significant with those before the intervention ( P <0.01); the SDS score after the intervention and the decrease in the SDS score before and after the intervention show that the effect on the experimental group is greater than that on the control group, and the difference is statistically significant ( P <0.05).

Comparison of sleep quality before and after intervention

Table 4 shows no significant difference in the sleep quality score between the two groups before the intervention (t=0.841, P =0.402). After the intervention, the sleep quality scores of the two groups both decrease, and the differences are statistically significant with those before the intervention ( P <0.01); the sleep quality score after the intervention and the decrease in the sleep quality score before and after the intervention show that the effect on the experimental group is greater than that on the control group, and the difference is statistically significant ( P <0.05).

Comparison of time management disposition before and after intervention

Table 5 shows no significant difference in the time management disposition score between the two groups before the intervention (t=0.751, P =0.454). After the intervention, the TMDI scores of the two groups both increase, and the difference of the experimental group with the pre-intervention value is statistically significant ( P <0.001). The TMDI score of the control group increases slightly; however, no significant difference is noted when compared with the pre-intervention value ( P =0.092); the time management disposition score after the intervention and the decrease in the time management disposition score before and after the intervention show that the effect on the experimental group is greater than that on the control group, and the difference is statistically significant ( P <0.05).

Correlation analysis of changes in time management disposition and changes in anxiety, depression, and sleep quality

The Spearman rank correlation analysis shows that the improvement in time management disposition after the intervention is positively correlated with the improvement in anxiety, depression, and sleep quality, thereby suggesting that good time management disposition is conductive to the improvement in anxiety, depression, and sleep quality, as shown in Table 6 .

Time management training can reduce anxiety levels of perimenopausal women

The analysis on the intervention results of this study ( Table 2 ) shows no significant difference between the experimental group and the control group before the intervention (t=1.004, P =0.318), indicating that the two groups have the same levels before the intervention. After the intervention, the anxiety levels of the experimental group and the control group are significantly lower than those before the intervention ( P <0.05), but the decrease in the anxiety level of the experimental group is quite significant after the intervention and more significant than the decrease in the anxiety level of the control group. The reasons can be analyzed as follows:

First, whether in the control or the experimental group, the anxiety level decreases significantly after the intervention. This phenomenon may be related to the occurrence and development of anxiety. The emergence of anxiety has causes in the interpretation of anxiety in the psychoanalytic school and the analysis of anxiety in humanistic psychology ( 21 ). That is, the causes of anxiety have a process of occurrence and development, and any cause has stages of growth and regression. Specific to this study, the experiment and the control groups experienced a certain degree of regression in the causes of anxiety with the progress of the intervention, thereby leading to the individual’s adaptation to the current state and reducing the level of anxiety. Marreta et al. ( 22 ) also showed in their study on perimenopausal women the different psychological stages in the entire perimenopausal period; and women’s self-perception and cognition were constantly changing at different stages, whereas physical and mental changes affected the level of anxiety.

Second, a significant decrease was observed in the anxiety level of the control group after the intervention, which is consistent with the results of Zhan et al. ( 23 ). In the study by Zhan et al., psychological intervention therapies including cognitive therapy, psychological support, music therapy, sleep anxiety, family support, and social support were used to intervene in 220 perimenopausal women. The results also demonstrate that the anxiety level decreases significantly not only in the experiment group but also in the control group. However, the study by Zhan et al. ( 23 ) had no in-depth analysis of the causes for the decline in anxiety of the control group. The causes for the significant decline in the control group which did not receive any psychological intervention include not only the natural development process of anxiety previously analyzed. In addition, the objects in the control group felt that they were still participating in the experiment and hoped to perform better owing to the social appreciating effect, thereby obscuring the true self and leading to the Hawthorne effect. However, owing to the lack of systematic time management training, the extent of the decline in anxiety of the control group is much lower than that of the experimental group.

Finally, the decrease in the anxiety level of the experimental group is quite apparent and better than that of the control group. This result again verifies the positive effect of time management training on reducing negative emotions. It is consistent with the research results of Fan et al. ( 12 ). However, in the study by Fan et al., the experimental group is a high-pressure group of women with a master’s degree. The consistency of the two findings fully demonstrates that perimenopausal women face higher pressure levels during this particular period, and previous studies showed that lowering pressure levels of high-anxiety people can contribute to the reduction of their anxiety ( 24 – 25 ). Therefore, the time management intervention in this study involves not only time management knowledge training but also the application of the GTD method, fully mobilizing the objects’ initiative and control of time utilization and effectively reducing anxiety of perimenopausal women.

Time management training can reduce depression levels

The results of this study show that after the intervention training, the depression levels of the control group and the experiment group decrease significantly, but the decrease in the experimental group is higher than that in the control group, and the difference is statistically significant ( P <0.05), suggesting a better effect. This finding is consistent with the results of Zhan et al. ( 23 ) who found that the depression levels of the control and the experiment groups decreased after the psychological intervention, but the effect on the control group is more apparent. The decline in sex hormone levels of perimenopausal women is an important factor leading to depressive symptoms, but this factor is clearly insufficient to explain the appearance of depressive symptoms ( 26 ). In the investigation of factors affecting perimenopausal women’s depressive symptoms, psychological factors are important factors which influence the emergence of depressive symptoms ( 27 ). The emergence of depression is often accompanied by a decrease in individual self-efficacy ( 28 ). Meanwhile, owing to physiological changes in perimenopausal women, physical changes reduce their self-efficacy to some extent. Jia et al. ( 29 ) conducted a five-week time management training for vocational students and found that after the intervention, their sense of time management self-efficacy improved, which in turn affected their general self-efficacy. In this study, the perimenopausal women were not only taught the knowledge of time management to improve their understanding of time use, but they were also required to observe and record their time use behavior in actual life to better improve their sense of time control. This can increase the rationality of time planning and effectiveness of time use among perimenopausal women, which in turn reduces the level of depression.

Time management training can improve sleep quality

Sleep disorders are the most typical problem among perimenopausal women. Approximately 28%–64% of women were reported to have sleep disorders ( 30 ), and the occurrence of sleep disorders may also be caused by emotional problems such as depression and anxiety. A vicious circle could exist between them. The results of this study indicate that time management training can significantly improve sleep quality of the experimental group. Although the problem of sleep disorders in the control group is significantly lower than before the intervention, the effect is not as good as in the experimental group.

First, the increase in sleep quality of the control group may be associated with the natural decrease in the levels of anxiety and depression previously analyzed. When perimenopausal women enter the perimenopausal period, they have difficulty accepting physical changes and adopt no effective coping style, thereby leading to a decline in their mental health ( 31 ). Over time, perimenopausal women begin to adapt to the physiological transition and accept it psychologically. This natural adaptation process is the basic skill of biological organisms ( 32 ).

Second, the significant improvement in sleep quality of the experiment group is mainly caused by the positive effect of time management training. Through time management training, perimenopausal women not only reflect on their own time management behaviors during the intervention process but also increase the efficiency of their time use and their individual control over time, thereby improving their sleep quality. On the other hand, time management training effectively reduces the objects’ negative emotions such as depression and anxiety, which is also helpful for improving sleep quality.

Time management training can improve time management disposition levels

The results of this study also reveal no significant difference in time management disposition between the experiment and the control groups before the intervention; the time management level of the control group does not increase significantly after the intervention, but the time management level of the experiment group after the intervention training increases significantly. This result illustrates two issues: First, the decline in depression and anxiety levels of the control group previously analyzed is caused by the changes in the level of time management propensity. Second, the level of time management disposition does not naturally increase with time but requires systematic training and intervention.

Time management disposition includes time value, time control, and time efficacy ( 19 ). Among them, time control and time efficacy have the greatest influence on individual behaviors. In this study, knowledge lectures can effectively improve the individual’s understanding and perception of time value. The GTD method can help individuals better monitor their own use and management of time to better supervise their own time behaviors ( 33 ). Feedback and experience learning in group counseling can also assist individuals to better improve their time use. Therefore, time management training in this study can be used to improve overall time management disposition of perimenopausal women. Nonetheless, owing to limited conditions, multiple sets of experiment groups were not used in the training program in this study. Although the results of this study show that the time management training program can effectively improve time management disposition of perimenopausal women, whether the program still has a consistent and stable effect on other populations is not known. The cross-population consistency of the training programs can be verified only by setting different experiment groups of objects according to different ages and genders.

1) Time management training could significantly reduce the levels of anxiety and depression in perimenopausal women. 2) Time management training could improve sleep quality of perimenopausal women. 3) Time management training could significantly improve the time management disposition level of perimenopausal women. 4) Time management training has a significant positive predictive effect on sleep quality and a significant negative predictive effect on anxiety and depression.

Ethical considerations

Ethical issues (Including plagiarism, Informed Consent, misconduct, data fabrication and/or falsification, double publication and/or submission, redundancy, etc.) have been completely observed by the authors.

Acknowledgments

No financial support was received for this study.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests.

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A review of the time management literature

2007, Personnel Review

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Time management has helped people organize their professional lives for centuries. The existing literature, however, reveals mixed findings and lack of clarity as to whether, when, how, and why time management leads to critical outcomes such as well-being and job performance. Furthermore, insights relevant to time management are scattered across various disciplines, including sociology, psychology, and behavioral economics. We address both issues by synthesizing and integrating insightful elements from various fields and domains into three novel perspectives on time management. First, we draw on the sociology of time to describe two key concepts: time structures and time norms. We illustrate how time structures and time norms operate at the team, organizational, and national levels of analysis in influencing time management outcomes. Second, we draw on the psychology of time to show how individual differences including time-related beliefs, attitudes, and preferences affect the way people manage time and, consequently, time management outcomes. Third, we rely on the behavioral economics literature to describe how cognitive biases influence individual time management decisions. Integrating insights from a diverse set of fields results in a better understanding of past research and allows us to reinterpret conflicting results prevalent in the time management literature. Finally, we offer directions for future research and discuss implications for how organizations and individuals can implement interventions resulting in a stronger and positive relationship between time management and desirable outcomes.

Kaye Enrique

Ida Sabelis

Abstract The topic of time management inevitably emerges when researching concepts of time in organizations. And, as we live in a society where we deal with organizations all the time and in a variety of forms, we are continually confronted with the way in which time is managed in an'organizational'way. This article departs from a critical overview of time-management literature and confronts the assumptions therein with the experiences of a (female) chief executive, managing her time.

jude tamukong

Shahabuddin Mughal

To survive and succeed in the competent world in today's increasingly hostile and fast-moving business environment, organizations have to manage time efficiently. Employee motivation and satisfaction are the prime aspects of all the organizations nowadays. Proper management of time plays a vital role in motivating the employees and thus improving the performance of the organization. The innovation based organization with the effective use of time management lead towards business growth, enhanced organizational performance and helps in increasing employee's comfort level. This research study is intended to assess the level of time management in public and private sector organizations and then to find the impact of time management on employee satisfaction and the overall performance of the organization. Close ended questionnaires were administered from 260 male and female faculty members and students of public and private universities of Hyderabad and Jamshoro districts. Data was analyzed through independent sample T-test and correlation. The results of the test indicated that employees of both type of organizations act on time management almost equally. The result also indicated that females are more time conscious as compared to

Kaveh Farrokh - Langara College

ronald dulay

Evgeny Osin

In this review questions such as " What is a good use of time? " , " How can one achieve satisfaction with their time? " and " How can one's relationship with time contribute to their well-being? " are raised and discussed with regard to empirical research on various aspects of positive psychology of time. This paper differs from traditional approach to thinking about time in organisations in three substantial ways. Firstly, it reviews the existing empirical research on time use, focusing on the implications of this research for organizations and individuals. Secondly, it highlights the limitations of believing that time is infinitely stretchable and defined good time use as one that results in increased well-being, rather than productivity at the expense of well-being. Thirdly, although the workplace is in the centre of the paper, we view time use from a broader perspective of life and work-leisure balance. A range of evidence is considered, based on both objective and subjective time use studies, suggesting specific measures to increase well-being through time use, first of all, at workplace, but also touching on other domains, such as media, leisure, etc. Based on Self-Determination Theory, we argue that good time use results from choosing activities that help people to satisfy their basic needs and are directed at intrinsic goals (helping other people, establishing relationships, developing and growing as a person, maintaining health and balance in one's life). A pathway to increase basic need satisfaction and, as a result, happiness associated with good time use, is by supporting autonomy: giving people more opportunities for choosing and working towards goals that are self-congruent and intrinsic, benefitting both themselves and societies. Keywords: time management, time use, satisfaction with time use, time use and well-being, positive psychology of time, time affluence, balanced time perspective

Irina Melinte

INTRODUCTIONTime management has increasingly become an issue of crucial relevance.Time needs to be viewed as a complex mathematical value and not as a simple linear graphic, hence the current debate of whether it is better to follow classical methods to speed up the pace as the fast hare or the alternative view of actually slowing down the rhythm like the wise tortoise. The current paper aims at developing, besides the classical and the alternative views regarding time management, a third category of methods that focus on the individual, personal perception of time.&quot;Do you begin each day with a planner brimming with goals and to-dos that are important to you, or are you handcuffed by poorly planned days that result in nothing done by day&#39;s end? Plan and achieve.&quot; This is a constant slogan that we hear daily in all personal development and time management seminaries. But is it all that easy as they say?In today&#39;s hectic life style, it is becoming increasingly diffic...

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“It's not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about?” — Henry David Thoreau

SARINA SCHRAGER, MD, MS

Fam Pract Manag. 2022;29(1):5

As our daily tasks continue to multiply, and as we start the new year focused on new goals and resolutions, we may be feeling the urge to get more organized. It is a challenge, of course, but we have some help in the form of a classic tool — the “to do” list.

Research shows that writing down what you have to do unburdens the brain, making you more productive. 1 A 2011 study documented that unfinished goals caused intrusive thoughts and inhibited completion of further tasks, but making a plan to reach goals reduced or eliminated those intrusive thoughts. 2 Taking an idea and putting it down on paper (or in a digital notes app) has been shown to decrease anxiety, and completing a task and crossing it off the list provides a sense of tangible satisfaction. 3 The to-do list also provides a structure from which to plan and organize. 3

TIPS FOR AN EFFECTIVE TO-DO LIST

First, find a system that works for you. There are a variety of approaches: jotting down items on a piece of paper, creating an electronic list on your computer or phone, using a designated app, or using a “bullet journal” (the latest organizational system that keeps track of anything you want).

It may take some experimenting to find the right method for you, but if you settle for a system that you don't like or find too complicated, you will not use it regularly.

Once you find a system you like, try the following: 4 , 5

Make more than one list . Putting all your tasks for every aspect of your life on one list can be overwhelming. Instead, create more manageable, targeted lists. You may have one list for clinical work, one for committee work, and one for academic work. You may also have a separate list for home tasks.

Use SMART goals . The items on your to-do list should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based, if applicable. For example, instead of putting “Taxes” on your to-do list, you might start with “Gather documents for 2022 taxes.” Or instead of “Exercise,” put “Walk for 30 minutes.” Including vague, large items on a to-do list can undermine the list's effectiveness.

Limit the number of tasks on your daily list to what you can reasonably accomplish . If you don't accomplish an item, you can move it to the start of your to-do list for the next day.

Remember your life's purpose . Write down your long-term goals in a document separate from your to-do list. Then, as you draft your to-do list, really think about whether your daily tasks are moving you toward your larger goals.

ELECTRONIC LISTS VS. PAPER LISTS

There are dozens of electronic to-do list and organizational apps available. Benefits of digital lists include that you are less likely to lose them, can easily transfer tasks from one day to the next, can access them from a variety of devices, and can sync them with your calendar. I reviewed five online recommendations for the best to-do list apps. 6 – 10 The websites detailed 34 different apps in all, but the seven highlighted below were mentioned most frequently.

I have experimented with several different types of to-do lists, both paper and electronic, but I usually end up back with my tried-and-true piece of paper. Nothing beats the sense of accomplishment I get by crossing off a task on a paper list.

As we move into the new year, consider updating your to-do list process and see if it helps you spend your time more effectively each day while you pursue your longer-term goals.

Becher J. The psychology of the to-do list. Forbes . March 17, 2014. Accessed Nov. 29, 2021. https://www.forbes.com/

Masicampo EJ, Baumeister RF. Consider it done! Plan making can eliminate the cognitive effects of unfulfilled goals. J Pers Soc Psychol . 2011;101(4):667-683.

Rollings M. The science of to-do lists. Hive. April 12, 2020. Accessed Nov. 29, 2021. https://hive.com/

Duffy J. Get more done: try these 10 simple tips for better to-do lists. PCMag . Aug. 18, 2021. Accessed Nov. 29, 2021. https://www.pcmag.com/

Sayarath J. The science behind to-do lists. Ethos. Nov 26, 2018. Accessed Nov. 29, 2021. https://www.ethoslife.com/

Dove J, Beaton P. The best to-do apps for Android and iOS. Digital Trends. July 27, 2021. Accessed Nov. 29, 2021. https://www.digitaltrends.com/

Top 15 best to-do list apps 2021. Quire. Accessed Nov. 29, 2021. https://quire.io

Pot J. The eight best to-do list apps of 2022. Zapier. Nov. 16, 2021. Accessed Nov. 29, 2021. https://zapier.com/

McMahon J. The best to-do list app. NY Times Wirecutter. Aug. 29, 2019. Accessed Nov. 29, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/

Prasanna R. 20 best to-do list apps to keep you on track in 2021. Lifehack. June 28, 2021. Accessed Nov. 29, 2021. https://www.lifehack.org/

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Embracing Gen AI at Work

• H. James Wilson
• Paul R. Daugherty

The skills you need to succeed in the era of large language models

Today artificial intelligence can be harnessed by nearly anyone, using commands in everyday language instead of code. Soon it will transform more than 40% of all work activity, according to the authors’ research. In this new era of collaboration between humans and machines, the ability to leverage AI effectively will be critical to your professional success.

This article describes the three kinds of “fusion skills” you need to get the best results from gen AI. Intelligent interrogation involves instructing large language models to perform in ways that generate better outcomes—by, say, breaking processes down into steps or visualizing multiple potential paths to a solution. Judgment integration is about incorporating expert and ethical human discernment to make AI’s output more trustworthy, reliable, and accurate. It entails augmenting a model’s training sources with authoritative knowledge bases when necessary, keeping biases out of prompts, ensuring the privacy of any data used by the models, and scrutinizing suspect output. With reciprocal apprenticing, you tailor gen AI to your company’s specific business context by including rich organizational data and know-how into the commands you give it. As you become better at doing that, you yourself learn how to train the AI to tackle more-sophisticated challenges.

The AI revolution is already here. Learning these three skills will prepare you to thrive in it.

Generative artificial intelligence is expected to radically transform all kinds of jobs over the next few years. No longer the exclusive purview of technologists, AI can now be put to work by nearly anyone, using commands in everyday language instead of code. According to our research, most business functions and more than 40% of all U.S. work activity can be augmented, automated, or reinvented with gen AI. The changes are expected to have the largest impact on the legal, banking, insurance, and capital-market sectors—followed by retail, travel, health, and energy.

• H. James Wilson is the global managing director of technology research and thought leadership at Accenture Research. He is the coauthor, with Paul R. Daugherty, of Human + Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI, New and Expanded Edition (HBR Press, 2024). hjameswilson
• Paul R. Daugherty is Accenture’s chief technology and innovation officer. He is the coauthor, with H. James Wilson, of Human + Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI, New and Expanded Edition (HBR Press, 2024). pauldaugh

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Local Projections

Òscar Jordà

Alan M. Taylor

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2024-24 | August 12, 2024

A central question in applied research is to estimate the effect of an exogenous intervention or shock on an outcome. The intervention can affect the outcome and controls on impact and over time. Moreover, there can be subsequent feedback between outcomes, controls and the intervention. Many of these interactions can be untangled using local projections. This method’s simplicity makes it a convenient and versatile tool in the empiricist’s kit, one that is generalizable to complex settings. This article reviews the state-of-the art for the practitioner, discusses best practices and possible extensions of local projections methods, along with their limitations.

Suggested citation:

Jordà, Òscar and Alan M. Taylor. 2024. “Local Projections.” Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Working Paper 2024-24. https://doi.org/10.24148/wp2024-24

Preliminary Application Research on TRIZ Method in the Design and Construction of Luxury Cruise Ship

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The design and construction of large luxury cruise ship is the first in China, and there are many problems when designing, construction and management of domestic cruise ship industry. Under this background, this paper aims to explore the application of TRIZ innovation method in the designing process, construction and management of cruise ship. It uses several TRIZ methods to provide solutions for the designing process and construction of luxury cruise ships. Here is the conclusion of this paper: using TRIZ innovation method can solve the problem when designing and constructing in cruise ship Lastly, TRIZ innovative methods has a wide use in luxury cruise industry to guide people to solve problems creatively.

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This work was supported by Special Project on Innovative Methods “integrated application demonstration of innovative methods for the design and construction of large cruise ships (2020IM020200)”.

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Zhang, Y., Jiang, Y., Huang, Y. (2024). Preliminary Application Research on TRIZ Method in the Design and Construction of Luxury Cruise Ship. In: Jia, L., Easa, S., Qin, Y. (eds) Developments and Applications in SmartRail, Traffic, and Transportation Engineering. ICSTTE 2023. Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, vol 1209. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-3682-9_59

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We, the APA Style team, are not robots. We can all pass a CAPTCHA test , and we know our roles in a Turing test . And, like so many nonrobot human beings this year, we’ve spent a fair amount of time reading, learning, and thinking about issues related to large language models, artificial intelligence (AI), AI-generated text, and specifically ChatGPT . We’ve also been gathering opinions and feedback about the use and citation of ChatGPT. Thank you to everyone who has contributed and shared ideas, opinions, research, and feedback.

In this post, I discuss situations where students and researchers use ChatGPT to create text and to facilitate their research, not to write the full text of their paper or manuscript. We know instructors have differing opinions about how or even whether students should use ChatGPT, and we’ll be continuing to collect feedback about instructor and student questions. As always, defer to instructor guidelines when writing student papers. For more about guidelines and policies about student and author use of ChatGPT, see the last section of this post.

Quoting or reproducing the text created by ChatGPT in your paper

If you’ve used ChatGPT or other AI tools in your research, describe how you used the tool in your Method section or in a comparable section of your paper. For literature reviews or other types of essays or response or reaction papers, you might describe how you used the tool in your introduction. In your text, provide the prompt you used and then any portion of the relevant text that was generated in response.

Unfortunately, the results of a ChatGPT “chat” are not retrievable by other readers, and although nonretrievable data or quotations in APA Style papers are usually cited as personal communications , with ChatGPT-generated text there is no person communicating. Quoting ChatGPT’s text from a chat session is therefore more like sharing an algorithm’s output; thus, credit the author of the algorithm with a reference list entry and the corresponding in-text citation.

When prompted with “Is the left brain right brain divide real or a metaphor?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that although the two brain hemispheres are somewhat specialized, “the notation that people can be characterized as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth” (OpenAI, 2023).

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

You may also put the full text of long responses from ChatGPT in an appendix of your paper or in online supplemental materials, so readers have access to the exact text that was generated. It is particularly important to document the exact text created because ChatGPT will generate a unique response in each chat session, even if given the same prompt. If you create appendices or supplemental materials, remember that each should be called out at least once in the body of your APA Style paper.

When given a follow-up prompt of “What is a more accurate representation?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that “different brain regions work together to support various cognitive processes” and “the functional specialization of different regions can change in response to experience and environmental factors” (OpenAI, 2023; see Appendix A for the full transcript).

Creating a reference to ChatGPT or other AI models and software

The in-text citations and references above are adapted from the reference template for software in Section 10.10 of the Publication Manual (American Psychological Association, 2020, Chapter 10). Although here we focus on ChatGPT, because these guidelines are based on the software template, they can be adapted to note the use of other large language models (e.g., Bard), algorithms, and similar software.

The reference and in-text citations for ChatGPT are formatted as follows:

• Parenthetical citation: (OpenAI, 2023)
• Narrative citation: OpenAI (2023)

Let’s break that reference down and look at the four elements (author, date, title, and source):

Author: The author of the model is OpenAI.

Date: The date is the year of the version you used. Following the template in Section 10.10, you need to include only the year, not the exact date. The version number provides the specific date information a reader might need.

Title: The name of the model is “ChatGPT,” so that serves as the title and is italicized in your reference, as shown in the template. Although OpenAI labels unique iterations (i.e., ChatGPT-3, ChatGPT-4), they are using “ChatGPT” as the general name of the model, with updates identified with version numbers.

The version number is included after the title in parentheses. The format for the version number in ChatGPT references includes the date because that is how OpenAI is labeling the versions. Different large language models or software might use different version numbering; use the version number in the format the author or publisher provides, which may be a numbering system (e.g., Version 2.0) or other methods.

Bracketed text is used in references for additional descriptions when they are needed to help a reader understand what’s being cited. References for a number of common sources, such as journal articles and books, do not include bracketed descriptions, but things outside of the typical peer-reviewed system often do. In the case of a reference for ChatGPT, provide the descriptor “Large language model” in square brackets. OpenAI describes ChatGPT-4 as a “large multimodal model,” so that description may be provided instead if you are using ChatGPT-4. Later versions and software or models from other companies may need different descriptions, based on how the publishers describe the model. The goal of the bracketed text is to briefly describe the kind of model to your reader.

Source: When the publisher name and the author name are the same, do not repeat the publisher name in the source element of the reference, and move directly to the URL. This is the case for ChatGPT. The URL for ChatGPT is https://chat.openai.com/chat . For other models or products for which you may create a reference, use the URL that links as directly as possible to the source (i.e., the page where you can access the model, not the publisher’s homepage).

Other questions about citing ChatGPT

You may have noticed the confidence with which ChatGPT described the ideas of brain lateralization and how the brain operates, without citing any sources. I asked for a list of sources to support those claims and ChatGPT provided five references—four of which I was able to find online. The fifth does not seem to be a real article; the digital object identifier given for that reference belongs to a different article, and I was not able to find any article with the authors, date, title, and source details that ChatGPT provided. Authors using ChatGPT or similar AI tools for research should consider making this scrutiny of the primary sources a standard process. If the sources are real, accurate, and relevant, it may be better to read those original sources to learn from that research and paraphrase or quote from those articles, as applicable, than to use the model’s interpretation of them.

We’ve also received a number of other questions about ChatGPT. Should students be allowed to use it? What guidelines should instructors create for students using AI? Does using AI-generated text constitute plagiarism? Should authors who use ChatGPT credit ChatGPT or OpenAI in their byline? What are the copyright implications ?

On these questions, researchers, editors, instructors, and others are actively debating and creating parameters and guidelines. Many of you have sent us feedback, and we encourage you to continue to do so in the comments below. We will also study the policies and procedures being established by instructors, publishers, and academic institutions, with a goal of creating guidelines that reflect the many real-world applications of AI-generated text.

For questions about manuscript byline credit, plagiarism, and related ChatGPT and AI topics, the APA Style team is seeking the recommendations of APA Journals editors. APA Style guidelines based on those recommendations will be posted on this blog and on the APA Style site later this year.

Update: APA Journals has published policies on the use of generative AI in scholarly materials .

We, the APA Style team humans, appreciate your patience as we navigate these unique challenges and new ways of thinking about how authors, researchers, and students learn, write, and work with new technologies.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

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