Time is one thing that is common to the rich and poor all alike.So one who manages time effectively and efficiently is the one who can expect better outputs from it.We can meet our deadlines only and only if we make most of the time available to us.So Time management or Time utilization is one of the most soft skill everyone should cultivate and inculcate in their daily routine.Let us start ,by diving into the finer details of time management.
Theoretically explaining the techniques will be a good read of a novel but may disappear over a period or when you have picked up the next better novel. By giving extensive introduction and projecting a superlative outcome when somebody manages “ time ” as preached, the following are the supposedly exploding benefits:
Corollary should be as frightening.Failing to follow the techniques enumerated or where “ time ” manages you:
Try and understand the implications of the following pointers to start managing your “ time ” well.
There's a right and wrong way to set goals. The ones that were not set properly will drag or abuse time available to you – hence you would feel the “ short ” of it. Do it right the first time - time does not fly but stays with you and relaxes your mind and body that you would not feel like working ,Then of course work should be completed at the end of the day.
The work in organizations are tracked using goals.Goals are of two types
Most organization have long term goals that are assigned to an employee based on the strategic plans of an organization.
The short term goals are usually set by the smaller entities like at the team level or the project level.All goals are time bound.We should make sure that we achieve the short term goals on time.This way the long term goals are met by default.
Start recording the activities that you perform in a day. Box it into different species. Experts may say block of an hour for analyzing in case of aCorporate . if personally, you are doing this exercise,then make 30 minutes blocks. At the end of the work out, check blocks where you could have avoided totally . Add those blocks to the time available in your next study – viz., avoid those activities totally the next time ,the available “ time ” boxes will amaze you.
The best way to manage time is to keep a check on the amount of time we spend on various activities.We should allocate time for all the tasks before starting them.This shows that we are estimating and planning for the activities before the task initiation.Now,take a note if the task got completed on time or not.This is not a one time process.We should keep iterating it again and again to find the optimum time spent on various activities.
Another great time management tip is to use the 80-20 Rule, also known as the Pareto Principle. This rule states that 80% of the efforts comes from 20 percent of the results. In sales, it also means that 80 percent of the sales come from 20 percent of the customers. The trick? Identify the 20 percent of the efforts that are producing 80 percent of the results and scale that out. You can do this with meticulous tracking and analysis.
To use the pareto principle,we should identify the most critical tasks at hand.Once the tasks are identified,we go about finding the best way to complete the tasks.The identified tasks are called the critical tasks.If we focus on these critical tasks,most of our goals would be in sync with our long term plans.
One of the biggest time-wasters we have are our bad habits. Whether it's prime, Netflix, Soap operas, WWF, playing games, going out frequently to drink with friends, or so on.Analyze whether we can live without overdoing any of these – if yes, then why waste “ time ”.
Most of these habits do not start off as obsessive.These habits usually start as pass times.Any habit becomes obsessive only if we do not keep a track of time that we spend on the activity.It becomes very difficult when we keep doing it again and again .The disproportionate amount of time spent in these activities leads to procrastination of critical tasks.
Instead of a continuous slogging, try stretching your legs or watch a lively comedy show (if at home) and if in Office – go to a friend who is free or who wants to stretch legs like you – not difficult – but yes can be worked out. The surge you feel when you are back in your seat after these breaks enables you think straight and even gives that bird’s eye view that was missing when you were slogging.
Small breaks in between tasks gives you a clarity of thought.If we keep doing the same task again and again start obsessing over it,we would never complete the task on time.We would also end up ineffectively using time.Small breaks get you out of the loop of thinking in a single streak without giving the actual problem a different perspective.
Every day before bed, think of the work completed today – what was done put a tick and move on. What was not done – think – is it because you could not complete it or somebody else did not allow you to make it happen. Work on the matter that you should set right because of your inadequacy or ensure that help extended to the task where it was somebody else’s role.Priority for the next morning and “ should be done ” and “may be done ” for the next day will make it simpler for you to work peacefully and fruitfully.
We should always have our task sorted out.As we discussed earlier,our tasks and goals are dynamic and will keep changing with course of time.We only have a fixed amount of time available to us.In case of new tasks piling up,we have to rearrange our daily task trackers to accommodate the incoming tasks.Now,how do we decide what tasks to push ahead in time line and what tasks to immediately complete?.We will take the impact approach.The task that has the highest impact on business is a critical task and would have to be resolved immediately.The task with least impact can be done later.Organizing tasks gives us a clear picture of our work.
Due to lack of “ time ” (!), we will stop here.