"Nothing is more highly to be praised but the value of each day." — Goethe
MANAGEMENT OF TIME IS NOW considered as one of the most effective tools to manage an individual's life - especially in the organisational context. Time is one element we all have in equal measures, but it is often misused. We are also aware that proper management of time is necessary to acquire and maintain the two basic skills - planning, and decision-making skills required to be more effective and efficient. But knowing alone does not guarantee exploration for choices, and action. The often-asked question is "How do we go about it?" and often the answer is "How to do tools and systems?". This article is an attempt at providing a different perspective to Manage Time, effectively.'
Planning is the prerequisite to achieve goals. However, most of us often feel these goals are beyond our reach due to lack of proper planning, and inability to lake timely decisions. The crux lies in managing time. Very often, inadvertently, we allow time to manage us, instead of controlling and managing time in our way. Studies reveal that a total lack of understanding of the concept of time is the stumbling block in controlling and managing this elusive, but free-for-all-commodity', effectively.
Generally, while trainers talk about managing it time, they talk on systems like time-tables' dally time. Scheduling, learning diary and review. I, however, feel they forget to provide the 'inside message' for managing time.
Managing time is the most important factor in a person's life, especially in the changing global scenario. If we are not in a position to manage our 'twenty-four hours' meaningfully, we are certain to have an early day due to a plethora of diseases originating from organisational, and social pressures. Management of time is a 'psychological process'.
The Process:
The foremost step to be taken is self-discipline. It is a systematic, endogenous, and psychological process which needs self-commitment from the person towards the cause and effect- Though most of us are aware that time cannot be stored, we do not channelize available time. Mismanagement or wastage of time occurs when: We attempt to do too much at one go; unorganized work without prioritization pressurizes us to complete tasks, resulting in dissatisfaction and frustration, even after remaining busy for the day, you feel you did not achieve anything significant.
We follow unrealistic time schedule. When we fix an unrealistic schedule, all our work gets piles up, and a feeling of helplessness sets in. We are unable to say ‘NO’, politely to others.
Our inability to say 'no' consumes a lot of valuable time. This happens when:
Other people spend their time at our table, without a specific purpose.
We do the job which another person is supposed to do.
Visitors barge in without appointment, i.e. no restriction ot control on visiting hours.
People approach us with personal requests which could be avoided; we take up our colleague's job, when it is not absolutely required. It is therefore, imperative to learn to say 'No' to manage your time effectively. How to do it?
By putting it on an impersonal basis; making it clear that you would like to say 'Yes', but you are now preoccupied: Say 'No' in the nicest, warmest manner possible with a smile (but, be careful of the way you smile). This wastage can be removed by understanding clearly the various processes involved in managing time: Forecasting, Analysing and Budgeting.
Forecasting means understanding and projecting our priorities and allocating time accordingly. List out the jobs to be done for clarity and to define goals; Each has a purpose which has three dimensions -— self, superiors and col leagues and sub-ordinates. Each job assumes its urgency and importance based on the importance we give to these dimensions of purpose. Anticipate the unexpected: Ask question such as how important or urgent is each job. lf you must postpone one job, how is it going to affect your work tomorrow and others work who may be depending on your work. Keep the purpose and its dimensions in mind, while doing this exercise. Understand what is expected by the organisation: Always remember to make a clear demarcation between personal and organisational goals. Project the schedule for tomorrow, priority-wise: spend ten minutes before closing your work to tomorrow's job. Do not procrastinate. Ask, "am I analyzing or rationalizing
Analyzing means to understand and find out how we spend our time - It is result-oriented and effective. It involves reflection of daily actions and attempt to see the holes in managing your time. Analyzing does not mean try to criticize yourself for wasting your time. It means understanding and having constant awareness of your wastage of time, which will slowly help you to reduce it. The more you are aware, the more prudent you will be.
Budgeting is like budgeting the money. We should know how much time is available for work and how to effectively utilize it. Since time can not be quantified as money, the problem here is more complex. We budget our time using a subjective approach as we do not have any empirical evidence or data to critically evaluate the time we spent. Budgeting the time can be done using it A,B,C basket.
A – important and urgent tasks. Priority jobs to be done in our prime time.
B – Important but not urgent tasks. Can wait a little longer. Second in our priority list.
C – Unimportant and not urgent tasks. Can we delegated to others or need not be done
The purpose and need of each task as perceived by each person and expected by others should be taken into consideration before allocating tasks into each basket.
The daily forecasting, analyzing and budgeting will help us to learn more about the types of jobs which take more time and time wasters. It is interesting to note that over a period, the person who does this exercise can clearly indicate how much each task will take, even if it performed by another person. This skill can help a manager to find out how effective his /her subordinates are and help them to be more effective.
Having an awareness or the real concept of time, and a clear career and organisational objective during the process of planning and decision making helps an executive to cope with tough situations of today’s business world.
Remember that what we are today is the result of our past activities. i.e. how we had spent our time TILL NOW; and what we will be tomorrow will depend on how well we utilise our TIME NOW. The ‘simplest’ method to initiate is to make ‘time management’ an integral part of every moment of your life. The time lost is lost forever, but the time of tomorrow is still with us – manage it effectively.
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