TIME MANAGEMENT

Time and Money

Money and time are same except that money spent once can come back again but
time will never.
Money is the tangible element of one of the most important aspects of ‘Making a
living’.
Time is the intangible element of one of the most important aspects of ‘How to live
life’ effectively.

Learning to “How to live an effective life” is as important as learning how to

“Make a living”.

Why is Time management important?

1. Bad time management results in Stress. Stress results in all types of

problems like, psychological, physical, emotional and health related.
2. Managing time is more relevant today than any time earlier what with all the
distractions in todays hi-tech world.
3. Almost all are suffering from what is called as ‘Time Famine’. Mis-
management of time often results in, ‘I have so much to do but there is no time’
problem. That is ‘Time famine’. You want to do so many things but end up giving
them up due to shortage of time.

Effective Time management

Effective time management involves managing five areas of our daily activities;

1 Setting Goals: short, medium & long.

2. Scheduling.
3. Prioritisation.
4. Managing interruptions.
5. Procrastination.

Setting Goals

For managing your time effectively, set goals that are:

1.Immediate in nature: To be achieved the same day.
2.Short time goals: To be achieved within a few days.
3.Mid term goals: To be achieved within few months.
4.Long term goals: To be achieved within few years.

And to achieve your goals, make sure they meet the “SMART” criteria:

S - Specific: One should be able to specify as clearly as possible what their goal is.
M - Measurable: Once a goal is specified, one should know how to measure the
incremental steps one needs to take to reach that goal.
A - Achievable: How to achieve that goal by allotting a regular space in terms of
time is needed to be set up.
R - Realistic: To make it more realistic, one needs to actually allot time in terms of
hours, days, weeks, etc depending upon whether the goal in short term or long
term.
T - Time bound: The ultimate time, in terms of date, month and/or year by which a
goal is to be realised is to be clearly set.

Scheduling

The Importance of Scheduling

Scheduling is the art of planning your activities so that you can achieve your goals
and priorities in the time you have available. Time is the one resource that we can't
buy, but we often waste it or use it ineffectively. Scheduling helps you think about
what you want to achieve in a day, week or month, and it keeps you on track to
accomplish your goals.
Scheduling is the process by which you plan how you'll use your time. Doing it well
can maximize your effectiveness and reduce your stress levels.
Follow this six-step process to prepare your schedule:

Step 1: Identify Available Time - Identify the time you have available.
Step 2: Schedule Essential Actions - Block in the essential tasks you must carry
out to succeed in your job.
Step 3: Schedule High-Priority Activities - Schedule high-priority urgent tasks
and vital "housekeeping" activities.
Step 4: Schedule Contingency Time - Block in appropriate contingency time to
handle unpredictable events and interruptions.
Step 5: Schedule Discretionary Time - Schedule the activities that address your
priorities and personal goals in the time that remains.
Step 6: Analyze Your Activities - Analyze your activities to identify tasks that can
be delegated, outsourced or cut altogether.

Prioritisation

Prioritising your activities involves in identifying and placing your activities and tasks
as per their Importance and Urgency. So, tasks are to fall in one of the following
criteria:
1.Important & Urgent.
2. Important & Not Urgent.
3.Not Important but Urgent.
4.Not Important & Not Urgent.

Place all activities or to-do list in one of the following four quadrants as per their
Importance and Urgency:
Managing Interruptions

Every interruption eats away 6-9 minutes plus 4-5 minutes of recovery. Five such
interruptions kills one hour. Managing interruption involves:

1.Reduce the frequency and length of interruptions (like convert phone calls
into messaging or forms of short conversations).
2.Tu
PRIORITISING TO-DO LIST AS PER IMPORTANCE &
URGENCY

URGENT NOT- URGENT

I
M
P I II
O
R IMPORTANT BUT NOT
T IMPORTANT AND
A URGENT URGENT
N
T

N
O
T
-
I III IV
M
P
O NOT IMPORTANT BUT NOT IMPORTANT AND
R URGENT NOT URGENT
T
A
N
T
• rn-off sounds of apps including phones that distract while you are your
important activities.Learn to say ‘No’. One of the biggest culprits of
interruptions are the ones which cannot be turned down. Not knowing how to
say NO is one of the worst killers of time.

Procrastination - Over-coming

“Procrastination is the thief of time” and will always remain so. And most people are
easy victims to this ‘thief of time’. Few methods to overcome procrastination is:
• Be in Action. Always prepare your mind to be in action rather than give it time to
decide what to do when you are required to Act.
• First step towards doing anything is to start doing it. Then start working on
planning how to do it. For eg; if you want to study. First step is to sit and open a
book. Then plan what to and how to. If you start thinking first before acting upon
the thought of studying, you will either delay the action or will not act at all.
• Beware of your mind taking over you. For eg; when your Mother wakes you up in
the morning, if you succumb to your mind, it will always try to buy more time (5
 more minutes, please). Instead just wake-up otherwise your mind will ensure that
those 5 minutes prolong to 20 minutes.
• Learn to say “No” to yourself as well as others when it comes to distractions.
• Establish deadlines and stick to them, come what may.
• One of the most important element helping in Procrastination is “Comfort Zones”:
• Identify why you aren’t enthusiastic about your activity and straight away
work on it.
• Fear of embarrassment or failure is something which will keep you in
Comfort Zones and prevent you from acting. Get over them by simply acting.

Finally,

“Let not they winged days be spent in one vain,

for no gold can buy them back again”.