Time Management Skills

“We all have time to either spend or waste and it is our decision what to do with it. But once passed, it is gone forever.”- Bruce Lee in “Zen in the Martial Arts”. It is a common practice to equate time with money. A lot of the fortunate ones in today’s world have all the money in the world but even these people are hard pressed when it comes to time. We all have just a limited time in this lifetime; reincarnation does not count since we are different persons with different responsibilities by our next birth. Time management skills comes into play very early in our lives; it starts from trying to avoid cramming last minute for exams, finishing assignments and projects, to planning future so as to find a place in the eternal rat race – everything requires efficient time management. Read the next section to know more about this crucial attribute called time management.

Prepare and plan your day’s work. It is important to take note of the fact that a day’s work must be planned – a week or a month ahead of planning is not always the key. You could include important meetings and events in your planner but your first priority must be to plan the day’s work. Prepare a to-do list. Prioritise your work simultaneously. Allot a particular time period to each work. And be practical and logical while you are planning and prioritising.

Do not try to be the jack of all trades and wear too many hats at a time. It will only successfully distract you. Save your concentration and focus on your top-most priority.

It is very important to file your important documents and remove the clutter from your work station. A pause in the middle of the work to find the missing pencil or the crucial legal paper is not happening and highly undesirable.

 

Use your time effectively by giving your attention to important things which will propel you towards your goal/s. Urgent things are usually stuff that is another person’s headache and are the squeaky wheels that get the attention since they are annoying and make too much noise. In the long run, help yourself first and take care of yourself.

When you sit down to plan your day’s work, it is very important to include some time for relaxation and distressing. Survey shows that when an individual is happy and has an active social life, he/she is better inclined to perform well.

Punctuality, distractions and lack of focus are all problems that even the best amongst us have to deal with at one point or the other. Identifying the above problems is a step towards progress. There is something called as the 80:20 rule which says that 80% of unfocussed work leads to the completion of only 20% of the work. And the rest 80% of the result is obtained if we are able to give only 20% of focussed attention to our work.

Last, but not the least, tip for effective time management skill is to visualise where you want to see yourself in the distant future. Very few among us can work without inspiration. Shun those who blabber and annoy and find your inspiration and passion for the work that you see yourself doing.

 

No matter how much you manage your time and follow the time table by word of rote, the bottom line however is to enjoy the work that you are doing. Finding yourself something that you are passionate about is the best gift that you can give yourself. Work ceases to be work if that happens to be the case!