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Time Management

Introduction

 (^) It is rightly said “Time and Tide wait for none”.  (^) An individual should understand the value of time for him to succeed in all aspects of life.  (^) People who waste time are the ones who fail to create an identity of their own.

Contd..

• The art of arranging, organizing, scheduling and budgeting ones time for the purpose of generating more effective work and productivity is known as time management.
• It involves exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities with the focus to increase effectiveness, efficiency and productivity.

Cont. …

 (^) Effective time management allows individuals to assign specific time to activities as per their importance.

• (^) Ask yourself “which activity is more important? How much time should be allocated to?”
• (^) Know which work should be done earlier and which can be done a little later.  (^) Time Management plays a very important role, not only in organizations, but also in our personal lives.

Things to keep in mind

Being busy and productive is not the same. If you are occupied doing things that do not contribute to your goals , you are busy. However if you are occupied doing tasks that contribute to your goal, you are productive. Time management aims to help you be more productive – achieve maximum results with the available time.

Time Management Includes

 (^) Be aware or Your Time.  (^) Being aware of your Time Wasters  (^) Being aware of your Priorities  (^) Self Management.  (^) Management of your Personal Resources.  (^) Goal Setting and Measuring Achievement  (^) Planning.

1- Effective Planning

 (^) Failing to plan is planning to fail.  (^) Plan your day well in advance.

1. Prepare a To Do List or a “TASK PLAN”.
2. Order activities according to their priority.
3. Allocate suitable time to each activity.  (^) Complete pending tasks one by one.

• Do not begin fresh work unless you have finished your previous task.  (^) Tick the ones you have already completed.  (^) Ensure you finish tasks within the stipulated time frame.

Planning Contd..

• (^) A plan is a road map set in real time to reach an objective through the use of defined resources.
• (^) To begin the planning process you need to identify your goals. Without a clear direction your everyday life will feel like an aimless journey. A purpose will relieve you of activities that are not essential.
• (^) The goals can be : Strategic Goals – long term goals that require more than 3 years to complete Tactical Goals – medium term goals that require 3 -12 months to complete Operational Goals – short term goals defining exact actions to be taken. Their span may range from a few hours to a few days

The Urgent and Important Tasks

For effective planning you need to understand the difference between ‘Urgent’ and ‘Importance’

• (^) Urgent task demand immediate attention. However just because a task is urgent , it does not automatically become important as it may not directly impact your goals.
• (^) Important tasks are those that directly impact your goals. However they may not require immediate attention. However important task can become urgent if left undone The Urgent-Important matrix helps you get over the habit of focusing on urgent activities irrespective of whether they are important or not. It helps you keep enough time for what is really important.

Using the Urgent Importance Matrix

1

• (^) List down all the activities and projects that you feel you have to do 2
• (^) Make sure that you include all the tasks that take up your time at work, even if you feel that the task is unimportant 3
• (^) Now use a scale of 1- 5 to assign importance to each activity, 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest 4
• (^) To identify if the task is important or not – analyze if the task helps you achieve your goals 5
• (^) Next determine the urgency of each activity, after you have assigned importance to the activity 6
• (^) As per the assigned importance and urgency, see where the task falls in the importance – urgency matrix. Schedule your tasks by assigning strategies for each quadrant

Planning and Urgent Important Matrix

Q1-Keep few tasks here, finish such tasks as soon as possible Q2-Spend most time here as these tasks greatly contribute to yours goals and you have enough time to do them well. Q3-spend some time here but not a lot as these tasks ask for immediate attention but do not contribute directly to your goals. Q4-Avoid such tasks as far as possible as they simply take away your time and energy from task that actually work towards your goals. Important Not- Important Not Urgent Urgent

ORGANIZING AND SCHEDULING

Organizing And Scheduling

• (^) Initially planning may seem hard but with practice it becomes easier
• (^) There are a few considerations you need to keep in mind when developing a schedule. Ask yourself the following questions:

1. What are the goals I have set for myself?
2. What approach do I need to adapt to reach these goals?
3. What tasks are more important than the others?
4. How much time will each task require?
5. What time of my day is best suited to do each activity?
6. What provisions do I need to keep my schedule flexible to allow for unexpected things?

Action Priority Matrix