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Time Management at
its Best
Does your typical day goes something like this: Get the kids ready for
school. Supervise the maid. Rush to work for a debriefing by your manager.
Rush through the grocery store. Pick up your children. Reach home and
start planning on dinner. Help the kids with their homework. Put them to
bed. And finally have time for yourself.
Sound exhausting? Sound
familiar? If this sounds like you, there is probably a lot of unnecessary
stress in your life. Therefore, managing time is very important. The
following tips for time management should be of help:
Tip 1: Prioritize
Your Tasks
The key here is to remain focused on important tasks and small jobs that
must get done to prevent overlooking anything. One of the best ways to
prioritize is create a "to-do list. First, list all the tasks that need to
be accomplished, and to be most efficient, rank them in order of
importance. Keep the list realistic. If the list is too long it will
become discouraging at the start of the day itself.
Tip 2: Get the Job
Done Right the First Time
The key to avoiding mistakes is acknowledging the problems that cause the
mistakes and then correcting the problems and determining what “to do” or
“not to do” to prevent them from reoccurring. You should be able to detect
a pattern of mistakes and find a simple solution to the problem. Doing a
task in hurry in a quality less way will any way result in you working on
the task all over again, so why not do it right in the first time itself?
Tip 3: Do Not Waste Time
When you do not fully understand the purpose of your role, a lot of time
is spent questioning. This can result in tasks being done incorrectly,
which wastes time. You will work more efficiently if you understand the
importance of the task and your role in it.
Tip 4: Delegate Tasks
Because effective time management is the goal, delegating should be a tool
in your time management tool kit. While delegating tasks may not actually
save time, its real purpose is to give tasks to the appropriate people.
When the need arises, it is also useful to "swap" or assign certain tasks
to specific people who would be in a better position than you to carry out
the task. For eg: If you like driving the car then maybe your husband can
do the dishes at home.
Tip 5: Reward Yourself
The first thing you need to do is decide upon your goal. Let's say that
it's to reach your work place on time. Now, you'll simply need to put
yourself on a reward/punishment program and stick to it! If you accomplish
the goal, take yourself out for pizza, or give yourself some other treat.
But, if you don't, you should take away something of importance-like that
extra cup of coffee in the morning, or that dessert at lunch to feel the
consequences of not following through. If you truly want to stop shunning
work and learn to manage your time better, you should seriously consider
doing something about it, because if you don't, the behavior will only
continue.
Focusing on these common areas of managing time should reduce the amount
of time spent on each task. The problem of time management has worsened
with corporate down-sizing. Employers are running leaner and meaner
organizations in which three people are being asked to do what six used to
do. Given the huge numbers of employees caring for children or aging
parents, the idea of time management has expanded beyond managing just
workplace tasks. As a result, more individuals require time management
training in hopes that time management skills can help keep fast-paced,
multi-taskers on track, and even improve the quality of their lives and
work. You will be surprised how "values" trump "excuses" and how knowing
yours will help you take back the driver's wheel of your life .
"Good time management skills focus as much on achieving quality as they do
on the time saved".
Writer: Deepika Sunny |
