Time Management Skills

Time is a period during which an action, process or condition exists or continues.Time is a scarce resource(‘time is gold’). It is more valuable than money as money can be earned (‘time is money’). Time is fixed and we cannot change it. Every human being on earth has same amount of time -60 seconds in a minute; 60 minutes in an hour; 1,440 minutes in a day and 525,600 minutes in a year. You can't recycle wasted time. Managing time is like managing one's life. Achieving personal success requires efficient and productive use of time. Time management is the method that is used to organize one's time. Crucial to time management is an understanding of the difference between efficiency and effectiveness. Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things - in order to produce results.Time management is a skill that can be learned, practiced and mastered with determination and repetition. People who manage their time effectively have learned to structure their lives.Time Management involves knowing our goals, deciding on our priorities, anticipating future needs and making possible changes. It is all about controlling our life by controlling our time. It is about making commitment to be punctual without procrastinating. We must carry out our plans as per our schedule.

Definitions

Time management (TM) can be defined as the ability to prioritize, schedule and execute one’s daily responsibilities to a level of personal satisfaction. 

Time management (TM) is a set of principles, practices, skills, tools and systems working together to get more value out of our time with the aim of improving the quality of our life.

Pickle jar theory of time management 

We need to prioritize our activities and recognize our ‘big rocks’. We need to allot time in accordance with the priority. Big rocks are things of first importance which takes more time. Smaller rocks are urgent things but not so important. Sand goes in on top of the smaller rocks and creeps all around the big rocks i.e., activities thrust upon us from all directions and which cause a lot of upsets.

The Eisenhower decision matrix

The Eisenhower matrix is one of the simplest prioritization frameworks that categorize tasks either important and/or urgent. This quadrant was proposed by U S president Dwight D.Eisenhower. It is based on the principle of “what is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.” Based on this, a task would end up in one of the four categories measured in two distinct dimensions: Urgent/Not urgent or Important/Not important. Urgent means that a task requires immediate attention. Important tasks are tasks that contribute to our long-term mission, values and goals. Priority 1 tasks are tasks that are both urgent and important. These tasks need to be addressed personally and immediately. Priority 2 tasks are tasks that are important but not urgent. These tasks need to be addressed personally but not immediately so they need to have a planned date. Priority 3 tasks are tasks that are urgent but not important so they require immediate attention, but necessarily by you. Priority 4 tasks are tasks that are neither urgent nor important so they are mostly a waste of time. Always use the Eisenhower method, when adding tasks to your to do list. Always ask yourself whether it is important and whether it is urgent. In general, you can make a goal of spending at least 80% of your time in the ‘Not urgent and important’ quadrant. The other 20% will be divided between ‘Urgent and important’ and ‘urgent and not important.’

The 80/20 rule of time management

Italian Economist Vilfredo Pareto observed in 1906 that 80% of wealth in Italy was controlled by 20% of the Italian population. The 80/20 rule or Pareto principle works everywhere in life.The 80/20 rule says that 80% of what a person achieves is derived from 20% of the time the person expends.Every time more with less is possible, provided that we identify the golden 20%: the people, methods, time and methods that are extremely creative and productive. we devote 20% of our time to activity that is central to our aims and 80% on activity that is of marginal importance.

Elements of good time management

Macan(1994) identified three elements of time management (1) setting goals and priorities (2) mechanics (i.e. making to-do lists and scheduling) and preference for organization(i.e. one’s preference for organization in his/ her work space and approach to tasks or projects).Time management generally involves a five step process: setting priorities, analyzing, filtering, scheduling and executing.

Prioritize your time – Planning better defines the course of action that we propose to undertake. Our current choices actually reflect our responsibilities. We must clarify what is of greatest importance to our work/ life.

ABC priority system - Section A :items that need to be done that day; Section B : items that need completion within the week, and Section C : items that need to be done within a month. B and C items move up to the A or B lists as they become more pertinent.
Analyse your time use – we must find our biological prime  time.  We must defend it ruthlessly and spend it usefully. We must also find our dead time. We must schedule our timings based on our good and bad times.

Organize your time - Time is an equal opportunity resource: everyone gets 168 hours per week. Time is elusive and easy to ignore. Time is a non-renewable resource.Time seems to pass at varying speeds.

Schedule you time – Scheduling activities consists of allocating time to activities. “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” We must plan for each day, each week and each semester. We can always change your plan, but only once you have one! Activities should be grouped by topics.

The three-part scheduling plan 

• The master schedule 
• The weekly schedule 
• The daily schedule

Using a Daily Planner

• Complete a term assignment preview.
• Use a “week at a glance” organizer.
• Enter in due dates and social events as soon as you can.
• Review your calendar daily for the current week and upcoming week
• It just takes a moment to review your calendar and it can help relieve stress.

Executing the plan
Execution is the implementation of an established schedule. Sticking to a schedule provides greater control,saves time, provides freedom and increases flexibility.It makes tasks more manageable and helps us to work at peak efficiency.

Symptoms of Poor Time Management

Poor time management affects every part of our life from work to relationships. Symptoms or signs of poor time management are the following:

• A lack of achievement.
• Always missing deadlines 
• More time spent socializing at work.
• More time on the telephone.
• Indecisiveness leading to delayed work.
• Constantly interrupting others and being interrupted.

Barriers to good time management

Some of the barriers to good time management are the following: keeping too many things in our head; attempting to do “too much”;doing whatever grabs our attention next; not spending enough time on our top priorities; poor Planning; working in a disorganized and distracting environment; always saying “YES”; not managing our inflows and confusing activity with productivity.

Time Management Tips

Two main ways to control time - saving the time and allocating it  as per schedule.

• Learn to say NO assertively.
• Plan for change; it’s inevitable.
• Finish fully; it’s energizing and  motivating.

Time robbers/time stealers

Time robbers are behaviors that steal your valuable time away from responsibilities that really need attention. Time robbers can be persons or things that literally suck the energy out of your life. It includes telephone calls, poor planning, attempting to do too much, drop- in visitors, poor delegation, personal disorganization, lack of self discipline, can’t say ‘no’ and procrastination.

Benefits of good time management

The benefits of effective time management are numerous. With good time management skills one is in control of one’s time, stress and energy levels. One can maintain balance between one’s work and personal life. Good time management improves the quality of one’s life. You will get more time for making progress or enjoying life. Good time management boosts an individual’s self-esteem and self-confidence. Good time management makes an individual punctual and disciplined. Time management is the key to better productivity and job performance. Time management helps an individual less prone to stress and anxiety. With effective time management, you can save your health.

Concluding thoughts

Using Time to our benefit can create a sense of satisfaction and can help us to balance our work. Spending one minute planning saves four or five minutes in getting a task done. It can reduce stress and improve our health and  our career.

Quotes for reflection

"Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and 
  only you can determine how it will be spent. 
  Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you."
                                                                         - Carl Sandburg.
"Time is what prevents everything from happening at once." -John Archibald Wheeler.

"Time is the longest distance between two places." - Tennessee Williams.

"Time is at once the most valuable and the most perishable of all our possessions."
  -John Randolph.

"Lost time is never found again." -Proverb.

"To choose time is to save time." -Francis Bacon.

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." 

  -ECCLESIASTES 3:1