Time Management
Today, in this busy world one of the most important and useful skill to learn is time management. In every walk of life time management plays a vital role to achieve success. Without effective time management lots of our efforts get wasted. Now the question here is, what is time management? Why it is beneficial to learn effective management of time and what need to be done to do good time management.
What is Time Management?
Time Management is the ability to plan, organize and accomplish tasks in a timely manner. It means to streamline your activities in such a way to achieve more in less time. Managing time is actually managing your life. Time management is a skill to give opportunity to excel in life and to be more productive human beings.
Importance of Time Management
Time Management is a soft skill that need to be acquired by all. Whether an employee, a house wife, a student, a teacher or any life phase, the importance of proper time management is equal in personal and professional life. Practicing efficient time management results in more productivity, meeting deadlines, keeps stress free and excel in workplace. It not only increase the chance of promotion but also makes one vital part of work team.
Poor time management skills results in failing to achieve the goals in timely manner, which in turn leads to lose ones confidence and difficult to ascend in career.
Tips for Efficient Time Management
The following are the important tips to manage time effectively:
1. To-Do List:
Make a list of tasks need to be done, one day prior. In this way you can easily plan it throughout the day. For this purpose you can keep a diary or a notepad to jot down the tasks need to be completed and can keep track of your goal. Each check after completing a task gives a sense of achievement. This will keep the ball rolling on!
2. Plan Activities:
After putting down all your tasks in black and white, the next thing you have to do is plan all the activities. Planning is the most important step in achieving your target. A famous saying that shows the significance of planning:
“If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I will spend first four hours to sharpen the axe.” Abraham Lincoln
Planning means to analyse your tasks and gather all the necessary information in order to accomplish them. Time and resources that are available to do a particular work.
3. Prioritize:
Making a to-do list is not enough we need to prioritize the tasks. The tasks which are most important and urgent, the job which are important but have a longer time to complete, the task which are urgent but aren’t vital and the job that are neither significant nor urgent. In this way one will be able to clearly know in which order tasks need to completed. The tasks which aren’t important and urgent can be done some later time.
4. Allocate Time:
After listing and prioritizing tasks the next thing you have to do is to assign time limit in which the task need to be finished. This step is in fact, the part of planning. In planning we need to consider the available time in which the tasks have to be performed. Assigning too much or not enough time can affect the quality of work or ends up not achieving the deadline.
5. Clear Goals:
The ability to complete a job efficiently and timely one need to be clear about his objectives. One of the main reason of poor time management, is not to clear about the objectives and waste time in doing unnecessary work. One need to set achievable and measureable goals. The tasks which are big and complex need to be broken into smaller tasks in order to be completed easily.
6. 80–20 rule:
80–20 rule is one of the key technique in time management. It can simply be explained as 80% of our result depend on 20% of our efforts, and that 20% effort should only be relevant to task. For example, we browse so many apps for chatting on our smartphone in which we use only one or two ,so need to delete the unnecessary apps right way.
7. Take Breaks:
Long working hours affects our efficiency. It is necessary and important to take regular breaks during working hours in order to be on track. Taking a short walk and some stretch can boost our physical and mental strength. Staying hydrated and having a little chit chat during breaks takes off stress and helps in regain our work strength.
8. Keep Balance:
It is important to note we need to keep balance in life. As we all know work is important but if we not keep balance soon will feel stressed out. Life is very short so beside work we also need time to relax, in order to keep going and motivated. Don’t forget to treat yourself with your favourite pastime activities like listening to music, watching a movie, baking your favourite brownie or walk along a river side. Also rest and exercise makes healthy mind and body.
It is not important how much time we have, but how well we utilized the available time. In order to achieve maximum productivity, we need to learn and practise time management skills. To achieve our goals in life we need to stop wasting our time and focus on activities that bring success and happiness in life!
