Time… is a Fact not the Gossip
Time! It can be our worst enemy or our best friend depending on how well we manage it. The successful person sees it as a precious asset.
We all get the same allotment of 24 hours each day. For the disorganized, who squander their time, it is an enemy. But for those who know how to marshal their time and use it to their advantage, it is a good friend. It enables them to run along at a comfortable pace all the days and still accomplish more than the rest of the world.
For every individual, time management is not just a nice idea. It is the cornerstone upon which our long-term success depends. Effective time management, self-management really, helps us to build future better, stronger and faster.
To improve both the quality and the quantity of the time available to us on each working day, it is suggested to follow the general guidelines.
- Do a "time audit." Record how we utilize a typical workday, using 30-minute intervals. This will help us identify time wasters.
- Establish priorities and measurable goals. If we don't know what we want to achieve, then it doesn't matter what we do to achieve it. Without priorities and goals, almost every action is a time waster.
- Eliminate busy work. These are tasks we simply don't need to do things that do not lead either directly or indirectly to our work requirement. Look for ways to cut unnecessary steps out of work routines. Working rule: If it isn't important, don't do it. Every action during work time should be goal-directed - whether it's a phone call to a supplier, business meeting, or a table tennis game. If it's not, stop doing it.
- Invest in daily planning. Fifteen minutes of mapping out tasks on a daily "To Do" list can save hours of wasted time. Planning empowers us to move systematically through the important tasks of the day without wondering what to do next. Suggestion: Leave some time to handle the unexpected. Otherwise, we'll end up playing a frantic game of catch-up day after day.
- Delegate! Delegate whatever we can, not simply what we must. Not only have we more time for things that only we can handle, but our output increases as well.
- Live in two distinct worlds. When we work, focus all our attention on the work; maintain a strong, demanding pace. When we break from work, break completely. This will improve the quality of both our work time and our personal time.
Add time to our day by cutting out time wasters. There are plenty of places to find positive minutes without impacting our personal time.
We don't have to become a time management expert to capitalize on the benefits of more effective use of our time. But let us keep in mind that, better we become at organizing our time, the more we achieve in our profession that leads to productive and profitable work.
Recall the following phrases generally used to realize the value of TIME:
- To realize the value of ONE YEAR ask a student who has failed his exam.
- To realize the value of ONE MONTH ask a mother who has given birth to a pre-mature baby.
- To realize the value of ONE WEEK ask an editor of a weekly.
- To realize the value of ONE DAY ask a daily wage labor.
- To realize the value of ONE HOUR ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.
- To realize the value of ONE MINUTE ask a person who has missed the train.
- To realize the value of ONE SECOND ask a person who has survived an accident.
- To realize the value of ONE MILLI-SECOND ask the person who has won a silver medal in the Olympics.
But, we won’t add the following to realize the value of TIME.
- To realize the value of ONE MORE DAY ask the person whose work is pending on the due day of the assignment.
