Time management has been a frequently heard word in this busy world. You can see thousands of salesmen or business managers trying to manage their time effectively. Time Management is included as one of the subjects in management studies and they do many experiments to manage the time effectively. They have a separate session for that. So if you ask the people how to manage the time, the answer will be so simple.
"Plan and note down your daily activities, allocate them the time slots, and complete the activities according to the schedule."
Can you guess how many of them succeeded with the above answers; the percentage of success will be very much less. The reason behind this problem is that they never do self assessment and they jump directly into the work instead of allocating the time for it.
First of all people do not understand themselves; without knowing that they plan the activities and they doesn't achieve their objectives.
To Know Yourself - Self Assessment Required
A few things that could help you to identify yourself are mentioned below. So start by listing out those and then you can automatically utilize the time very effectively.
- List out your Strengths
- List out your weakness
- List out your goal
- Identify your Time Killers
- List out what have you done yesterday - to know where the time is mostly spent
The preceding five key things help you to identify yourself. That should be your first step towards the effective use of time.
No one can manage time
It's absolutely true that no one can manage time.
For example, just say you have Available hour in one hand and Productive hour in another hand. Here the productive hour is the key thing and not the available hour. We can simply say such as below:
"Number of output per hour" does the matter, that's the actual time management and not simply allocating the time for an activity.
Basement for Effective use of Time
First your body and mind should be capable of doing any kind of activities. That's the main thing before doing anything. If your body and mind is not fit, then there is no use in following any kind of time management principles.
Just consider if you are getting sick frequently, your time will be mostly spent in hospitals. So first take care of your health and mind. Below are the two basic things that makes you fit and healthy.
- Sleep well - That's the first task that everybody should do to reduce their stress.
- Exercise regularly and have a healthy diet - keep your body always fit, that itself provides you the way to complete the task easily
How to make effective use of Time?
- Plan each day - this will reduce the last minute rush to complete an activity
- Prioritize your activities - put the most important task on the top of the list, because some unimportant task will take much more time to complete that may lead to huge hectic.
- Take break whenever required - that makes you not get bored of any kind of activities
Time Management Matrix
The above diagram shows you how to prioritize your activities based on the urgency and importance of that task. There are only four possibilities to decide which task to take first.
- Urgent and Important
- Not Urgent and Important
- Urgent and Not Important
- Not Urgent and Not Important
Enjoy each and every moment in doing any kind of activities, that itself leads to a happier life.