Time Management - A big challenge

 

The situation I have always found 'interestingly funny" is that when i prioritize something, there is something else that comes up which needs to be accomplished before 'that priority'. The check list is supposed to be A which is most important, then B followed by C and so on. But actually it looks like A which is most important, before that B needs to be done, but C is an emergency and needs to be accomplished before anything else ...

It seems that there is never enough time in the day. But, since we all get the same 24 hours, why is it that some people achieve so much more with their time than others? The answer I think lies in good time management.

Let's dedicate some of our precious time in understanding time management. 

Definition

Time management is the act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activites, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity.
 
Factors that we need to be kept under consideration:

1. Prioritize - This can be further classified into 3 categories:

P1 - Tasks that are perceived as being urgent and important

P2 - Tasks that are important but not urgent 

P3 - Tasks that are neither urgent nor important. 

80-20 rule

One aspect that needs to be factored in is goal setting along with time allocation. After setting a goal and time, the task may be divided into two parts. We can call this 80-20 rule. The idea is to complete 80% of the task in 20% of the  time. The remaining 20% of tasks will take up 80% of the time. It is assumed that 80% of the productivity can be achieved by doing 20% of the tasks that are urgent. Similarly, 80% of results can be attributed to 20% of the activity.

Priority Quadrant

There are primarily two kinds of tasks: Urgent and Important. The same can be structured in into quadrants given below 

	Urgent	Not so Urgent
Important	Immediately and personally	Do personally and set a deadline
Not so important	Dedicate if possible	Can be dropped

 

2. Organize

First and foremost is the age old technique of 'check list' or 'to do list' or 'things to do' or 'task list' or by whatever name we want to call it. It is an inventory tool which serves as an alternative or supplement to memory. This is used by default while managing any business. 

There are web based apps freely available that are replacing the traditional pen, pencil, notepad tools. However there are dos and don'ts while working on task list:

• Map out everything that is important by making task list
• Create "an oasis of time" for one to control
• Say 'No"
• Set priorities
• Don't drop everything
• Don't think a critical task will get done in one's spare time

Interestingly, we will also find an estimated 30% of the task managers spending more time managing their lists than actually completing what on them. This needs to be avoided strictly.