|
It is important to plan your day as well as the various ways in which
you can schedule and prioritize your tasks. Following will show you how
you can assume control of this basic resource.
Time Management Tools and Methods
Most people tend to
be activity oriented rather than result oriented. Consequently they
spend their days in a flurry of activity with little or nothing to show
for it. They are spending quality time on inconsequential activities
that are not important or that could have been achieved by someone else.
The Pareto Principle
or the 80:20 rule typically states that most people spend 80% of their
time on activities that accomplish only 20% of the results. The
remaining 80% of their results are achieved by the 20% of the effort
that they put in.
You can avoid
spending a huge chunk of your time on unproductive activities by using
the simple time management tools and methods explained below:
Assume Control of Your Time
Sheetal is a manager
at an MNC. She is very fastidious about the manner in which she spends
company money. She keeps an exact account of every rupee that is spent
and is careful about the use of resources such as paper and electricity.
She encourages her subordinates to do the same. However, Sheetal is not
as careful about the way in which she spends one of the primary
resources of her company — time. Consequently, she often faces last
minute pressure to meet deadlines, finds that her meetings are
frequently unproductive, and faces days in which she does not achieve
much. This results in a tremendous amount of stress.
Sheetal obviously
suffers from poor personal time management and needs to schedule a
review of the way in which she allocates her time.
So let us equip
Sheetal with a few simple time management tools and methods that will
help her increase her efficiency and productivity at the workplace.
These tools and methods have been listed below:
Ø
Eliminate waste
Ø
Delegate
Ø
Help others prudently
Ø
Maintain an appointment diary
Ø
Monitor subordinates
Ø
Allocate time for long-term objectives and goals
Ø
Cost your time
Ø
Your work priorities
Ø
Maintain to do lists
Ø
Set goals
Eliminate waste
The first step in
organizing your time is to examine your time log critically. Identify
those periods of time that could have been better spent. For instance
you may have spent half an hour conversing with a friend over tea or you
may have dropped into a colleague’s cabin to casually converse about
something. All these activities are obvious time wasters. This is not to
say that they should be avoided altogether. After all one can’t be
expected to work 8 hours a day without a break. However you should be
careful about the amount of time you spend on these activities. You
should also ensure that you do not allow these time wasters to prevent
you from meeting your deadlines.
Apart from these
obvious time wasters there may be other work related areas where you may
be wasting your time. Carefully examine your work log and see how much
time you have spent on each task. Now ask yourself if the time spent was
proportionate to the magnitude and importance of the task. For instance
if you spent an entire morning perfecting a letter that you are writing
to your client, that is a waste of time. Ideally you should decide
beforehand how much time you should allocate to a particular task and
work towards achieving the deadline you have set yourself.
Delegate
Very often you may
feel that it is simpler to do a task yourself. You may feel that it is
faster or more efficient to do so. However certain tasks are best
allocated to someone else. Successful managers are those who know how to
delegate a task and to whom. If you allow yourself to be bogged down by
trivial tasks that can easily be performed by other people you will find
that you do not have the time to accomplish more important things that
need to get done and that only you can do.
Help others prudently
At the workplace you
may find that your colleagues often approach you for help. They may
request you to assist them in performing a certain task. While it is
desirable to help your peers you should do so keeping your own schedule
in mind. Carefully think over how much time you can spare and ensure
that time spent in helping others does not mean that you are unable to
meet your own deadlines.
Maintain an appointment diary
An appointment diary
is an important tool that will help you maintain control over your time.
Use it to list all your appointments for the next few weeks. List
even the things that you remember and do on a regular basis.
Appointments constitute your interactions with other people. Now
scrutinize your appointments and see which ones are unproductive or a
waste of time. Cancel these appointments or if possible delegate someone
else to keep them. Now note the time you are likely to spend on each
appointment. Check if there are any areas where you can cut down on
time. For instance a protracted lunch meeting with a client may not be
necessary. You may be able to accomplish the same amount of work through
a telephone call.
Maintain a to do list
A to do list is a
list of tasks that you need to perform. This is an extremely important
time management tool. Such a list helps you consolidate all your tasks
in a single place so that you can prioritize them. This helps you to
separate the important jobs from the trivial ones and tackle the
important ones first.
Monitor subordinates
Agree on a task
delivery date with the person you assign the task to. Make a note of
this date in your diary. Then follow up regularly to ensure that the
tasks are being executed as per the scheduled deadlines. This allows you
to monitor the progress of the task and to initiate action if required.
Cost your time
Very often it helps
to put something as intangible as time in terms of a tangible commodity
such as money. This is something that most people neglect to do. It is a
major reason why people are prey to the Pareto Principle that we spoke
about earlier. You should make an estimate of how much your time is
worth.
If you are employed
in an organization, calculate your total salary, the taxes you pay, the
approximate worth of the equipment you use, and your expenses. If you
are self-employed calculate the annual running cost of your business and
the profit you generate by your activity. Then calculate the number of
hours you work per day and from the figures generated you can work out
an hourly rate. This will give you a reasonable estimate of how much
your time is worth.
Calculating how much
your time is worth will help you to work out whether it is worth taking
on certain jobs. Ensure that you are not spending a lot of time on
low-yield jobs. If you are then consider alternatives such as hiring an
assistant.
Your work priorities
In order to be
effective you need to ensure that you get your work priorities in order.
You can set your work priorities by following the three steps given
below:
Concentrate on what
you enjoy: You should ensure that you enjoy your work and it is not a
tedious or monotonous chore that you are performing for the sake of
performing. This is important, as you are more likely to be effective at
your job if you love it instead of hating it.
Analyze your
strengths and weaknesses: Find out what you are good at and where your
weaknesses lie. This analysis will help you to maximize your strengths,
minimize your weaknesses, and move in the right direction.
Clarify your job
description: Spend time with your employer in clarifying what exactly
you are expected to do and the role you are expected to play in your
organization. This will help you to concentrate on those areas that are
important to your employer.
Set goals
Goal setting is an
important practice that all professionals should follow. Goal setting
will clarify what you want to achieve in life. The progress you make in
achieving your goals will give you the confidence to achieve higher and
more difficult goals as you move on in life. Goals may be short-term or
long-term. You can set goals in various areas such as:
Artistic: do you want
to achieve any artistic goals? What are they?
Attitudinal: Is there
any part of your attitude or mindset that is holding you back? If so,
set goals to improve or change your mindset.
Career: What level do
you want to reach in your career?
Educational: Is there
any knowledge you want to acquire? Do you want to add to your current
qualifications?
Familial: What are
your goals in this area?
Financial: How much
money do you want to earn and by which stage in life do you want to do
this?
Physical: Are there
any athletic goals that you want to achieve? Perhaps there is some sport
you want to learn?
Public service: Do
you want to make the world a better place? If so, how? Are there any
community service activities that you want to participate in?
Once you set your
goals you should allocate time-frames to achieve them. Ensure that you
lay aside a certain amount of time for achieving your goals.
Periodically review your goals and the progress you have made in
achieving them.
Allocate time for long-term objectives
and goals
Very often you may
get so caught up in performing your regular tasks that you fail to allot
time to accomplish your long-term goals and objectives. Long-term goals,
while being important, are sometimes not urgent as smaller day-to-day
tasks. Hence we tend to put off spending time on them. However with
effective time management you can plan and schedule a certain amount of
time every week for accomplishing your long-term goals and objectives.
How will time management help you?
It will help you to
Ø
Be prepared for meetings
Ø
Monitor task and project progress
Ø
Plan each day/week efficiently
Ø
Allocate resources according to the task’s importance
Ø
Ensure that long-term projects/goals are not neglected
Ø
Take on a workload proportionate to the time at your disposal
|
