Time Management Basics

Time Management at Work and in your Life

Everyone who works wishes there were more hours in the day, so that they could do their job right. But the secret of time management does not lie in working more hours. Instead you need to learn to use the time you already have more efficiently and effectively. After all we have 24 hours each day, 7 days a week that makes it 168 hours or 10080 minutes a week! But the hard fact is that these minutes are neither repeatable nor refundable and are totally inelastic. We often think that time management is about doing more things in less time. That is simply not going to happen. Time management is about doing the right things better. Time-Management shows you how to organize your valuable time to make sure the things you need to need to do, get done. It includes a number of proven and easy-to-use techniques.

You can manage your time well by learning to say “No.” Say no to things that you feel are not important or that will just kill your time. Remember we never kill time; it is the time that silently kills us if we do not make the optimum use of it. Actually thinking, time is an abstract. We cannot touch or feel it; it is intangible. We just know it exists and exists in a big way. So how can we manage something we cannot touch or feel? The answer lies in just one statement. Do not try to manage time because it can never be done. Manage yourself and your goal to manage time and use it effectively, will be achieved on its own. If you want to effectively manage your time forget about dwelling in past or thinking too hard for the future. Live in the present and live for it well. This is management in true sense. , because, with each success or laurel you achieve, your responsibilities increase and the demand to manage them well would also go up. Analysis is an important part of time-management. Analyze what is keeping you away from your goal of effectively utilizing this limited resource called time. Identify and learn to kill your time bandits and encourage the time-management tools. Generally, time-management refers to the development of processes and tools that increase efficiency and productivity. In business, time management has taken the shape of a complete phenomenon including everything from methodologies such as Enterprise Resource Planning through consultant services.Largely, time management is about managing personal time. It has more to do with managing our time to waste less time on doing the things we have to do so we have more time to do the things we want to do. However, another important aspect of time-management is managing time of those associated with us. Why should you waste your time waiting for others to accomplish their task? Nobody has the right to eat your share of this invaluable resource. Make your stand clear and be firm on not letting anybody waste your time. Delegate the work thoughtfully and if possible outsource it to an external but allied agency. This is what we call effective time management in true sense.

How do you manage your time is a personal discretion. However, there are a few broad techniques and tools, rather guiding principles that help you achieve the feat in a more satisfying manner. The guiding principles to effective time-management are:

* Goal Setting

* Planning

* Prioritizing

* Decision Making

* Delegating/ Outsourcing

* Scheduling/ Routine Setting

Remember that time is money. It is scarce, irreplaceable and inelastic so you must control it as you control your money. Remember, time is a resource to be used and not a master that should make you a slave of it.