Managing Your Time Effectively

Tick, tick, tick ... No, it's not the doorbell. It's time moving on and on without you noticing and without you having any control over it.

Time is something definite. Just as you cannot buy money, you also cannot buy time. There are 24 hours in a day and one has to make the best of them. Whether you like it or not, this number of hours will not, and cannot, be increased.

Stop looking ... you will never find time. It does not disappear into thin air (like people tend to think). You're living it. You have to consciously decide to live it in a certain way and not others. You have to make time by taking it from one activity and shifting it onto another.

During a day, the average person spends at least eight hours asleep, eight hours at work, an hour driving, an hour eating, an hour watching television or having a break and an hour having a bath before and after work. The rest of the day is simply wasted doing small things like sending a short message through your mobile phone, answering your mobile, saying hello and bye to people at work and at home or just lazing about.

Time is usually compared to money. Just as we sometimes find ourselves short of cash and find it difficult to make ends meet before the pay cheque is deposited into our bank account, we also find ourselves short of time.

But forget it because whatever you have to do will have to be done within the limited time you have available.

So why is there need to manage your time?

Contrary to popular belief, effective time management is not based on doing more things in less time. That will just not happen. Time management is about doing the right things better. Time management shows you how to organise your valuable time, to make sure the things you need to make happen get done. This includes dozens of proven easy-to-do techniques:

- Creating a to do list that is realistic and not intimidating

- Preventing interruptions from lowering your productivity

- Coping with information overload

- Defeating procrastination and many more

Time requires good management because we do not seem to have enough time to do all the things we want to in the limited number of hours we have available. And the clich "Don't leave for tomorrow what you can do today" sometimes does not hold water because there simply isn't enough time to do these things.

It is usually the case that we do not find time for the important activities that are not that urgent. However, they nevertheless remain important and have to be done.

People who work and those still in the studying stage often report their inability to manage their time effectively. Time management is something very few people master, but is something that most people need.

Those who have the added responsibility of raising a family usually find it difficult to juggle between work and family responsibilities. These responsibilities include driving children from one place to another, shopping, cleaning the house and other activities which seem simple but which take up much of their time.

Most probably, people reading this article will have a never-ending list of things on their mind, which they know, must be done but cannot actually find the time to fit them into their tight daily schedules. These include friends, movies, studying, lectures, home, parents, relationships and so on. How can you get to grips with all of these?

Most time management experts say that one of the first things people need to do to manage their time effectively is to determine how they spend their time. In other words, to understand where your time is going, you have to try to assess how you are actually spending it. One way to do this is to keep a simple operating record to evaluate your utilisation of time. This should give you the opportunity to observe your time usage more objectively. This is usually called a time audit.

What are the biggest time management mistake people make at work?

The biggest mistake people make is not realising how much time they are actually wasting. Disorganisation, unclear goals, too many personal phone-calls, disjointed processes, no routines, poor planning, procrastination, lack of focus, lack of training, gossiping, junk emails and surfing the internet are just a few of the things that make us all waste time at work. However, the list goes on and on.

It is not the first time that, when one knows they have a lot of work to do, they just day dream about something they did the night before or something they were planning to do after work.

To many coffee or cigarette breaks can also make you waste a lot of precious time.

An example we can use to understand the importance of time management is investigating the reasons why Mary arrives late for work every day. This kept her from receiving a healthy bonus for her performance at work. Mary never planned the night before and her wardrobe was extremely disorganised. Her mornings ended up being her worst nightmare, and usually spoilt her mood for the rest of the day.

The idea is that if people actually analyse what they are spending their time doing, they will see how they are wasting it. If they make some simple adjustments, they will be able to manage themselves better and manage their time even better.

Managing time effectively while still at school

As a student, there are some basic principles of time management, which can be applied. In this way, when you start working, you will find it easier to manage your time effectively at the workplace.

One of the foremost things that need to be done is to identify the best time for studying. Everyone has high and low periods of attention and concentration. Use your power times to study and use the down time for other activities such as errands, television and computer. It is also good to study difficult subjects first while you are fresh, enabling you to process information more quickly and as a result save time.

Studying in shorter time blocks with short breaks in between can also help you save time. This type of studying is effective and efficient because while you are having your break, the brain is still processing the information inputted before.

School is more than just studying. You need a social life, but yet you need to strike the right balance. You have to make sure you have time to sleep and eat properly. Sleep is often an activity (or lack of activity) that everyone needs.

Time management tips

In a lifetime, an average person spends seven years in the bathroom, six years eating, five years waiting in a queue, three years in meetings, two years on the telephone, eight months opening junk mail and six months waiting at a red light.

If you need more than 24 hours in a day but you do not have the energy for a major scheduling overhaul, here are ten quick time management tips you can start using to help you squeeze a few more precious minutes out of your day.

1. Do not waste waiting time: Find ways of putting waiting time into good use. Whether on hold on the telephone or waiting for an appointment, you can make lists, sort mail, go over your schedule or complete small but necessary tasks.

2. Spend time planning and organising: If you fail to take time to plan, you are, in effect, planning to fail. Organise in a way that makes sense to you.

3. Set goals: Goals give your life direction. Before doing something, you have to decide what you want. Your optimum goals are those that make you 'stretch' and not 'break' as you strive to achieve.

4. Prioritise: Use the 80-20 rule originally stated by the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto who noted that 80 per cent of the reward comes from 20 per cent of the effort. Once identified, prioritise time to concentrate your work on those activities or items with greatest reward.

5. Use a to-do list: Some people thrive using a daily to-do list which they construct either the night before or the first thing in the morning. Others prefer running to-do list, which they continuously update.

6. Be flexible: Allow time for interruptions and distractions. It is said that we are interrupted at least 73 times a day! Time management experts often suggest planning for 50 per cent of one's time. With only this amount planned, you have time to be flexible.

7. Do the right things right: Noted time management expert Peter Drucker says: "Doing the right thing is more important than doing things right". Doing the right thing is effectiveness, while doing things right is efficiency. Focus first on effectiveness (identifying what is the right thing to do) and then concentrate on efficiency (doing it right).

8. Avoid being a perfectionist: In the Malaysian culture, only the gods are considered capable of producing anything perfect. Whenever something is done, a flaw remains on purpose so that the gods do not get offended. It is funny, but understandable. Perfectionism - paying unnecessary attention to detail - can be a form of procrastination that in turn leads to bad time management.

9. Learn to say "No": It is such a small word but yet so difficult to say. Focus on your goals and block your time for the important things. Once convinced that the important things are really important, saying "no" to the unimportant things in life is much easier.

10. Reward yourself: Even for the smallest of successes, celebrate the achievement in style. Promise yourself a reward for completing each task or finishing the total job. If we learn to balance excellence in work with excellence in play, fun and relaxation, our life becomes happier, healthier and more creative.

Resources: Tips derived from books of Peter Drucker (The effective executive), Alan Lakein (How to get control of your time and your life) and Ann McGee-Cooper (Time management for unmanageable people).