TIME
MANAGEMENT
“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s
the stuff life is made of.”
– Ben Franklin
“If only I had
the time.” How many times have you used this excuse? Let’s
put time into perspective. You have a total of 8,760 hours in a year.
Say you work 40 hours a week for 49 weeks (1,952 hours), spend 1 hour
per day getting to and from work (365 hours), eat 3 meals each day of
1 hour each (1,095 hours), spend 1 hour a day getting dressed/undressed
(365 hours) and sleep 8 hours per night (2,920 hours). Total deduction:
6,705 hours. That means you have nearly 85 24-hour days left over –
22% of the year to spend as you wish!
Even if the above
equation does not match your situation, we do know this: you have the
same number of hours each day as everyone else. How you spend them decides
on you – your goals, responsibilities and dreams. The issue, then,
is not having too little time, but rather not managing time effectively.
The following tips can help you get your life on track, and even result
in some free time for you!
-
Generate
to-do lists. Many of us live by these already. Make your list of things
to do and prioritize them. Take care of those items at the top of
your list immediately. Crossing off items brings such a glorious feeling
of accomplishment!
-
Finish
what you start. Multi-tasking is necessary in many areas of life,
but splitting up your workstream too much wastes time and energy.
-
It’s
your time. Block out at least an hour of each day for yourself, an
hour where you will not schedule any meetings, answer the phone and
so forth. Take this hour to generate your to-do list, meditate or
finish a lingering task.
-
Set
goals. How can you not waste time if you do not know what you are
working towards? Set goals for your personal and professional life.
-
Cut
down. Learn to say no. You do not have to be in every organization,
attend every social gathering and chair every committee!
-
Adopt
a 10-minute strategy. Anyone can commit 10 minutes of attention and
effort to a task, no matter how unpleasant. After 10 minutes you may
find you want to keep going!
-
Break
it up. Break large tasks into component parts. Rather than deciding
to read a book by Friday, vow to read a minimum of 20 pages per day.
-
Use
a clock/timer. Sound crazy? It will help keep you on track! Give yourself
time limits for meetings, projects, phone calls and stick to them.
-
Be
assertive. Don’t let others take advantage of you or your time.
-
Hide.
During your “productive hours,” avoid people and places
that tend to take up your time. If you go to the library to work and
end up chatting for hours instead, find a new work area.
-
Take
advantage of waiting. Rather than cursing under your breath about
waiting at the doctor’s office, for an appointment or for members
of your group to arrive, make use of your time. Read that article
for class, start tomorrow’s to-do list, write a letter to your
grandparents.
-
Listen
carefully. If we could count the hours wasted because of miscommunication,
we would be amazed. Practice your listening skills and learn to communicate
effectively.
-
Be
prepared. Make the most of your time and activities. Be prepared for
classes, meetings and group activities.
-
Quality,
not quantity. Do not judge your success by how many hours you kept
busy today. Judge it by how much you accomplished.
-
Personal
deadlines. Don’t just let your bosses and professors assign deadlines.
Give yourself time limits for certain tasks.
-
Some
things take a while. Accept the fact that some tasks take a lot of
time. Schedule blocks of time for these in your planner, just as you
would a meeting or class. Then focus your energy on that task for
that period of time.
-
Plan
your calls and emails. Don’t succumb to the pressure or temptation
of constantly checking your email or answering your phone. Select
one or two times a day for email (remember to set time limits!) and
let your machine take your calls during your productive time.
As you can see, there
is no magic involved in learning to manage your time. It is simply a
matter of identifying what items are worthy of your time, what habits
need to be changed and adopting strategies to make these changes.
References:
Pritchett,
P. (1992). The Team Member Handbook for Teamwork. Dallas: Prichett Publishing
Company.
Shandler,
M. & Egan, M. (1996). Vroom! Turbo-Charged Team Building. NY: AMACOM.
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