“The way we spend our time defines who we are.”
-Jonathan Estrin
Have you ever felt that there should be more than 24 hours in a day to complete everything you want to? Does it seem that there are too many tasks and too little time?
Effective time management can help you with this. Time Management is a process that enables you to decide how to delegate time to different activities and focus on what is important.
Why inculcate it into your lifestyle?
We often encounter the phrase “Time is limited”. We hear people say that “Time that is lost never comes back”. What can we do then to use time in a manner that makes us feel satisfied and content? The answer is that we can inculcate the skill of Time Management into our lives. Effective Time Management helps us prioritize, allows us to get more done in less time, do quality work, and helps us deliver the performance we have promised. It also helps us stay more focused and keeps us on track. Time Management skills become especially important when we face deadlines and examinations and help us effectively deal with everyday life tasks.
Obstacles to Time Management
Why is it that sometimes, despite our best intentions, we cannot do effective time management? There are various reasons we cannot delegate and use time effectively or why we tend to go off track. We get easily distracted due to time wasters. Interruptions like phone calls or tasks that require our immediate attention can cause disturbances to our schedule. Notifications from our phones can lead to distractions, making us spend a huge amount of time on social media without even realizing it. Having to do too many things at once can lead to stress and maybe the reason to start procrastinating. Instead of doing something when it needs to be done, we push it for later, which can cause delays. Working without breaks or time for relaxation can lead to fatigue, due to which our motivation and capacity to work deteriorates. Obstacles can be very personal, and it is important to identify them to decide on strategies that can be used to overcome them.
How to use time more effectively?
“All time management begins with planning.”
-Tom Greening
Once we have identified how we spend our time, we can use various time management strategies. Planning and prioritizing can help us effectively reduce wastage of time. A good way to manage time is to consolidate similar tasks together. When making a schedule for yourself, you can keep similar things together, like completing tasks that have to be done in the kitchen together. This way, you’ll end up saving a lot of time. It is also a good idea to do important or tougher tasks first, to get them out of the way early and save energy.
Periods of inactivity or being idle can lead to feelings of stress and guilt. Instead of feeling that this time is not being used, we can utilize it by doing something recreational to rejuvenate or complete small tasks. It is also important to say ‘no’ when you’re busy. If someone wants to talk to you when you are occupied, explain to them calmly that you are doing something important and will get back to them as soon as you are done. It is also a good idea to note down things to remember tasks that have to be done and reduce mental load. Maintaining daily logs in a journal or a notepad can facilitate this practice. Maintaining schedules or creating timetables help us plan how to use time. We can use flexible techniques like overall, weekly, and daily planning to make timetables that suit our needs.
Please share with us techniques that help you manage time effectively or which obstacles you have overcome in recent times to improve your Time Management skills.
Watch this space for an informative and effective way to create timetables!
Good afternoon Ma’am, thank you sharing the tips for managing our time effectively. I try to plan and then work on that prioritising the tasks lined up. Ma’am, still at times I find that there is a lot to be achieved. How to reach the level of perfection? Please guide , Eagerly awaiting your next blog.
Mam It’s true and mam it’s a beautiful poem
Very nice and useful post..keep sharing
🌈🌹
Timetables and time slots is the easiest yet the effective way to manage time. That is what I have felt while writing( that’s what I do)
I had not only assigned time But also the exact spot where I do my writings. It helped me write down two books and publish them in a three months time.
Turning off all the notifications on phone has also worked wonders to me( though at times I have lost the important information too) but anyways it has helped me from keeping my hands away from my gadgets and peeking at them unnecessarily.
A must read!
I like to be realistic about my capabilities & know my limitations. This helps me plan my day effectively & avoid the distress of missed deadlines.
Very important topic… agree with Deepti and you that one needs to work undisturbed for some time at least by turning off notifications and not attending calls..
I would like to add two other things which work for me:
1. I do my toughest or challenging work ist thing when my work day starts.. I am able to finish it faster as I am fresh. In case I need to study a tough section .. I do it then.
2. I do not let worries like deadlines, personal things trouble me all the time. I keep 15 to 30 min in the middle of the day in case I need to worry about anything… that is my designated worry time!
Time management has to become a habit to rise above the chaos. Sometimes, inability to do so can deluge you and put you out of action!
Thanks for a wonderful share, Alka!!
I appreciate the point on taking breaks. We often tire ourselves beyond what is sustainable. Life is a marathon.
Reading this made me realise how important it is to manage time thank you for such a beautiful and essential lesson.
Indeed, lack of planning and distractions specially from mobiles are biggest culprits in not getting the most out of the time.
Thank you ma’am for sharing this important topic. Planning and prioritizing and also consolidating the similar tasks together is a good way of time-management.
Respected ma’am
A wonderful and a must read article for anyone trying to finish allot in limited time period. Thank you for sharing these indispensable time saving tips and tricks.. will certainly include them in my day to day life
Regards
I also believe time management is the most important skill that we all need to learn specially our younger generation.The tips you shared are really helpful in keeping control of our time and ultimately our life
Appreciate these super practical tips and techniques for time management.
Very thought provoking and useful.
Thank you for sharing such wonderful tips on time management. It’s so true ma’am , that at times our intentions are right but somehow we aren’t able to manage time effectively…. Maybe it’s the planning one needs to focus on.
Will wait for more such wonderful tips from you.
Good morning Ma’am
This was the best time to read your article Ma’am, actually the day should begin with right planning and utilising our day effectively. Thankyou so much Ma’am for sharing such important tips like priortising our work, doing the tough work first. One very important thing that I do to manage my work is penning down my days schedule.
Thanks & Regards
Ritu
Each word is very true and relatable. I have been effectively managing my time by following simple things like:
1) Making a list of Daily Things To Do.
2) Prioritizing my tasks.
3) Doing tougher things first, so that I can get them out of the way and focus my time on other things.
4) Setting reminders for myself and putting up post-it notes so that I don’t miss out on anything.
Thank you for sharing this post maám,it is true time management is life management.
Nice post. Really time is the one thing in life that you can never get back. Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.
I always used to emphasise my students to plan home- timetable to train their mind to learn at fixed time , and place it where their eyes can catch easily, As I studied more I found planning the goal , making a list of daily tasks towards that goal, scheduling a timetable for the same and then rewarding yourself with something you like on accomplishment creates the motivation to be disciplined.
Thank you ma’am for sharing the tips, importance and strategies of Time Management. Time Management is extremely important in today life. I feel sometime that there should be more than 24 hours in a day to complete everything but yes its not possible, so I priorities my task and list them down for effective time management.
Nicely explained alka. But sometimes even though we prioritize our work suddenly some other more imp work comes up and change our schedule, thus creating sudden changes in our time table. Please suggest how to balance out this aspect.
It is true that at times some important work may require us to change our schedule.
I try to keep some flexibility in my schedules to meet this need.
Another important thing is to observe how frequently it is happening. If it happens too frequently, then we may have to pre-empt certain things and be a little more proactive in our planning. Hope I have been able to answer your query.
Awesome tips!
I like to write down my tasks which help me get a clearer image of what needs to be done in the day and keeps me motivated. I also used to procrastinate a lot, but One thing that really helps me is just doing it. Closing all tabs and turning off notifications, and just doing the task is a great way to save time.
Useful
Thank you for sharing these useful tips, ma’am. Your posts always work as a reminder to me. Some of the things I used to do earlier but missing now. The things I am following now are consolidating similar work and using free time for recreation. I do make To do list but not very regularly.Will follow other tips also.
Thank you Ma’am for sharing very effective time management tips.
Truly said all time management begins with planning.
I always try to make a short term time table so that I can achieve my goals on time and is less stressed.
Very well explained.