4. Time management is the act or process of planning and exercising conscious control
over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to
increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity.
It is a meta-activity with the goal to maximize the overall benefit of a set of other
activities within the boundary condition of a limited amount of time.
Time management may be aided by a range of skills, tools, and techniques used
to manage time when accomplishing specific tasks, projects, and goals complying
with a due date. Initially, time management referred to just business or work
activities, but eventually the term broadened to include personal activities as well. A
time management system is a designed combination of processes, tools,
techniques, and methods. Time management is usually a necessity in any project
development as it determines the project completion time and scope.
-Time Management: Time management is making wise scheduling decisions which
involve self discipline.
5. HERE ARE 10 LIFE BENEFITS OF TIME MANAGEMENT:
Less Stress – Managing your time can directly reduce your stress level. Fewer
surprises. Fewer tight deadlines. Less rushing from task-to-task and place-to-place.
Get More Done – Of course, being productive is one of the main goals of time
management. When you are aware of what you need to do, you are able to better
manage your workload. You will be able to get more (of the right tasks) done in less
time.
Less Rework – Being organized results in less rework and mistakes. Forgotten
items, details, and instructions lead to extra work. How often do you have to do a
task more than once? Or make an extra trip because you forget something?
Less Life Friction and Problems - How often do you create your own problems?
Whether it is a forgotten appointment or missed deadline, not managing your time
results in increased life friction. Avoid creating your own problems by planning and
preparing for your day.
More Free Time – We can’t create more time, but you can make better use of it by
managing your time. Even simple actions like shifting your commute or getting your
work done early can produce more leisure time in your life.
6. …….
Less Wasted Time – When you know what you need to do, you waste less
time in idle activities. Instead of wondering what you should be doing next,
you can already be a step ahead of your work.
More Opportunities – Being on top of your time and work produces more
opportunities. The early bird always has more options. As well,luck favors
the prepared.
Improves Your Reputation – Your time management reputation will proceed
you. At work and in life you will be known as reliable. No one is going to
question whether you are going to show up, do what you say you are going to
do, or meet that deadline.
Less Effort – A common misconception is that time management
takesextra effort. To the contrary, proper time management makes your life
easier. Things take less effort, whether it is packing for that trip or finishing
up that project.
More Time Where it Matters – Managing your time is allotting your time
where it has the most impact. Time management allows you to spend your
time on the things that matter most to you.
7. DISADVANTAGES OF TIME MANAGEMENT:
There is a limited downside to time
management. If you are conscious about
the time you can spend, then it could
leave people around you slightly tensed
all the time because they do not know
how much time you have allocated to
them. It could lead to a break down of
the relationship. You will need to have
the ability to disguise your time
management in social situations.
The main disadvantage remains the
more consumption of time in making
up plans especially when those plans
turns out against. It can also make
life too mechanical.
8. TIME MANAGEMENT OBSTACLES
Procrastination
Procrastination is a problem that many of us face regularly. It is a behavior where
we constantly delay necessary tasks. Instead of doing the tasks that need to get
done, we will do other, less important tasks. It is one of the biggest causes for
failure. It destroys your potential. It can rob you of the life you want. However, the
good news is it is also something that we can repair.
Perfectionism
Perfectionism is the tendency to insist that tasks are done perfectly. Perfectionists
continue to work on the same task long after it’s done, they focus on minute
details, and they try to improve it almost endlessly. Calling perfectionism an
obstacle might seem odd; after all, we should always strive for good performance.
How can excellent performance be a bad thing?
9. ….TIME MANAGEMENT OBSTACLES
Interruptions
An interruption is anything that prevents us from finishing a task on time. We face
many interruptions during the day. It might be a colleague who starts talking with us
while we’re working or a fellow passenger on a plane who starts a conversation while
we go over our emails. It could be a phone call or an incoming email that’s
announced by our computers. Sometimes interruptions seem like a minor issue but,
in reality, their accumulated effect is quite serious. In fact, interruptions can cause
serious damage to our time management. Why are interruptions such a threat to
time management?
Undefined goals and priorities
Setting goals and priorities is a basic requirement for good time management. After
all, one way of planning our time is to check if we are able to reach our goals within
the available time.
Stress
Stress is created when the demands made on a person start to exceed that person's
ability (or perceived ability) to cope. A gap is created between what a person
needs/wants to do, and what they feel they are able to do. There are several reasons
for stress; we will focus on stress and time management:
10. COMMON MISTAKES AND MYTHS OF TIME MANAGEMENT
Everyone makes time management mistakes. In fact, much of the process of
creating systems that work for you is a trial and error process. However, if you can
avoid some common mistakes you’ll be able to streamline your processes and
eliminate much of the trial and error. You’ll be able to focus on the tasks of
building and growing your business and spending your day doing what you love.
Mistake #1 Not Creating A Schedule That Works For YOU
Make sure, when you create your schedule you take the following into
consideration:
•When are you most productive? For example, are you better able to focus first
thing in the morning? In the evening after the sun has gone down? Mid-day?
When is your best time to work? This is the time to schedule the high priority or
profit producing tasks.
•What is your family/personal schedule? Parents,spouses,children and outside
commitments all play into your productivity and your schedule. For example, if you
volunteer at your child’s school every Friday then it’s probably a good idea to keep
Friday clear and to focus on your business the other days of the week.
•How much do you want to work each day or week? You’re not required to work
every day from 9-5. In fact, if you want to work two days a week or six it’s all up to
you. However, when you’re planning your business, keep your needs in mind.
11. COMMON MISTAKES AND MYTHS OF TIME MANAGEMENT
Mistake #2 Not Recognizing Time Suckers
Time suckers are those habits and tasks that take way more time
than you think they do. They consume your day and before you know
it, it’s time to pick up your kids from school or make dinner.So….what
is keeping you from being productive?
Mistake #3 Forgetting about Balance
It’s almost guaranteed that if you neglect to plan for and schedule
time away from your business, you’re going to suffer from burnout.
We’ve already discussed burn out a bit. It affects your joy, your ability
to focus and stay productive and it affects your bottom line. A
balanced life is important to the success of your business. Now, like
creating time management systems there is no one size fits all
approach to balance.
13. TIME MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES
Priority Matrix
The Priority Matrix is also called The Eisenhower Method or ABC Analysis.
The Priority Matrix has two dimensions. The first one is importance
(important and not important), and the second one is urgency (urgent and
not urgent).All our tasks are divided into four quadrants: important and
urgent, important and not urgent, not important and urgent, not important
and not urgent. We classify each task according to these quadrants, and
then we deal with the tasks according to the quadrant they belong to.
Gantt charts
A Gantt chart is a chart that describes a project schedule. The horizontal
axis of that chart is time. The vertical axis is occupied with different tasks.
The chart consists of bars, with each bar representing a task. The location
of the bars on the horizontal axis is coordinated with the task timing. The
bar starts at the time the task starts, and it ends at the time the task ends.
Since we locate different tasks in a different vertical position but keep the
same horizontal axis for all the tasks, we can see the relative timing of the
tasks, and we can also define what tasks should be done before other
tasks.How can we use Gantt charts to improve our time management?
14. …..TIME MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES
Pareto Analysis
Vilfredo Pareto was an Italian economist who,
in the 19th century, discovered that 80% of the
land in Italy was held by 20% of the population.
Since that time, the Pareto Analysis relates to
the concept that 20% of A is responsible for
80% of B. This concept has a few applications
in time management.
