The Most Precious Resource – Time

“Time is the scarcest resource of the manager, if it is not managed then nothing else can be managed” Peter Drucker

The above quote is a reflection of the relevance & significance of time and it comes from the most eminent management gurus of all times. A successful person is the one who understands the importance of time and uses it wisely. Time is the most important asset, but a scarce resource. It is available equally to all. It reminds us of a question by Voltaire, the great French philosopher, “What is the longest and the shortest; the swiftest and the slowest; the most divisible and the most extended; the most neglected and the most regretted; without which nothing can be done, which devours all that is little and enlivens all that is great?” The answer is – TIME.

We are dwelling in a highly competitive scenario with tremendous clutter and congestion is common to all. However, despite the existing situation we all need to strive and rise above the clutter that too within a specified time. This applies to all the spheres of life from education to a professional career. So what this Time Management is all about?

Time management does not mean being busy all the time – rather it should bring increased relaxation. Time management is an 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. Time management can be effectively done by using various tools and techniques. These tools may include planning, allocating time, setting goals, delegation, analyzing the time spent on each activity, monitoring, organizing, scheduling and prioritizing.

One of the most important and foremost too is planning and the all the others emerge from this primary action or may be a basic input for this action. There are a few simple tips to planning -

• Create a daily plan. Try to finish them before evening or night. Try to finish the plan as best as possible
• Schedule time limit for each task. Try to finish them on priority basis
• Having a calendar managing the things as per the schedule will give effective results
• Using organizer also is an effective source of time management. It helps you organize information, to-do lists, projects and other things
• Follow the deadlines and know organizing
• Never agree to do the things more than you can handle. Learn to say ‘No’
• Target to finish the things early. If you target to be on time, you’ll be late or on time. To avoid the last minute discrepancies, finish it before itself
• Set reminders 15 minutes before the submission time
• If you are doing multitasking, focus on one task and close off the tabs. Then start another task to complete efficiently

Another approach to effective time management may be to identify the obstacles in it, so you may either take care of them or avoid them -

• Unclear objectives: It’s hard to hit a target with your eyes closed, and it’s just as hard to accomplish something when you aren’t exactly clear about what you want to achieve.
• Disorganization: Organize the things on your desk. Disorganized messy desk may make us to step back in completing your tasks.
• Inability to say “no”: Never say ‘YES’ to all the works by keeping your priorities aside which were not in your list. Be helpful to others but within your time logs.
• Interruptions: Most of us will be interrupted by unwanted phone calls and telephone rings when we are in between some urgent task.
• Periods of inactivity: Sometimes we feel our self busy without any productive output. Recognizing and making use of these times can have a positive effect on our efforts.
• Too many things at once: Many of our tasks are not routines. They require concentration to detail. When we are attempting to do too many different things at one time, each individual task suffers as a result.
• Stress and fatigue: Everyone experiences stress from time to time due to the unorganized work style and ineffective time management. More stress downs us physically and mentally. Avoid stress with effective time management techniques.
• All work and no play: Allocate some time to recharge yourself and start working with double energy. Balance your life and work by spending time with family and friends.

Conclusion : Actually by now you must have realized that the real challenge is not to manage time but to manage ourselves.