Are You Not Having Enough Time? Tips on Time Management
We all know that there are 24 hours in a day, but in reality, we have only 14 hours because out of 24 hours, we spend 8 hours of time sleeping and 2 hours on eating and drinking. Thus, we should smartly manage our time because time wasted never returns.
Here are some tips to maximize your time from the book, “Time Management” by Sudhir Dixit.
1. Make financial goals
Normally, we have two types of goals: Normal goals and Definite goals. Instead of having normal goals, we must have real definite goals targeting some financial achievements to analyze and measure our progress. Financial goals are like a cricket game because we make strategies accordingly. And money is one of the major motivational factors that’s why we rarely like to waste our time when we have financial targets.
2. Do the most important thing first each day
Our human body is not a machine because we don’t work at the same speed and efficiency. Normally, we chose the easiest work at first, and keep our important, toughest, and works that we don’t like at last, which is the worst idea of work management. When we complete our important works at first, we are using our maximum energy and focus to complete it, which later gives us confidence and a sense of satisfaction of completion. But if you use that time doing unimportant works at first then you lose energy to complete the important work at last. So, it is better to do the most important thing first each day.
3. Do two things at once
Multitasking will help you to save your time and complete many works at the same time. Many successful people are good at multitasking. It is an art, so you must know how to use it without getting distracted. For example, Mahatma Gandhi used to sleep while traveling to be more energetic, Napoleon used to write letters on the way to war, Bill Gates uses mobile for the conversation to utilize the time of traveling, Edison used to research even while traveling by train. You can watch TV while eating food, have a lunch meeting, even you can keep some works if you need to wait for someone. In this way, we can maximize our time.
4. Learn to assign tasks
It is not possible for anyone to do everything alone. People who do everything on their own tend to fail. So, we need to divide works, but dividing work is not an easy task because it is hard to trust. When we have a team, we are more powerful to win at a speed. Multi-talented people will do everything on their own, that’s why they are not having the expected progress. So delegate the job to people. You must know whom and how to assign jobs to people, and never assign secret and the most important works to others.
5. Understand Pareto’s 20/80 rule
According to Pareto’s rule, we do 80 percent of the work in 20 percent of the time and waste 80 percent of the time for 20 percent of the work. The reason for such waste is that we want to do it in an ideal way. Many people waste time for the same reason and fail. If you feel that you have failed, no matter how hard you try, try adopting the principle of Pareto. This will let you know how much work you are doing. It doesn’t matter how intelligent or smart you are. You need to know how much time you have spent on achieving your goals and the little things. If you continue to waste your time, you will see a sad fact in front of you that you have no time left for important and great work.
6. Take advantage of Parkinson’s rules
Understanding Parkinson’s law is essential for the proper use of time. Parkinson’s rule is, “The more time available to get the job done, the more the work expands.” This means that as we work, our time expands and contracts accordingly. This means that if we plan to do a lot of work in a short time, time will spread and the whole work will be completed at the same time. The greater the goal, the greater the achievement. That’s why take advantage of Parkinson’s law to make the best use of time.
7. Work on your most productive time
Despite having the same length, the advertising rate on television is higher at 8 pm than the rest of the time. The main reason for the price change is because it is aired on prime time. In the same way, 24 hours is not the same for all of us. At a certain time of the day, our energy, thinking power, enthusiasm, and work efficiency are greater than the rest of the time. The key to success is recognizing our key time and doing the most important work at that time. A lot can be done in a short time. Once we know the main time, we can make the best use of our time.
So find your productive time of the day.
8. Organize yourself
Unorganized life creates many problems in front of us. One of them is our time gets wasted unnecessarily, for which we should blame ourselves. So the eighth tip is to manage ourselves to make the best use of our time. For example, if we are unmanaged, lazy, or we are always in a rush then we can never put our things at a place, which will eventually kill our time later to search them. So be organized to save more time.
9. Work according to your schedule
Just as it is important to create a budget to prevent wastage of money, it is also important to create a schedule to prevent wastage of time. Following a schedule will help you to save time, reduce wastage of time, and you will also have a clear vision of your available time and progress every day. Therefore, the timetable is like the road map to success in life.
10. Engage in karma
We all know that without hard work we can not become successful. So, have realistic plans & goals to implement them in action. Your every action add value to achieve your goal. Not having a good mood, lack of resources, time are just excuses for not working. Excuses make you lazy, and lazy people never succeed. Every new time brings new opportunities, so grab every new opportunity through your actions.
