“Time is money,” says a popular quote. In the current scenario, the quote stands even more relevant. We are living in a time wherein we are racing to balance our professional and personal lives. The only way to achieve this balance, achieve personal and professional goals is “Time Management.”
What is Time Management?
We all have the same 24 hours, but what makes the difference is how we utilize the same. So, time management can be defined as the process of dividing and planning your time with specific times based on importance and priority. In a nutshell, it is the process of becoming a smart worker from being a hard worker.
Why do you need to embrace Time management???
- It helps you have a structured lifestyle
- Helps you know where you are, what you are achieving, and what needs to be rectified?
- Helps you allocate time for everything that you want and avoid spending them on irrelevant things.
In a nutshell, embracing time management can help you lead a more peaceful, organized, and satisfying life. Thus, it is loud and clear that time management is not just a choice but a need of the hour. So, here are the 4 pillars of time management:
Define your goals: A journey is aimless unless you set a destination. Similarly, you cannot manage your time unless you don’t define how you want to utilize the same. That’s where the first pillar comes into the scene. Start your journey of organizing time by defining the goals you wish to achieve: personally and professionally. Ensure that the goals you define are
- Divided into personal and professional,
- Are realistic,
- Are defined as short term and long term,
- Are specific
For example: Professionally, your long-term goal could be to become the head of the department. Ask yourself whether the goal is realistic i.e. do you have the requirements that your workplace is looking for their next HOD. If the answer is yes, break that into short-term goals that will lead to the final goal.
Planning
Once the goals are defined, the next step is to chalk out the journey or path to achieve that goal. The first step of planning starts with prioritizing your goals. In other words, you may have listed down multiple goals. So, the first step is to prioritize your goals, which means starting from the goals that are more dear to you should top the list. Once you prioritize your goals, the next step is to pen down the steps that lead you to the goal. Once your break down the steps define deadlines. In other words, set deadlines for each step. Be realistic while setting deadlines because this would define your morale. In other words, setting unrealistic deadlines, will not only fall flat but also make you feel low of not being able to achieve morals. Therefore, set realistic deadlines and be committed to them.
Review
Once your path is decided and you start walking on it, comes the next pillar which is very crucial i.e. Review. The success of your time management journey heavily lies in the review mechanism you follow. Thus, ensure that you periodically review how your plan is moving. Ideally a short review every day and a detailed review every week is a must. Every night before you close the day, check what was the to-do list for that day and how many you achieved. Make a small note of achievements and failures. In short, appreciate yourself for things that you could finish and make a note of what made you not finish certain things. Over the weekend go through all the days’ details and see if there is a pattern in things that have not been achieved. This will help you address the mistakes you are doing and rectify them well in advance. This will ensure you don’t fail in your journey. Celebrate when you perform well. This will help you boost your morale.
Words of Wisdom
Use pen and paper. Stick notes with your targets to ensure that you stay focused. Tech lovers, use your smartphones to keep notes and reminders.
Optimize
As you embark on the journey of making the best out of your time, optimization of time plays a key role. Optimization means, using time effectively and removing the tasks that you feel someone else can do for you or can be delegated, focusing on working with people who understand the value of smart working. Be it professional or personal, you are dependent on external factors that are directly and indirectly needed in your journey. Therefore, it is your responsibility that you have the right people around you who suit your vision. For example: if you are a manager who wishes to allocate 2 hours of your time every day to identify betterments at the workplace. You have realized that you are unable to do it because most of your time is spent attending to your team members’ queries, then the best way would be to allocate a specific hour to address all the queries so that you don’t have them coming anytime and taking any amount of time. On the other hand, list down the works that consume your maximum time and try to find ways to finish them in lesser time. You can use technology or delegation for this.
The above being the 4 key pillars, the fact remains that time management is something that each one of us can customize as per our needs. However, the crux revolves around the pillars mentioned above.
Conclusion
As you embark on the journey of valuing time and in return achieving your goals, remember that this journey is not a one-time affair. Just like your goals that keep changing and evolving, time management should become a lifestyle change. A habit that you must cultivate for life. Making small changes in your lifestyle, taking the burden off your employees using queue management software will help in better time management. Remember, if you chase time, it shall never be yours. Instead, tame time and mold it as per your goals. Value it and it shall reap benefits for life.