TIME MANAGEMENT

We are all probably tired of hearing the saying, time waits for no man. As cliché as it sounds; the validity of the sentence remains. We have only twenty four hours in a day and the task you commit to daily will determine how your life plays out.

Time management is the process of planning and controlling how much time to spend on specific activities especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity.  It involves the balancing of various demands upon a person relating to work, social life, family, hobbies personal interests, and commitments with the finite nature of time.

Using time effectively gives the person “choice” ” on spending or managing activities at their own time and expediency. Good time management enables an individual to complete more in a shorter period of time, lowers stress, and leads to career success.Time management is therefore very critical.it is a vehicle that takes you from where you are to where you want to be.

ATTRIBUTES OF TIME

Time has a couple of attributes, which includes:

Time is indispensable, every action requires time.

Time is perishable, you cannot save it.

Time is consumable, you can only spend it.

Time is irreplaceable, you can never bring it back.

Time is sufficient. You really have all the time you need. It just depends on how wisely you use it.

FRANKLIN COVEY’S TIME MANAGEMENT MATRIX

A look into the Franklin Covey’s Time Management Matrix will help to classify our activities into urgent tasks, not urgent tasks, important and not important tasks.

Activities I are urgent and important. This includes necessities. These activities should be managed

Activities ii are not urgent but important. Examples of activities here are usually personal issues we need to sort out. We should focus on this area.

Activities iii are urgent and not important. These activities are merely distractions posing as urgent wants. They should be looked out for cautiously.

Activities iv are not urgent and not important. These are absolute time wasters and should be avoided at all cost.

PRODUCTIVENESS OF TIME

There are some actions that can be taken to increase productiveness of time. Coincidentally, the acronym of these actions is PRODUCTIVE.

• P- Preparation
• R – Reduction.

Take off garbage from your schedule. The 4- D solution to reduction is to:

• Dump it. learn to say no sometimes.
• Delegate it. If it an important task but some else can do it, just delegate it.
• Defer it. If you need to do it, but not right away.
• Do it. If it is urgent and no one else can do it.

• O – Order.

This is the ability to find something in 30 seconds or less.

• D – Discipline

This is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.

• U – Unease

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.

• C – Concentration

Do one thing at one time to avoid multitasking.

• T – Time mastery

Identify your most prouctive time of the day and assign our priority task to that period.

• I – Information management.

Use technology to manage time.

• Vitality

Create time to have fun. All work and no play makes Jack dull boy.

• E – Equilibrum

Balance between work and relatioships with people. 85% of happiness comes from relationships.

In conclusion, you cannot manage time; you can only manage yourself and ironically, the sureset way to be late is to have plenty of time.

#MMBA3