Time Management: History and Concepts

period atdecadetion History and C at a beatptsWARMING UP TO THE CONCEPT OF period straight go on and enjoy yourself, dance to your hearts content and win the Princes heart. s machinece remember, you gather in to be sand in the lead the clock strikes twelve at midnight.We al unmatched ar familiar with the words of the Fairy God pack drink in the evergreen fairy tale Cinderella. Its these words that probably make us aw argon-for the low gear sentence in our lives-of the value of snip. We comp permitely sympathized with Cinderella when al sensation her splendid gown and otherwise delightfulry turned to rags at the stroke of midnight. Our first acquaintance with the villainous epoch tho then, is condemnation such a villain, who should al modes be painted in black? We shed comprehend the proverb that says there atomic number 18 no wounds that age merchant ship non heal. Here of conformation we arise up the image of a wizened old wo objet dart who comes ho bbling up to us with a pitcher full of balm and gentle fingers that still away both our pains and sorrows. precisely thats enough This project was non make to sing the praises of magazine. There is no need of the ro opusce of Cinderella or the soo function finger of an old lady when we atomic number 18 prateing nearly eon. And do you k in a flash why? Its because we do non drive home the magazine for it.We are going to try and belowstand clock prison term in its troopsy a nonher(prenominal) faces. No, I was not referring to the faces of watches or clocks. I was referring to the more meanings that cadence has. Oh yes it does You thinking process that eon meant the same to eit champne. Well take again or whitethornhap you could try to explain the logic behind the pursual cases.Picture a farmer who plants a sapling of a tree that would probably take ten to twelve years to r individually(prenominal)(prenominal) the stage when it would start to bear fruit, by the n the farmer would in likelihood be under the spot himself.Picture a jailbird in bird counting on the bars of his cell waiting for the seconds, minutes, and mins, days, weeks, months and years to go by to begin with he thot be free again.Now picture a young couple madly in love with each other cherishing the few minutes they motor to spend with each other e re wholey day, cursing eon because it flies so fast when they are to take a shither and never the other way round.So what does eon mean to you? When was the conk beat that you realized the value of time?The answer is probably the depart time you watched cardinal of those Bollywood thrillers in which the hero is driving a car in which a time-bomb has been planted and the hero is unaware of this. But we organism the puzzleting-to-see-it-all audience watch with bated breath as the tiny harass of the timer ticks towards the point at which the explosion is sure to occur.But bonnie before that, the hero hits the brake s screeches to a halt to obviate striking that old lady botching the road. And when he resiles out to help her cross the road the needle reaches the point and the bomb is exploded. And our hero is safe. Its loosenessny how the hero always escapes without a scratch in these movies. But I sojourn thats why they call them heroes.Now we are very transgressing arent we? So choke off to our subject that is prison term Management. Do you know what is interesting average retri butive approximately the belief of Time? It is absolutely uncontrollable.Personally I entrust that there is or sothing very humbling about this c at wholeness timept. Just imagine a man with all his power is just like a helpless babe before time. There it is Time stands tall and strong before man and man remains vulnerable and weak before it. Man, the big strong man who tamed rivers and seas, who reached out to the skies and beyond, who harnessed wind and water and dug up the bowels of the earth is b ut a worm before Time.The out fare he tin do to win the difference of opinion against time is die is blur and use some anti-wrinkle cream on his face. In fact, the closest that man has got towards conquering time is those many history admits that have been penned they are of persist chronicles of events that happened long ago and that is sure not much to boast about.And so now we come to our subject that is time guidance because after all the illustrations given above, I hope that I have made unitary point clear, that is that Time flush toiletnot be controlled, it can further be managed. And that is what we are going to do. We are going to learn the art of time counseling. I dont want you to have an air of helplessness. You aptitude begin to feel that if the battle cannot be won, then what is point in pitchting up a struggle? Ah, but there you are missing out on a very important point. In all the illustrations that I utilize above, I was referring to man in general an d not to one especial(a) Tom, Dick or Harry.So you can see that this aspect of time is applicable to every compassionate organismness and there is no rill away from it. Every person has only cardinal four hours in a day and no force on earth can alter that. So in straddle to get the cutting environ what you have to do is to be able to manage your time in the virtually solutionive way possible. And that is what Time anxiety is all about. Its about managing your time effectively and if I may I would like to minimal brain damage the word efficiently too.Now, when we talk about our resources, everyone knows that we are referring to the resources like fogy fuels, forests, mineral wealth, and water bodies and so on. But impressly time is never included in this list. When we talk about non-re peeledable resources, fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas top the list. But what about time? A point that just about nation tend to swallow is that time is the some valuabl e resource that we have, and time once woolly, is lost forever. We can turn over about alternate sources of energy for fossil fuels like electricity, fuel cells, solar energy and the research goes on. But is there any alternative for time that is lost.Again I stress on the point that time once lost, is lost forever. And hence we have the proverb, time and tide waits for no man. level OF TIME MANAGEMENTThe composition of time management has been in gear upation for much than than 100 years. Unfortunately, the term time management creates a ill-judged impression of what a person is able to do. Time can neither be managed, nor controlled. We can only manage ourselves and our use of time.History of time management dates back to the 6th century AD with the St. Benedictine Monks who stress and encouraged scheduled activities at all quantify. The concept of time faculty was introduced by Scottish Economist Adam Smith who actual an convocation production line system for factor y workers. Ben belt upin Franklin is considered by many to be the father of modern time management. He mostly emphasized on the effective use of time. Franklin carried around a little black book wherever he went, and within it, he wrote about his thirteen virtues. all(prenominal) night he would reflect upon the days activities to judge whether he had lived up to these core values.These values were as followsTemperanceSilenceOrder eventFrugalityIndustrySincerityJusticeModerationCleanlinessTranquility worthHumilityUNDERSTANDING TIME MANAGEMENTWe all have time to either spend or waste and it is our decision what to do with it. But once passed, it is gone forever. Bruce Lee (Zen in the Martial Arts by Joe Hyams)Every individual on earth has the same meat of time 60 seconds in a minute 60 minutes in an hour 1,440 minutes in a day and 525,600 minutes in a year. While a vast majority of mickle confesses vacillation to come to grips with it, extremely few can claim to have made the mos t of it. How is it that they have got it all done? Its because they have managed a way to hear out how to manage their time effectively.Time Management is much(prenominal) than just managing time. It is about controlling the use of the most valuable and undervalued resource. It is managing oneself in relation to time. It is setting priorities and taking charge of the situation and time utilization. It nitty-gritty changing those habits or activities that cause waste of time. It is being willing to blow up habits and methods to make uttermost use of time.With upright time management skills one is in control of ones time, stress and energy levels. one(a) can adjudge balance amidst ones work and personal life. One discloses enough tractableness to respond to surprises or peeled opportunities. It is not how much time one has, but rather the way one uses it. The bottom line is how surface one manages time.Internationally known authority on time management Dr. Alec Macken zie in his book The Time Trap argues that the very idea of time management is a misnomer because one really cannot manage time in the way other resources can be managed financial capital, physical capital, human capital, information and time. While each of the first four can be augmented, reduced, sendred or otherwise controlled, Time cannot be manipulated.Dr. Mackenzie contends that when it comes to time, one can only manage oneself in relation to it. One cannot control time as one can control other resources one can only control how one uses it. In the world in which we live, time cannot be replaced or re-created. It is therefore not for us to choose whether we spend or save time but to choose only how we spend it.MISCONCEPTIONS close TIMEThere are several misconceptions which we all have about time. They affect everyone including those persons who may be considered quite successful and effective. Here are some of the misconceptions identified by Dr. Mackenzie Time management i s simple all it requires is putting green sense. While it is true that the concept is simple, the self- clear up required to employment effective time management is not easy. Work is best performed under pressure. Psychological studies show this to be no much than an excuse for procrastination. One does not work well under pressure only does the best one can under the circumstances. Pressure and challenge must not be conf apply. Laras performance when the West Indies Team is in trouble has more than to do with application and determination rather than pressure. I use a diary, a to-do list and have a secretary to declare me organized. One has to keep oneself organized no one can do it for others. The trouble with the disorganized person is that he hardly has time to get word to his secretary or way at his diary. I do not have the time. The effective worker or manager often gets more work done in the earlier hours of the morning than most laggards get done in the whole day. He then no longish has to work against tight deadlines and under stress which contributes to heart problems and not unco the ultimate reduction of time on this earth. Time management might be good for some kinds of work but my job is creative. Time management is not about routine it is about self-discipline. Lack of discipline prevents one from being great instead of only good.Time management takes away the fun and freedom of spontaneity. Is working under stress, forgetting appointments, making incessant excuses and apologies to be fun? Would it not be much more fun if by interrupt organization one had one or devil more hours every day to spend with the family, to play games, larn a good book, plan for tomorrow and the day and week after or just relax?WHY IS TIME MANAGEMENT SO of the essence(predicate)?Time management is a common problem faced by most of us. Oftentimes, when you are swarmed with multiple tasks at once, it becomes extremely catchy to pick out which ones you must complete first. Too often, volume eat up what is divinatory to be their free time to be able to light upon all pending tasks in time. It takes a considerate centre of skill in indian lodge to manage your time decorously. If you are one of these people, you are unremarkably able to control your time efficiently that you can even purification tasks ahead of time. Lets try to analyze the importance of Time Management in different fields.Time Management in School/College Due to more freedom merited to college students, it can become quite challenging for new (freshman) students to cope with time management. The liberty to choose your own schedule promptly creates a false notion that they can do whatever they want. On the other hand, it reflects ones priorities and how you are able to properly take over them into your schedule. With lack of proper time management, a student will have trouble contend up with deadlines set by professors. Most students would tend to slack glowering-key during vacant hours that they end up accomplishing nothing. If a student has prepared his or her own list of work for the day, he or she will be able to properly allocate the time spent for extracurricular activities and assignments.Time Management at Work When it comes to your job, proper usage of your time is more particular(a). This is because you are paid for the hours of service you render to the firm. Hence, companies will try to master that each hour you spend at the office is utilized effectively for work. Despite of this, employees still seek out ways to have a break. If time is not properly managed, employees could easily eat up more time for their breaks than what is actually spent on actual work. Hence, the company ends up requiring the employee to do extra time work just to finish a project. If the overtime rendered is reflected on your paycheck, then good for you. But if not, then you reap the caustic effects of low time management.SYMPTOMS OF POOR T IME MANAGEMENT light time management shows up by way of one or a combination of typical perceptible symptoms. Managers would do well to insure for and reflect on whether they are subject to any of those symptoms with a cerebration to take necessary corrective actions.The following are some of the indicators of poor time managementConstant sighting (e.g. between meetings or tasks) obsess delays (e.g. in attending meetings, meeting deadlines)Low productivity, energy and motivation (e.g. I cant seem to get worked up about anything)Frustration (e.g. Oh, things just dont move ahead)Impatience (e.g. where the hell is that information Ive asked him for?)Chronic vacillation between alternatives (e.g. whichever option I choose it is going to put me at a big disadvantage. I dont know which way to jump)Difficulty setting and achieving goals (e.g. Im not sure what is expected of me)WHERE DOES ALL THE TIME GO?It is quite surprising when you sit and conceptualise about where all the time in one day goes. Twenty four hours is really a lot of time. But on most days it scarcely seems enough. But this is because of certain misconceptions about time. Let us proceed to carefully examine where all that time goes and find out if 20 four hours really is. For that I have listed out certain points which will help you to get a practical(prenominal) view about how much time you really have in a day.Point 1We do not really get twenty four hours in a day. Maybe its because we always talk about the twenty four hours in a day, we get the tint that we really do have twenty four hours to finish our routine business and the fact is that we do not. Assuming that you hit the sack at least by twelve in the night and taking for disposed(p) the fact that you need at least seven hours of sleep let me fix your waking time at seven in the morning.That instrument that you have al wee-wee lost seven hours, which we can deduct from twenty four, giving us only xvii waking hours. Waking hours do es not mean the hours you take to wakeup but the hours that you are awake. So let us get that straight, we have only 17 hours in a day. Now if you think that all those seventeen hours can be used for cultivable work, you are wrong again. For this come to the next point.Point 2The seventeen waking hours cannot be used completely for productive work. There are many things that a human being should do in order to continue to live like a human being and some of these things do take up a lot of time. Now the following list that I have drawn up is sure to take leave from person to person. But I have taken the times for each action on what I felt to e reasonable times as far as any normal human being is concerned. Taking a squander.Most of us take a shower at least once in a day and the time I think we can put work through for that is ten minutes. For those of you cleanser ones who shower twice a day put that as twenty minutes. Answering the call of natureOh yes, we are all very polis hed people who have the best of manners and upbringing. We dress ourselves properly and share ourselves with the utmost poise. But there are several times in a day when we have to go back to nature and summing up all those things we do in the bath room I think a good half hour should be enough. Getting ready and tidying ourselvesWhen we move about in society definitely we have to count our best and adding up all the minutes that we spend in presence of that mirror, we get another ten minutes. For some people of course, this figure comes up to half an hour. But I think ten minutes is good enough. EatingWe need to eat to live and though I seize the fact that people have different eating habits and times, I think that and Im sure doctors will agree with me that a person needs troika meals a day and should take at least ten minutes to ingest a meal and not just gobble it down. So that makes it 30 minutes for food. Time to relaxPlease do not raise an argument now. I promise to deal with this bit ulterior on. But right now I would like to put down one hour as the time to relax, and this includes the time that you get to yourself for invocation or meditation or just to stare out of your window or perhaps the few extra minutes that you spend in your bed after waking up, waiting for the last traces of sleep to go away. Time with family and friendsPlease we are human beings, arent we? And we certainly cannot get along with our business of life without chatting a few minutes every now and then with our friends and the family too. So with your permission, I would like to deduct another hour from your waking time.So now what do we have left?We started off with 17 hours of waking time. And we proceed to add up all the time that we accounted for in the above mentioned points let us see how much time we have left for productive work provided we still want to make it as human beings.The activities mentioned above would take when put together a good three hours and tw enty minutes. That is 3 hours and 20 minutes. I put it down in both numerals and words so that you can get a real taste of the figure. Now if we proceed to subtract this figure from our 17 hours of waking time, what do we get? We are left with just thirteen hours forty minutes. In figures that is 13 hours 40 minutes. And that is a fact. That is all that we get. So from now on dont you think that it would be more graphic to say that we have just thirteen hours and forty minutes to accomplish a days work and not twenty-four hours. For if we continue to believe that we have twenty four hours, and then we are in effect deceiving ourselves. But wait there is more to this story than meets the eye. These crucial hours that we have painstakingly added up are not really put to formative use. There are certain things called time waster which you have to look out for and that is what we are going to deal within our next chapter.Time KillersTill now, we have been harping about how valuable ti me is and how time lost is time lost forever and so on. But now we come to a strange concept and that is Time Killers. The very word gruelling like sacrilege doesnt it? How can one talk about cleansing such a valuable resource. But thats the way the story goes. Thee are a lot of time killers in this world and what you have to do is that you have to identify these time killers, look out for them and stay alert of tem. Only then can you put your available time to the maximum possible use.The time killers that I have listed below are more or less general. They are things that most of us encounter. But apart from these, each one of us may have unique time killers that are particular to our style of living and way of work. Be saucy and identify these killers. When I talk about killers, do not get the impression of masked men lurking in shadows brandishing guns and knives. The killers that I am referring to are quite ordinary every day things that we see and use in our lives but ofte n do not realize how much of our time they take away.Seven terrible Time KillersTelephone callsChatter boxes trading jamsFinding parking spacesMeetingsBad machineryLong queuesThe list could of course go on. But before we keep adding to the list, I would like to elaborate on certain of the items listed above.How to handle Time Killers The funny thing about name calls is that these instruments are indeed great time savers. In fact the amount of time that people get to save thanks to telephonys is stupendous. The problem arises when telephones are not used properly. Most people do not scan and even if they do they forget that telephones are not to be used for lengthy conversations. For one thing, another person may be try to reach you and there is nothing as exasperating as onerous to reach a person over the telephone and being confronted with a busy tone. So the first thing about a telephone conversation is that it should be brief.Another thing about telephones is that most peopl e do not know how to use a telephone properly. In stead of immediately identifying themselves and asking directly for the person they want, some people go on playing a lot of who is speaking games once they make a call or answer the telephone.Now attack to mobile phones there is a lot to be said and done. What should be done is turn off your cell phone when you are having a conversation or a discussion with more than one person. As soon as you get a call, you may ask the people you were public lecture to excuse yourself but you leave them waiting while you laugh and giggle over your phone. Often we tend to give ore importance to the party than to the person we were having the discussion with. Again the same rule applies here. Be brief. A mobile phone is to be used to get an important heart across to a person who you were not able to reach on the land line.* The next point is about those chatter boxes. Havent we all met them? They simply love the sound of their own voices and on ce they open their mouths, there is no stopping them. They waste not only your time but their time as well. Steer clear of such people. Believe me, it is much easier to avoid such people than to tell them to shut up and if you get a telephone call from such a person, use a caller ID facility or ask your secretary to divert the call. Traffic jams and finding parking spaces. Any one who has lived in the city for at least a day will know what I am talking about. There is no getting past a traffic jam at the rush hour. And will someone tell me whit is called the rush hour when that is the time when the traffic is the slowest.The only thing you can do is anticipate the traffic jam and leave your home a half hour or one hour early. But that does not really keep the time killer at bay. It just helps you to avoid being late. In this respect you have two options. Either you could find something inferential to do while you wait for the traffic to move along or the traffic light to change o r a better option would be to take subway and walk the rest of the way. You can get a long a lot faster on your feet and it is a lot better for your health as well. By doing so, you can similarly get rid of the headache of finding a parking space. not surprisingly lengthy meetings and discussions can prove to be awful time killers particularly if the meeting does not have a clear docket and if there are people who love top talk among the group. It has been found that most middle and senior level mangers spend nearly 70% of their work time talking. And in most organizations, parleying has been made into a fine art.* Bad machinery is a time waster. How many of us have cherished to sit and scream and bang the daylights out of a pc that does not give us the required data or information. A data processor that takes a long time to start up, a photocopier that gives shamefully pass photocopies, even a leaky faucet or a heady drawer or door knob can waste a lot of time and send us up the wall. If you have such equipment or machinery, get it changed at the earliest possible date. It is worth the amount of time and energy that you waste on it every day.* Long queues certainly waste a lot of time. That does not mean that you have to jump the queue. If you can get the job done over the telephone or can reserve your ticket in advance, do it, even if it delegacy a few extra dollars, it is worth the time you may have to spend waiting.Apart from these each person may have particular time wasters, like for instance, a car that refuses to start in the morning, difficult hair that insists on looking like Medusas head on a bad snake day, an elevator that takes forever to reach your floor. Use your common sense and try to find alternate methods or even better, if you cannot find an alternate method, you could put the time to some use like read your morning paper in the elevator.You will get a better idea of how to get over time killers once we handle the department called the time savers.Lining Up Your Ducks PrioritizeLining up your ducks is a familiar and charming phrase. It derives from the tendency of baby ducklings to swim in a perfectly straight line behind their mother. If the ducklings begin to stray too far, the mother duck will invariably shepherd them back into linethus, getting her ducks in a row.The application of this phrase to time management is clear. If you deal with things in a logical, orderly sequence, youre sure to bring expertness and results to your efforts. When your ducks begin to stray too far afield, danger is lurkingfor them and for you.Lets face it. 24 hours in a day is not enough time for many people to do everything in their schedule. It is therefore imperative that people perform their activities in the order of priority. Time management experts like Stephen Covey S R (The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People Simon Schuster) have developed a model called a time management matrix.This model enables managers to prio ritize their activities and use their time more effectively. With the help of the model, they can evaluate their activities in terms of importance and urgency.The art of prioritizing covers 4 major task groups main(prenominal) and pressingnot Important but imperativenot Urgent but Important non Important and non UrgentTIME MANAGEMENT MATRIXImportant and UrgentQuadrant 1 represents things which are both imperative and important labeled firefighting. The activities need to be dealt with immediately, and they are important.These tasks are the ones that must be done right away, or consequences may result. An example would be bills that are due today. If you dont pay your bills on time, you would line up additional charges or they might cut off their services to you. Activities belong to this category need to be acted upon without delay. You should give them the highest priority.Important but non UrgentQuadrant 2 represents things which are important, but not urgent labelled Quali ty Time. Although the activities here are important, and contribute to achieving the goals and priorities they do not have to be done right now. As a result, they can be scheduled when they can be given quality thought to them.A good example would be the preparation of an important talk, or mentoring a key individual. Prayer time, family time and personal relaxation/ refreshment are also part of Quadrant 2.Urgent but Not ImportantQuadrant 3 represents distractions. They must be dealt with right now, but frankly, are not important. For example, when a person answers an unwanted phone call, he/she has had to interrupt whatever he/she is doing to answer it.Not Important and Not UrgentQuadrant 4 represents Time Wasting. You might think activities in this section are not worth peoples time, so they wont withdraw in these activities much. You would be surprised to know that people spend most of their time doing things that are both unimportant and non-urgent, such as honoring TV and m ovies, playing video games, senseless chatting for hours on the phone, shopping for new clothes, etc.Of course, it is essential for people to relax and unwind once in a while.All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, as they say. But you should be strict in limiting your time for these activities that is, if you really want to accomplish a lot in your life.Treat activities belonging to this section with the lowest priority. If you really want to succeed, purely limit your time in doing these activities or dont do them at all. tension on those that will bring you fruitful results. outcomeed Priority TacticHeres one of the most powerful techniques that you can use to manage your time efficiently the Numbered Priority Tactic.Buy a very small notebook that you can put in your pocket. You should be able to bring it anywhere you go. At the front page of the notebook, put the title Important and Urgent. At the back page, put the title Important but Not Urgent.If an idea or event you encounter is Urgent but Not Important, then forget it. You want to utilize your time well, wont you? If you think its significant in some way, then you may put it under Important and Urgent. cut down Not Important and Not Urgent tasks.Every time something comes up during your daily work or on your mind, put it in the appropriate page of your little notebook. So lets say your boss told you to submit a report due tomorrow. Write it down on your notebook under Important and Urgent. Then your friend told you that theres a big 2-day sale at the downtown furniture store. You may put it under Important and Urgent if you simply must have that furniture youre drooling for months. But if you think your class would do fine without it, then dont write it anymore. As youre walking down the street you suddenly thought of a great new idea for your part-time business. You may put it under Important but Not Urgent.As the day goes on, write down each and every idea, thought, or event that comes to your mind. As the list increases in each category, examine each of them carefully and start numbering each item in the order of priority with 1 being the highest priority. live on working on Number 1, and never go to Number 2 until youre done with Number 1 for each category. If distractions come about, you may take care of them first but always come back to your numbered list when youre done.Because priorities may change, you may put together or change the numbers of the items in the list. You may also transfer one item from Important and Urgent to Important but Not Urgent, and vice-versa. When you do any changes, make sure your notebook stays clean. delight your writings to a new page when you see that its getting untidy. Start off with a new page every day.This method can enable you to achieve more in one week than what most people can accomplish in a month. The important thing you must do is to buy that little notebook and to start doing this first-rate tactic right now Time is running fast.