Many of us claim our days are never wasted. "I’m very organised" we say
"I know where I am going and what I’m going to do". If you truly feel
that way then you are in the minority. Most people become frustrated
with a day that is unproductive. We would all like to get more done in
a day.
The idea of time management has been in existence for more than 100
years. Unfortunately the term "Time management" creates a false
impression of what a person is able to do. Time can’t be managed, time
is uncontrollable we can only manage ourselves and our use of time.
Time management is actually self management. Its interesting that the
skills we need to manage others are the same skills we need to manage
ourselves: the ability to plan, delegate, organise, direct and control
There are common time wasters which need to be identified.
In order for a time management process to work it is important to know
what aspects of our personal management need to be improved. Below you
will find some of the most frequent reasons for reducing effectiveness
in the workplace. Tick the ones which are causing to be the major
obstacles to your own time management. These we refer to as your "Time
Stealers".
Identifying your time stealers
* Interruptions – telephone
* Crisis management (fire fighting)
* Interruptions – personal visitors
* Unclear communication
* Meetings
* Inadequate technical knowledge
* Tasks you should have delegated
* Unclear objectives and priorities
* Procrastination and indecision
* Lack of planning
* Acting with incomplete information
* Stress and fatigue
* Dealing with team members
* Inability to say "No"
* Desk management and personal dis-organisation
Fortunately there are strategies you can use to manage your time, be
more in control and reduce stress, but you can analyse your time and
see how you may be both the cause and the solution to your time challenges.
Below, we examine time management issues in more detail
1. Shifting priorities and crisis management. Management guru Peter
Drucker says that "crisis management is actually the form of management
preferred by most managers" The irony is that actions taken prior to
the crisis could have prevented the fire in the first place.
2. The telephone. Have you ever had one of those days when you thought
your true calling was in Telemarketing. The telephone-our greatest
communication tool can be our biggest enemy to effectiveness if you
don’t know how to control its hold over you.
3. Lack of priorities/objectives. This probably is the biggest/ most
important time waster. It affects all we do both professionally and
personally. Those who accomplish the most in a day know exactly what
they want to accomplish. Unfortunately too many of us think that goals
and objectives are yearly things and not daily considerations. This,
results in too much time spent on the minor things and not on the
things which are important to our work/lives
4. Attempting too much. Many people today feel that they have to
accomplish everything yesterday and don’t give themselves enough time
to do things properly. This leads only to half finished projects and no
feeling of achievement.
5. Drop in visitors. The five deadliest words that rob your time are
"Have you got a minute". Everyone’s the culprit-colleagues., the boss,
your peers. Knowing how to deal with interruptions is one of the best
skills you can learn.
6. Ineffective delegation. Good delegation is considered a key skill in
both managers and leaders. The best managers have an ability to
delegate work to staff and ensure it is done correctly. This is probably the
best way of building a teams moral and reducing your workload at the same
time. The general rule is -this; if one of your staff can do it 80% as
well as you can, then delegate it.
7. The cluttered desk. When you have finished reading this article look
at your desk. If you can see less than 80% of it then you are probably
suffering from ‘desk stress’. The most effective people work from clear
desks.
8.Procrastination. The biggest thief of time; not decision making but
decision avoidance. By reducing the amount of procrastinating you do
you can substantially increase the amount of active time available to you.
9. The inability to say "no!". The general rule is; if people can dump
their work or problems on to your shoulders they will do it . Some of
the most stressed people around lack the skill to ‘just say no’ for
fear of upsetting people.
10. Meetings. Studies have shown that the average manager spends about
17 hours a week in meetings and about 6 hours in the planning time and
untold hours in the follow up. I recently spoke to an executive who has
had in the last 3 months 250 meetings It is widely acknowledged that
about as much of a third of the time spent in meetings is wasted due to
poor meeting management and lack of planning If you remember your goal
is to increase your self management, these are the best ways to achieve
this;
There are many ways we can manage our time. We have listed some
strategies you can use to manage your time.
1. Always define your objectives as clearly as possible. Do you find
You are not doing what you want because your goals have not been set. One
of the factors which mark out successful people is their ability to work
out what they want to achieve and have written goals which they can
review them constantly. Your long term goals should impact on your
daily activities and be included on your "to do" list. Without a goal or
objective people tend to just drift personally and professionally
2. Analyse your use of time. Are you spending enough time on the
projects which although may not be urgent now are the things you need
to do to develop yourself or your career. If you are constantly asking
yourself "What is the most important use of my time, right now?" it
will help you to focus on ‘important tasks’ and stop reacting to tasks which
seem urgent (or pleasant to do) but carry no importance towards your
goals.
3. Have a plan. How can you achieve your goals without a plan. Most
people know what they want but have no plan to achieve it except by
sheer hard work. Your yearly plan should be reviewed daily and reset as
your achievements are met. Successful people make lists constantly. It
enables them to stay on top of priorities and enable them to remain
flexible to changing priorities. This should be done for both personal
and business goals.
4. Action plan analysis: Problems will always occur, the value of a
Good plan is to identify them early and seek out solutions. Good time
management enables you to measure the progress towards your goals
because "What you can measure, you can control". Always try to be
proactive.
Time management (or self management) is not a hard subject to
understand, but unless you are committed to build time management
techniques into your daily routine you’ll only achieve partial (or no)
results and then make comments such as "I tried time management once
and it doesn’t work for me". The lesson to learn is that the more time we
spend planning our time and activities the more time we will have for
those activities. By setting goals and eliminating time wasters and
doing this everyday you may find you will have extra time in the week
to spend on those people and activities most important to you.
© Collected
Related posts:
