A lot of people complain that 24 hours is not enough time to do their activities within the day. Most would even say it would be nicer had there been additional hours in a day just to accommodate all the things individuals perceive as important for them. However, what people fail to realize is that 24 hours is more than enough time to accomplish daily goals. The problem lies on how one manages one's time. Most often, individuals choose tasks that are easy to complete and then spend so many hours resting instead of prioritizing tasks and then finding time to incorporate leisure activities. Regardless if the individual is a student or an employee, learning to manage time will spell a huge difference when it comes to success and accomplishment of goals.
What is Time Management?
Time management means an individual's ability to control their time effectively and allocate the correct amount of time to the right activity. It refers to prioritization of activities so that the ones that need be completed are done at the right time over the less important ones. It is also the realization that time is limited, thus, making the best use of time helps in completing desired goals.
For instance, an employee working in the Army service has to follow strictly the working hours and schedules set by the commanding officer considering that the service, and all other branches, is known to be precise when it comes to time. Otherwise, this could mean delays in other activities as planned by the service. Although managing time wisely is crucial for organizations such as the Army, the benefits of time management extend to people's personal lives as well. Therefore, the next important question is: Why are time and time management so important?
Importance of Time and Time Management
First of all, time is a resource that cannot be halted and stored for later use. Whatever amount of time that individuals waste cannot be retrieved. Considering that everyone has the same amount of time to expend each day and most activities require interaction with others, understanding how to use time wisely benefits all concerned instead of wasting time. Even if some individuals complain that they have so much to do and so little time to do them, properly managing time will help complete goals one at a time. Thus, instead of blaming stress, bad relationships, poor financial situation, and lack of exercise, among others, for the inability to come on time or complete activities, learning the basics of effective time management will change the whole scenario.
Secondly, effective time management allows people to make wise and conscious choices as to which activities should be done ahead of others. This means examining each activity and prioritizing the ones that are more important than the others. Thus, at the end of the day, individuals spend more time doing important and valuable activities.
Thirdly, people should learn to "create" time and "make" time because waiting for more time only wastes the valuable resource. By planning wisely, people will be able to do more things with their time and not waste other people's time as well. Gradually, people will see that goals and activities that they planned to accomplish are slowly coming to fruition. As this happens, they will learn to weigh their planned activities, thus, the more they lead a balanced and fulfilling life. In turn, individuals become more productive and improve their management skills.
Effectively Managing Time
Because life presents people with many choices, which add to the many distractions that cause humans to lose time on unimportant activities, evaluating one's own method of thinking and prioritizing activities is important. Following are some tips on effectively managing one's time:
Planning. Individuals must plan their activities. If it would help, creating a task plan or a To Do list can ensure that all activities that need to be done are completed according to schedule. Therefore, high priority tasks must come on top of the list and completed according to the order of importance. In addition, pending tasks must be completed one at a time and ticked upon completion. Succeeding tasks will only be started after completing a task on the list.
Goal Setting. Without goals and targets to finish, individuals will find themselves overwhelmed by the sheer number of tasks for completion. Thus, setting realistic and achievable targets will ensure that objectives are met.
Deadlines. Goal setting is ineffective when specific deadlines are not defined because goal setting without deadlines is the same as not setting goals at all. Therefore, when defining goals, dates when an activity has to be accomplished must be set as well.
Delegation of Responsibilities. Roles and responsibilities of people involved in a specific activity must be clear so that everyone has accountability on the tasks. This also enables members of the team to share responsibilities when one needs help in accomplishing goals. Thus, individuals must also learn to say "No" and not do everything on his or her own.
Positive Effects of Proper Time Management
When individuals adhere to a strict schedule, they tend to work on time. It may sometimes happen when activities last longer than is expected, but at least, completion of the task is closer to what is the expected time of completion. Relating this concept to personal activities, students who attend traditional classroom instruction typically come in late due to personal errands. No matter what the excuse, the point is they are still late in coming to class. This means, the teacher either waits for all the students to arrive before starting the lessons and thus wasting his or her time, including the other students' time, or proceeds with the lessons resulting to students missing important parts of the discussion. Either way is a loss-loss situation for both parties. Therefore, so as not to waste anybody's time, students must come to class on time.
Another positive effect of proper time management is improved efficiency. Being on time with work equates to efficient use of time, thus, more tasks are completed and goals accomplished through proper planning of events. As a result, individuals become more productive and produce quality results. In terms of management skills, it helps individuals develop their skills considering that they work with a plan and a specified deadline. Thus, constantly doing this can help bring discipline into one's life.
Learning various methods on how to manage time can actually give the feeling of control. Thus, instead of feeling one needs more time aside from the 24 hours a day, people will actually have more time in their hands when they plan and manage their time properly.
