Today, most people live in a very dynamic world and face the lack of time. Each day more people are turning to the basics of time management in order to optimize their time expenses. However, the self-time management is both simple and complex science, which is necessary for all people who try to live their life with maximum efficiency. This assignment is a reflective essay, which describes the author's experience in self-time management.
My everyday duties are quite similar every day. As many people, I try to combine studying, work and housework. Given that I am about to graduate from interdisciplinary major this fall, I need to maintain a sufficiently high level education in order to gain the necessary knowledge and skills. Also, I need to work to be able to pay for all my needs. Although learning and work are both rather time-consuming areas, I find enough time to take care of my kids and the clean the house as it is usually a woman duty.
How many hats do you wear in a given day / week?
In fact, sometimes I feel like an actress because for one day I have to wear a lot of hats! I am a student, when I attend my classes. At work, I am a caring assistant, as I work as a caregiver full time. At home, I am a cook, a cleaning lady, teacher and animator in one person. It is important to add that at home I incessantly "wear a lot of hats," because in addition to household duties and family, I also need to do homework. So, if you count "the number of hats," which I wear every day, a number of them will start with four or more.
If you have to complete 20 tasks in a day what are the top priorities?
It seems that 20 jobs per day is a lot. However, in reality, I do a lot more tasks. Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a good example of how people put their priorities in completing assignments. I am not the exception, so that Maslow's hierarchy of needs also reflects my principles of prioritizing. Among the twenty main tasks, there are five the most important tasks, which I complete always. The first my responsibility is school attending, since it affects my future work and level of living. The second priority is church, as it gives me peace of mind and spiritual development of the soul. The third priority is work, as the salary allows using all the necessary goods and services for living. The fourth priority is linked to the first one, and it is studying, as attending school is not enough, it is necessary to prepare for the classes at home. Finally, the fifth priority task is shopping. Shopping is not only a necessary food purchasing, but also a fun time spending, which helps improve my mood. I truly need to accomplish just these five tasks, as all the rest ones are voluntary tasks, which change from day to day.
Identify your ROI's (Return on Investment) for each task?
It is said that time is one of the most valuable resources in the world. Therefore, to measure the productiveness of time, it is possible to use ROI's (Return on Investment) indicator. ROI is the value of the investment at the end of the period. Normally, this indicator is measured in money, because it is basically an economic term. Given that the self-time management includes not only incomes and costs, but also such activities as training, cleaning the house and going to church, which are hardly measured in money, my ROI formula a day is as follows:
ROI's (Return on Investment) = [Salary + (Pn 1 - Pn)] / Pn , where
“Salary” - is the money that I receive for a day on my work;
“Pn” - that is what I spend a day as an investment in myself. This figure includes the cost of training, related materials and even food and transport cost, as these costs allow me to live a full life;
“Pn+1” - this is the "cost or value" of me as an asset that I have at the end of the day as a result of investments made (Pn). Every day, my value of Pn+1 is increasing, because I get new knowledge due to studying and become more experienced on the job, which helps me to be more valuable in the labor market, for example.
Are there hours spent on a particular task, affecting the things that are important to you, such as your family, lifestyle, and or health?
Of course, about 30% of the time I spend on the necessities of life. Taking care of children takes most of the time. Also, the maintenance of cleanliness in the house is also my daily task. My lifestyle also includes visits to churches and prays, which take some time every day. But in fact, the household tasks take away too much time, which influence all the rest of my tasks.
Identify your personal "time bandits"?
As any other person, I have several time bandits, which essentially steal my lifetime. I can think of two actions that take most of the time. This is mainly household chores, especially dish washing and sometimes I play too many games on my phone. I can say that although these are time bandits, they have a different effect on me despite from taking my time away. Washing dishes is really annoying and makes the mood get worse. At the same time, games on the phone help me relax or reduce the waiting time, if it is necessary.
Are there any tasks or duties you could delegate and / or outsource?
Of course, some of my duties, I try to delegate to others. For example, in order to prepare for lessons, I sometimes I shift my house routines to other people. Nevertheless, the majority of tasks I have to perform on my own, which really bothers me. In the nearest future, I plan to reorganize my time and outsource more routine tasks to other people in order to be able to develop more.
