TIME MANAGEMENT..Nice Article

 TIME MANAGEMENT

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. It’s 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
 Interruptions - personal visitors
 Meetings
 Tasks you should have delegated
 Procrastination and indecision
 Acting with incomplete information
 Dealing with team members
 Crisis management (fire fighting)
 Unclear communication
 Inadequate technical knowledge
 Unclear objectives and priorities
 Lack of planning
 Stress and fatigue
 Inability to say "No"
 Desk management and personal disorganisation

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 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 team’s 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.
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.




The Eleven Biggest Time Management Lies !!


In the world of Time Management there are things said to us that we Accept as truth and we act
accordingly. The problem is sometimes they Are not truths. They are lies and as we believe
them, they waste our Time.
Those who speak these lies to us are not bad people at all because You and I are among them.
We all speak these untruths to one another from time to time. So let's not wish harm and doom
to the liars. Let's avoid the time traps their lying may cause us.
Here are the eleven biggest lies to shield yourself from.
1. "This will just take a minute." Has anyone grabbed you with that line? Does it ever "just take a
minute"? Rarely. What typically "just takes a minute", generally consumes several minutes and
more. Next time, when someone asks for your time and assures you," This will just take a
minute", tell them, "You're lying. You may not realize you're lying, but you are. I'll give you five
minutes. You may begin now."
2. "I need this as soon as possible." No you don't. That's a lie too. you need it by a certain date
and time because you are going to do something with what I provide for you. And if you're not
going to do anything with what I provide for you, why am I doing it for you in the first place?
Don't lie to me. Tell me when I have to get it to you. Be specific. You and I probably have two
difference dates in mind when we think in terms of "as soon as possible".

3. "I want this now." I doubt it. In this 24/7/365 world, everyone is under a sense of artificial
pressure to get it done "now" or worse," Yesterday". Things are generally not that urgent. Don't
get caught up in someone else's urgent trivialities. Call the liar to task. "I'm not sure I can get
that done now. What if I got it to you one week from today?" Use an outside deadline to give
yourself ample time to prevent getting into crisis management. Oh, and if they reject that
alternative, try three better dates for you. Why? Because, they may keep lying to you.
4. "It's not about the money." When it's not about the money, it's about the money.
5. "This is the best (investment, business opportunity, book, movie, restaurant, boss, job, etc.)
you'll ever find." Not true. There's always something better. The best is yet to come.
6. "I can get this done in an hour." It's a fib. Ever notice how it almost always takes twice as long
to get something done as what you thought it would? That's because few of us have a very
accurate internal clock to estimate the time required to complete most tasks.
7. "He's a' late' person." Most people who are "late" have a consistency about their behavior. My
friend Dwayne is 20 minutes late all the time. If we need to meet for lunch tomorrow, it will take
him 24 hours and twenty minutes to get there. Dwayne is not "late". He's "On-time; 20 minutes
later".
8."No Cost." You don't get "nothing for nothing". Everything has a cost. It may not cost you your
money but more often it will be your time and more of it than what you are getting in return for
"no cost".
9. "I'll prove you're wrong if it's the last thing I do." And it may well be. No one wants to be
proven wrong. Everyone likes to be caught doing things "right". Most, however, don't mind being
shown how to do things better.
10. "By the time I show him how to do it I could just as quickly have done it myself." If it's a onetime
proposition this may be true. It doesn't make a lot of sense to spend an hour to show
someone how to do a task that takes only 10 minutes.
But if it's a repetitive task, it's a lie. If that one hour investment will save you 10 minutes every
day, then in about a week you have your investment back and now you have a dividend of 10
extra minutes a day. What if you do that six different times? You get an extra hour in your day
and 365 hours over the next year.
11. "This is going to be really hard." Not true. Going through whatever you have to go through is
almost never as difficult as you imagined It to be. My high school principal, taught me that 95%
of what we fear coming at us will never hit us. It will ditch itself before it ever reaches us. And as
to the remaining 5%, tap your inner strengths to deal with it.

Do’s of Time Management


1) Draw out clear KPAs, time bound objectives and detailed plans for your job.
2) Plan your day ahead. List out the most important things to be done the next day in order
of importance.
3) Do delegate matters which you do not have to decide yourself. Insist on exercise of
delegated authority.
4) Be predictable. Know your staff and let your staff know your mind.
5) Record occasionally for some stretch of time how you spend your time and analyse
critically your time management.
6) Do accept that whatever your superior wants is urgent and important (till you are able to
convince him that it is not really so). But as a superior, decide priorities with reference to
organisational needs.
7) Do set aside fixed hours in a day when your staff can meet you or you will call them,
other than in any emergency.
8) Do set aside some time a week for innovative thinking and long range planning
regarding your area of responsibility, so as to anticipate problems and heighten your
contribution to the organisation.
9) Set aside some time, preferably towards the end of the day for trivial administrative
details.
10) Insist on completed staff work.
11) Finish the task you have taken up before getting to another.
12) Develop the habit of single handling i.e., making a decision or disposing of a paper at the
first opportunity itself.
13) Manage your time as you manage your money.
14) Do find time to relax, to draw back and look at what you are / have been doing (Review
time)
The trouble with service delivery is that it can’t be checked in advance, like a piece of crystal, or
a luxury car. We can’t sample it, package it, systemize it or automate service. It’s only produced
at the moment of consumption, our win-or-lose moment. That service delivery is often
performed by the most junior of our employees, often least motivated.
-- John Sharpe