Important strategies for time management are given below:
(1) Self Assessment:
This should focus on one’s physical health, energy; outward appearance, age, emotional maturity, level of stress, needs for achievement, affiliation and power, intellectual ability, interest in reading, writing and one’s job/profession, learning styles, requirement for frequent feedback level of flexibility, life-goals, confidence, self-esteem and so forth.
(2) Spend Time for Planning:
This should include answering questions such as what is the nature of my work? Is it necessary and important? When am I doing it? How much time am I spend on it? How much time should I spend on it? Am I utilizing my time effectively? Which of my activities are left undone due to lack of time?
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(3) Set Priorities:
List out the things that you need to do during your working day. Then prioritize them. Setting priorities depends upon the following factors:
i. Urgency of the task.
ii. Importance of the task.
iii. Relationship to other tasks.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
iv. Time required for completing the task.
v. Human relationships.
D’ Souza (1989) has provided the following time management Grid which is useful in prioritizing tasks.
(4) Set Deadlines:
After prioritizing the tasks to be done, set achievable, workable deadlines for each task.
(5) Check for Success:
Setting deadlines in itself will not help in managing time. In order to succeed with your time management, you need to check intermittently whether the work is performed as per schedules or not. This helps in taking timely actions to follow pre-determined plans.
(6) Get Organized:
It includes the following:
(a) Handle it once:
Take up a task and ensure its completion. Switching over from one task to other results in mishandling or a delay in completing them.
(b) Expect interruptions:
When one works along with or in the presence of other people, interruptions will always occur from your colleagues, boss, students, etc. Hence, do not get irritated by interruptions and leave a margin for them in your work schedule.
(c) Tackle one thing at a time:
Do not handle too many things at a time as it leads to stress and confusion. It could also divide attention and thus affect the quality of work.
(d) Group similar tasks together:
Make a list of all telephone calls that you need to make and finish them at one go if possible. Similarly, list out all the instructions meant for staff/students and give them all at a time.
(e) Throw out something every day:
Do not let unnecessary papers get collected on your table and in files. Make ample use of your waste-paper basket. This helps in locating necessary papers on time.
(7) “Do not disturb”:
Keep sometime for yourself everyday when you do not allow disturbance from anyone so that important tasks can be completed without diversion of attention.
(8) Use Your Prime Time Effectively:
Find out the time of the day when your energy level would be at its peak and use it to do the most important task.
(9) Stop Procrastinating:
There are three main causes of procrastination:
(a) Unpleasantness of the task.
(b) Difficulty level of the task.
(c) Indecisiveness.
Procrastination can be conquered as follows:
(i) Be aware of and recognize the fact that you procrastinate. In the long-run, this may harm you because your problems are not getting solved.
(ii) Handle the unpleasant task first in the morning.
(iii) Deal with smaller units of the unpleasant or difficult tasks one at a time.
(iv) Break down unpleasant tasks into smaller units and spend only 10-15 minutes at a time doing it. You may find that once you have started working at it, you want to complete it or you may not find it so unpleasant.
(v) Do not wait for the right mood or inspiration since “success is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration”.
(vi) There is a time to deliberate and a time to act. Do not spend all your time in planning. Once planned, go ahead and implement it
(vii) Do not be a perfectionist as it wastes your own as well as others’ time and leads to tension.
(viii) Do not worry. Develop a list of your worries. After sometime tally these with actual events. You may find that many of your worries were ill-founded. This may help in reducing your worries.
(10) Use the Telephone:
Whenever possible, use telephone rather than making personal visits to people.
(11) Reduce Socializing:
Spend less time on social visits and idle chats with people.
(12) Do Not Plan to Work Overtime:
Working overtime shows your inefficiency.
(13) Know Thy Job:
Learn how to perform your job so as to avoid trial and error and waste of time.
(14) Stress Reduction:
Relax every day and use techniques to reduce stress.
(15) Learn to Develop:
Do not insist on doing everything yourself. Involve others in performing your tasks by giving them both responsibility and authority.
(16) Be Patient:
Fruits of success do not appear instantly. Completing a task in a hurry could affect the quality of work and increase tensions.
(17) Communications:
Improving communication procedures and skills help in reducing wastage of time.