How To Manage Time Properly ?

Dr. Purushothaman
August 12, 2013

Time, is a period allotted to every living being equally. No one is given an extra amount of time. All you have to do is to manage doing your tasks within the allotted time of 24 hours, given to us by Mother Nature. It can be seen that the proper use of time can make a man successful. People who fail to establish themselves look upon the successful ones with a sense of jealousy as to how they succeed in their lives. But the point is all of us have the same amount of time…no more and no less. It matters how we make use of our productive hours. Success or failure actually comes to a person regarding the way we use these hours.

Managing time…
It is easy to manage time if we take necessary efforts to do so.
• List out your tasks. Making a to-do list helps us to know how much work we have to do. While listing out your tasks, you also have to include routine jobs you do.
• Tasks with more priority should be done first. The tasks which you have to complete today or the next day should be scheduled first. After finishing them, go to the next level that is tasks for the third day or the next week and so on.
• Balance on your effort. Always concentrate on tasks you have at hand. Before finishing the tasks at hand, never skip on to the next one, as it will lead to the incompletion of the first task as well as the second one. This also caused a lot of strain and pressure on your side. After finishing the first task, move towards the second one. Finish small portions of future tasks. It helps in minimizing the pressure.
• Choose your productive time. It is more often seen that each of us have a specific productive time – the time when we are active, and tend to do creative tasks with full energy. Some people are active and creative during the early hours of the day, while others are active during evenings. It is for you to find out and decide when to work more creatively. Find ‘your’ time.
• Scheduling time. Choose to set a time-limit for each task. You have to be quick enough to finish that task within the time-limit which you have scheduled. In short you are putting yourself in a race, against time. Try to complete the task within that limit.
• Give breaks. Split your work to half an hour or an hour, then after that time, take a short break. This clears your mind and refreshes you, helping you to focus on the next task.
• Avoid multi-tasking. Multi-tasking only helps to increase pressure. Do one task at a time. Mixing up two to three tasks together can only make you worn out. If you want perfection in your work, then do it one at a time.
• Get started. Most of us face a big problem of starting trouble, before beginning any task. It is very easy to finish a task but the tough part is how to start. We think and re-think on how we start a new assignment. All we have to do is ‘Just Begin’….things will come our way when we ignite our mind to begin it. Never think of the task as a whole. Split it into parts, allot a specific time for each part and then start working one part at a time.
• Develop your mind to take control of your frustrations and failures. In any creative task, it is natural that you face problems like failures. Mistakes are the keys to success. So treat failures as lessons to achieve your goal. Use effective strategies while dealing with pressure. Regular exercise, yoga or meditation can help in minimizing pressure of work load.
• Try to be assertive at times. Politely say ‘no’ to unnecessary demands. Helping and sharing the problems of others during the time of the task can only help in increasing your mental pressure. So avoid helping others when you are having too much of work.
• Identify when you waste your time the most. For this, you have to list out your daily routine in a piece of paper. Have a look at the time you waste. Think on ways to make that time more productive, and execute what you plan

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