Re: Daily Tips on Time Management---Try this idea and see the difference!

 

Cc: nahid ; Eastern envo ; JEBEEN@aol.com ; barbara

Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2005 9:34 AM

Subject: Daily Tips on Time Management---Try this idea and see the difference!

visit http://saleemindia.blogspot.com

 

 

Notice Backsliding, don't feel guilty!
 

Have you ever made a promise to jog every day, sincerely implemented it for a few days and then discontinued? Decided to quit smoking, but returned to it after a few days? I am sure these sound familiar to you. On such occasions it is natural to feel guilty and lose self-confidence.

 

If you do it, don't! Accept backsliding as normal- as something that happens to almost all people who at first do some thing emotionally and then discontinue. We need to accept it as a part of human fallibility. We need to understand that habits are not formed over night and hence cannot be removed or changed over night.

 

Instead of feeling guilty and sad, becomes sensitive, but not emotional. To become sensitive is to notice an even through our five senses. To become emotional is to react either too positively or too negatively. Whenever you backslide, do not ignore, but take note of the same. Introspect why you gave up doing the same and record the specific reasons for the same. Find out how you can get back to doing the activity you gave up. Perhaps you committed to do some thing, which you cannot genuinely continue. Do a cause-effect analysis and find out the root cause for your inaction.

 

Resolve to solve the problem and don't avoid the same.

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Practice fixed time appointments.

 

If you think about it, time management is nothing but getting into a discipline of doing a specific activity at a specific point of time frame. It is about time frame, time zones, time schedules, timetables, etc. Most of the time management tips are mere common sense. But, just like many common sense points are not so common, many will find them difficult to follow.

 

The reason for this situation is you are wired and programmed in a particular style due to conditioning of your mind and behaviour. We are comfortable to do things in the way we are used for a very long time. Any change from a pre set pattern of behaviour is difficult to practice and sustain. You will appreciate that many of the so-called New Year resolutions are given up after a few weeks of practice. We will have a lot of excuses for not following them.

 

However, you have to fight against this problem if you want to manage your time effectively. You need to understand that you should start from something, which is small and simple to follow. Do not start with major issues like yoga, jogging, skipping, etc. you can consider the following simple things:

 

;          Start having the morning coffee at a specific time, say 6 30 am sharp, and follow this meticulously

;          Start having break fast at a specific pre fixed time.

;          Start retiring to bed at a specific time.

 

You pick up small but simple activities such as the above. Do not attempt to change too many things at the same time. Have not more than 2 or 3 things to be changed at a point of time. Try to stick to the schedule for the next 30 to 40 days. Once you are able to do this, your confidence level will go up and thereafter you can take up bigger issues.

 

Remember the old adage: slow and steady wins the race'.

 

Try from to day, will you?
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Focus on tasks and not on activities.

 

In managing our time, many of are conscious of what we are doing but not why we are doing what we are doing. We need to focus on the end result of our activities and not on merely on our activities. We need to distinguish between a 'task' and andactivity'. A task is the end result of an activity or a set of activities.

 

For example, 'reading a book' is an activity and the task is acquisition of knowledge. 'Jogging' is an activity and reducing weight is the task. If there is no link between an activity and a task in our conscious awareness, then we may not do that activity for long. They become meaningless rituals in our mind. If an activity or a set of activities does not produce the expected results, then it becomes a waste of time.

 

The ability to link and activity and task is an important ingredient for success. We need to start with an end in our mind and just not be merely doing an activity. Our inner dialogue should be in line with this simple principle. For example, we should say 'I am going to jog'. Instead of this we should say 'I will be one kg less in 30 days by jogging 15 minutes per day'. We should not say 'I am meditating' but say, 'I am improving my mental health by meditating'.

 

Whenever we are able to link an activity and a task, we will be able to measure the result of our outcome. By simply asking the question 'why am I doing this activity? we will be able to release our time a lot of unnecessary activities which 'fills up' our time. We will be able to distinguish between 'value adding' and 'non value adding activities'. An activity is value adding only when it takes us nearer to our goals and objectives. All other activities are non-value adding and are just 'filler' material for our time.

 

Time is such a precious resource, which should not be dissipated on meaningless activities. Today you print a question: why am I doing this? and place it in front of your worktable. This will help you to make

off-course corrections in your daily activities.

 

Just answer this question: why are you reading this page!

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Longest uninterrupted span.

 

Can you visualise a journey during which you are stopped every now and then and ultimately you arrive very late to the destination fully exhausted and frustrated? This is what comes to my mind when your flow of work is interrupted by frequent interruption such as telephone, visitors, unexpected meetings, etc.

 

From to day for the next one week you keep a log of the interruptions that you come across. Find out the longest span of un-interrupted time (other than sleeping of course!) when you were able to concentrate on the task on hand. You will be surprised that it is much shorter than you thought. In my experience people say that is not more than 15 to 20 minutes on a normal day!

 

You need to concentrate like a laser beam and your concentration should not be dissipated like a torch light beam. There is always a delay to get back to your flow every time you are interrupted. You may miss some very important point and forget what you were about to write or say if you are interrupted. More than any thing your valuable time will be wasted and you will end up taking much more time to complete the task in hand.

 

One of the ways to deal with this problem is to study your interruption log and find out the most frequent cause for your interruption and take counter measure. For example, if telephone is your most frequent interruption, you may divert all the calls or sit in a place where you will not be interrupted at all. Or you can keep the receiver off the hook. Adapt a method, which is most suitable to you.

 

One other idea is to wake up before others wake up and concentrate on your most important issue with out any interruption. Or you can keep awake till late in the night and beat the interruption. Find out a hiding place where you will not be disturbed at all. Inform people around you that you are not available for the next couple of hours (or minutes!) and request their cooperation.

 

Do some thing. Be innovative. Beat the interruption.

 

How many times you were interrupted before completing this page?

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Check your tools

 

While dealing with our time, we need to know that we should make our time to work for us. If think carefully, we will understand that there is no such thing as managing time! What we are trying to do is to do is ensure that we reach the goals that we fix with in the time that we fix for accomplishing the same. If we reach the goal with in the time that we fix, we say that we have managed our time effectively. But the truth is that we have managed our outcome and not the time.

 

One important factor for managing and controlling our outcome is the  'tools' that we use in our day-to-day life. In engineering, there is a term called tooling . When the tools that we have are appropriate, we are able to complete the task in hand fast and effectively. We can give a lot of examples for this term tooling with reference to time and productivity. A car is a tool. A good computer is a tool. A calculator is a tool. If these tools are appropriate or if we do not have the appropriate tool at the appropriate time, then there is a delay in completing our task in time. In the absence of right type of tools our anxiety to complete our task in time will only result in time pressure.

 

We need to match the tools we have with our goals and how big is our goal. A diary is a very important tool. Its usefulness is as good as we chose and use the same. Take a look of your diary and check if it suits your profile and meets your requirement. There are day-at-sight diary and week-at-sight diary. There are also month-at-sight diaries. Depending on your normal week and appointment schedule, choose the one which fits your requirement. Don't use a diary just because some one gives you as a New Year gift!

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Dump the out dated!
 

Just visualize your walking inside a room where you find useless things but in a good shape. You find a gramophone recorder player, a telex machine, old clothing, a tricycle which you loved riding when you were young etc. Think how useful there were at a point of time. Are they useful anymore? Do you need them now? Are they valuable at this point of time? Similarly go through your old address book and visiting card album and look through each and every thing they contain. Do you need them any more?

 

Compare this scene with your mind and the contents of your mind! What is it filled with? Consider your old habits and things you did some time back. List the various thoughts that occupy your mind and evaluate if they are relevant now? Consider the skills that you have now and check for their validity and usefulness at this point of time. Similarly, list the various activities that you do at this point of time using a time logging sheet and analyze the content of your time. Check if you need to do them any more?

 

When it comes to materials, we need to ask the question: do I need it now and what will happen if I discard them? Similarly you need to ask the same question with reference to all the things listed above. Such introspection will help you to revalidate the various things that you do on a day-to-day basis. You will be able to release a lot of your time for pursuing more important and relevant activities which matches with to day's context.

 

Try this idea and see the difference!