There is always one person in our lives who is always getting all of their work done and also has a thriving personal life. They seem to breeze through the entire work-day. Meanwhile, all of the rest find it hard to barely complete all the daily tasks at work. What this person has, are better time management skills. It is essential to know how to manage time in all aspects of life.
Students in university in Raipur like Kalinga University also have demanding schedules. There are reports and assignments to submit while attending classes and exams to take as well. They would also stand to benefit from learning how to manage time. Elaborated below are to start managing time effectively.
Time Management for Work
Work is hard and hectic no matter the industry and job profile. Any fresher who is looking to start work, must learn or have time management skills. From training to communicating with the seniors to networking, there is a lot to be done at the workplace. Time management is much more than preparing a list of to-do pointers and going through them one by one.
Time Management is the process of spacing out activities and distributing the work hours equally in a manner that is meant to maximize the individual’s efficiency. The goal is to get everything done in a short period of time.
Time Management Tips for Workplace
Time management is one of the top required skills for MBA college in Raipur freshers. It is not a skill that many people have naturally which is why the following tips to develop better time management abilities are as below.
- Audit: To start, do a time audit of the entire day. Understand what is being done, and how much time each task takes. Be sure to include the number of breaks taken in between and also include time for lunch. People often tend to overestimate or underestimate the time taken to do tasks. For instance, if one has to write up a report, use a timer to understand how much time it takes to write including the research time. Use an online time tracking application when working and collect reports at the end of the week. Read through them and understand one’s working capacity before proceeding to the next step.
- Goals and plan: The next step is to understand and create goals and a concrete plan. Make sure not to put on a lot of tasks on the plate in order to run out of time and also do everything. Start with the important tasks first, deferring the insignificant tasks for later. If possible delegate the ones that are urgent but can be done by others. Also, delete the trivial tasks that would not hamper progress. In the plan, create goals that must be completed at the end of the day or week. Put in time for meals and time to relax too.
- Plan on Sunday: Sunday is the one day of the week where one is relaxed and not thinking of work or the week ahead. This makes it perfect to plan what is to be done for the week ahead as one would be able to better remember what is to be done. Just like the daily planning process, create goals for the entire weak and write down everything that has to be done. Push off the minor tasks to the latter days of the week keeping the important ones for the earlier days of the week. Keep in mind that energy and creativity levels will vary and tasks that require both skills must be kept for the mid-week.
- Using time management tools: Thankfully, to help with the planning process, there are many tools available today. Both workers and students at engineering college in Raipur will benefit from these tools. Plan for important homework, assignments and reports to be done and projects, and meetings can be planned out every day. There are both dedicated phone applications and software for laptops. Regularly used software like Outlook also has scheduling features. For software, one can use ProofHub or Google Calender’s scheduling feature.
- Taking breaks and optimum usage of time: As mentioned before, it is important to take breaks in between tasks. This is not just to give the brain a break but also to eat meals, catch up with colleagues and come back with renewed energy. The human brain, according to studies, works at peak ability in 90 minute spurts. Any more than that and there is a decline in productivity. Also, using time optimally is important. Utilise the time when waiting at the doctors’. Work can be done on a tablet or on the phone itself. Inconsequential tasks can be done and crossed off the to-do list.
Time management strategies
There are several strategies one can use to start managing their time better. The top two strategies recommended are as follows.
80-20 Rule: One of the best time management strategies, also known as the Pareto Principle, is the 80-20 rule. In simple words, it is about input and output where an individual is putting in 20% effort in order to produce 80% output or results. One example of the 80-20 rule is for someone who works in sales. If in an hour’s worth of work, one gets more leads from social media than by cold calling, they should be concentrating more on social media.
Swiss Cheese Method: The Swiss Cheese method, by Alan Lakein, is perfect for procrastinators. The method is typically advocated for large projects where it becomes difficult to schedule all the tasks together. The method, essentially, recommends breaking down the bigger task into smaller manageable tasks. These individual tasks should not take more than 10 to 15 minutes to complete. The Swiss Cheese method is, however, not recommended for routine tasks.
Why is time management important?
With all the talk of how to time manage and strategies to do so, let us understand the benefits of time management.
- Proper time management leaves the room to complete all work and personal tasks on time. One can enjoy all the family events and not worry about work at the same time.
- There is reduced stress on the said individual. All the major and minor tasks are done without any hitches.
- For chronic procrastinators, time management is a great advantage. There is specific time allocated to different tasks including breaks where they can rejuvenate.
- Since there is now more time in the said person’s hand, they can look for better and well-paid opportunities in their field.
Time management is an important skill to have in order to succeed in the workplace. It can be hard to get all tasks done while also balancing personal life duties. Luckily, this skill can be picked up through some proven tips and strategies.
