Tick the Ticks (Time Management)

TICK THE TICKS

Women, as daughters, sisters, wives, and mothers, play multiple roles. Cooking to washing, working at office to managing kids at home, hosting to visiting, and planning to executing, they have a pivotal role in everything. However, women are humans; and they fall short of time. Says Meenakshi, a primary school teacher, “It’s so difficult to manage everything that life demands of me… there’s hardly any time left for myself!” Rohini owns a boutique in Shimla. She complains of either having too much time or no time at all. “Summer season flies within a blink. On the other hand, during winters, I don’t know how to kill time! Tell me how to balance.” Most of the working women have similar complaints.
Time management should be an essential ingredient of one’s daily agenda. Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American poet, author and philosopher once remarked, “This time, like all times, is a very good one, only if we know what to do with it.” All of us have 24 hours per day and seven days per week. Yet, in the same time period, some people seem to get more work done, while others less. Former makes every second count, while latter works on killing seconds. Let us see how to move towards the better category…
PLAN

Though the importance of planning has been emphasized in many contexts, it holds most true for time management. Knowing what one has to do at a given point of time reduces time wastage. A timetable for students, an itinerary for tourists, or step-wise recipe for a chef – all provide with a planned base to build the required activities upon.

A tip for planning – don’t under/overestimate your capacities. Try to strike an ideal match with your potentials. It facilitates reaching goals. Says Kanika, an engineering student, “The first thing I do every morning is pen down a log of day’s activities; with the corresponding timings. It smoothens up my thought process for the day, and helps maximize with time.”

SCHEDULE BREAKS

Studies have shown that anything, when prolonged for more than two hours at a stretch, takes a toll on one’s capacity – both mentally and physically. For its movies, Indian cinema sets an ideal break point at one and a half hours. Similar should be our aim while managing time. Further, these breaks shouldn’t exceed ten minutes.

After a particular time period, whatever we do, will demand greater time and effort, unless marked by a sufficient break. During journeys it can be a tea-break; while students can listen to music, for housewives television/nap serves the function; while a doctor might prefer a handy quotations book.

DELEGATE

Psychologists are of the opinion that perfectionists find it difficult to delegate. They prefer doing everything themselves. It’s good to be self-dependent, but, it doesn’t mean you stop delegating duties; rather, it means that delegation must be done efficiently.

You don’t have to do it all yourself. People around you tend to rise to your level of expectation. Utilize your inner circle. Your family, friends, and co-workers are the people who are closest to you, they love and care for you the most and they will help you, if you’ll ask. Friends can pool errand running. Children can do laundry. Co-workers will give a willing hand. But remember the adage, “To have a friend, be a friend.” Offer to help others, and, they’ll be there when you need help.

BE PRACTICAL

It’s good to dream big, but, it’s not good to be impractical. Have smaller achievable goals. These are easy to attain, save time and energy, and contribute towards our long term growth. “I used to aim at finishing four to six chapters of Maths daily…” says Monica, a class XII student. “Now I am more practical with myself.” She adds

Being practical is equally beneficial with other time management skills as well. Planning practically reduces chances of failure, and delegating practically elevates chances of accomplishment. “Conjuring up dreams doesn’t do much good; I have to be practical with my customers.” Shares Arushi, a Mumbai based entrepreneur.

PRIORITIZE

Prioritizing is an art. It’s best learnt through practice, and gets our best delivered to most essential tasks. Along with well-managed time, other benefits are peace of mind and efficiency. Be sure about what is most important to you - would you prefer meeting friends or going for a work out, would you cook at home or rather get home-delivery. Make intelligent choices that fit your resources and meet your needs.

MANAGE RELATIONS

It might sound absurd on the face, but, managing relations is a time saver. Instead of being irregular, meeting after ages, and going through the labour of catching up, it’s better to be constantly in touch. Nurturing relations pays in other ways, too.

“I used to call people only for work” says Sameer, a New York based Telecom worker. “With time I learnt how essential it is to be in regular touch. It smoothens up the conversations, thus saving time in unexpected ways!”

USE TECHNOLOGY

Gizmos and gadgets, laptops and digital diaries, all contribute towards saving time. Get used to them. For those who are tuned to using traditional equipments, it might take labour and patience in the beginning, but, the investment pays off. Use technology.

Ankush Kakkar, a small town student, was gifted a digital diary by his father. “I carry it everywhere I go. All my contacts’ details are 24 hours with me. It’s amazing!” he grins.

MAXIMIZE ENERGY WITH YOGA

Aerobics, yoga, and meditation build up physical and mental health. Though they seem to consume time, in actuality, they save time by quickening our actions and thoughts. They also make us more graceful, happier and content; thus, facilitating our decision making capacities. Anita, a psychologist, claims being able to reduce the no. of sessions per client once she began with yoga. “I am able to give more spontaneous replies now” she explains.

Studies have also shown that exercise releases happiness inducing hormones in our body, thus making us feel brighter and livelier. Increased energy levels also help us get more no. of tasks done in a day, thus giving us more relaxed weekends as a bonus.

QUICK TIPS

Availing of the services of a counsellor saves the extra energy and time we might spend discussing our problems with people. We should be open to spending time and money on it. It has become as normal as consulting a physician for common ailments. If you haven’t adopted that yet, do so.

Some other quick tips that can be adopted are playing music while exercising, setting your cell’s wallpaper on time, having a cleanly stacked cupboard, and setting all wall clocks ten minutes ahead of time.

Once you begin doing the above mentioned things regularly, they develop into habits, and happen automatically. It’s not only for women; students, men, teenagers and artists – all needs time management skills. In a perfectionist and competitive world, it’s of utmost importance and urgency that we inculcate a time-saving attitude. Robert Orben, the renowned American magician and professional comedy writer said, “Time flies. It's up to you to be the navigator.”

As the saying goes, “Time can bring back money, but, money can’t bring back time”.