Tips on time management

Phew ! had a very hectic day today . Most of the well made plans went awry due to unplanned appointments & non-stop calls on the mobile. It’s almost midnight & kind of strange that i do not feel drained by the days work. Such days used to exhaust me in my younger days !! However i found a simple but effective trick to overcome this problem.

The heading here is a misnomer. You cannot manage time. If you think you can – Try stopping the rotation of earth !!! The only thing we can control is the activities done in the time span. The tip I am hinting here is the To-DO LIST. I am sure all of us tried this list many times with different levels of success. The problem in my case was that i just did not known the tricks to use this list effectively.

Here are some the tricks that have helped me to make full use of the effectiveness of the TO-DO LIST:

• Go low tech. Make this list on paper rather than on a sophisticated electronic gadget. Almost all e-to do lists require us to enter the list according to time frame. A to-do list written against time slots will fail.
• Make the list the previous night. I do not have a scientific explanation to this, for some strange reason lists made the previous night are much more effective. Could be something to do with the power of our subconscious mind ( Never bothered with such complicated stuff).
• Categorize the items in the list into Category A, B & C. “A” being the most important & “C” being the least important. A modern work area has too many distractions like unplanned work assignments, mobile calls, urgent mails etc. This means that we cannot complete the tasks in the time slots we had actually planned for. This will not be a discouraging factor if times are not mentioned against the tasks. We will feel the positive surge of energy whenever we complete “A” Category tasks. This “A” category could be the most important task ,most procrastinated, most cumbersome or the most feared task. When i did this exercise with a bunch of MBA students , i was surprised to find tasks like “do last weeks laundry ” ” say sorry to XXX” etc. as long as we focus on doing “A” tasks before “B” & “C” tasks we are on the right track.
• Reward yourself when all the a & b tasks are over, be sure to reward yourself. eg: indulge in your favorite beverage, listen to a song or just take the time to gossip( about your new found knowledge) for 5 minutes. This reward techniques, urges you to go for 2-3 more tasks before stopping for the cuppa.
• Calculate percentage of your completed tasks. Give more Weightage to A & B tasks. Just keep increasing the percentages weekly.

Something strange happens, as we go lower & lower into the list, Even without my knowledge my nerves relax, I start humming or just become more cheerful. The tiredness somehow vanishes as the pending list reduces. May be what i heard in childhood is true ” Tiredness is in the mind. One feels tired not because of the work completed but because of the work remaining”

I happened to see this Poster recently & felt like sharing with you-