Six Important Time Management Tools - With Which You Can Easily Hit Sixes In Your Life - by Ajay Gauranga Das

 

Introduction

It is said that those who fail to plan; they plan to fail. Hence it is very important in this corporate world to plan to manage our time very properly. If we observe carefully and deeply; we will be surprised to know that the very factor TIME is person, it is not something impersonal. Because dead matter can’t add value to our life but a spirit can. This TIME person is very amazing. If you deal with him carefully, he is your great friend. If you handle it properly, he will expand for you. If you neglect him, you will miss a lot in your life. The mood with which you deal with this amazing friend, in same mood he will reciprocate with you.

 

Problem definition

Most of the time we are caught up in trying situations and we find that lots of our time has gone and we finally comment as follows-

“Where has the time gone?”

“It was such a waste of time”

“The time just flew past.”

“(He) They took up so much of my time.”

“Where has the day gone?”

“It is a way of killing time.”

“He swallowed all my day today when I tried to convince him of my viewpoint.”

I need more time!

I want to enjoy my life more. 

I’m always running around. 

I never have time for myself.

My friends and family want more of me – but how do I give it to them?

I am always in crisis because I postpone, but I postpone because I am always in crisis.

 

But if we think carefully; the above language is inappropriate in defining our problem

Right language to define time-related situation as follows

How did I use my time?

I wasted so much time.

I didn’t keep track of my time.

I really don’t know how to manage time

 

What Happens Who Fail to Manage Time

·          Lose temper as quantity of service builds up

·          Always run short of time in completing the tasks

·          Accomplish very little of what they want to do

·          Do things haphazardly with no prior planning

·          Work with reduced efficiency

·          Take overload, forgetting physical health, mental peace

·          Find no time for relationships, prayer, reflection etc

 

Balance Sheet of Time of our Life Span

 

Why Should We Learn Time Management?

·         To effectively utilize the God-given time for the benefit of ourselves and others

·          To organize our life properly

·          To accomplish the short-term and long-term goals at the right time

·          To not waste our time and other’s time

·          To learn the art of working smarter, not harder

·          To learn to manage our life without getting unnecessarily frustrated

·          To balance PQ (Physical Quotient), EQ (Emotional Quotient),

               IQ (Intelligence Quotient) and SQ (Spiritual Quotient)

 

 

Important Tools for Effective Time Management

# Tool 1 - Time Management Matrix - Dividing Our Whole Time in Quadrants

As we are already aware of dividing our time into the boxes like Important, Non- important, Urgent and Not Urgent. There are lots of presentations available which divide time into these four patterns. But in this presentation, we will discuss not only the above four factors but also their nature and how to deal with them.

 

 

As per the above Diagram, we will describe four quadrants as follows

Quadrant 1 (Urgent and Important) – Quadrant of Action – Deal with it nicely

This is the most important quadrant which we have to deal it based on our skills and intelligence. In our corporate as well as personal life, we face many deadline situations which give us chance to serve our organization nicely. If we deal with it with an integrated approach then our employer’s trust in us gets increased like anything. This is just one example to describe, there are thousands of examples which may be from our corporate life or may form personal life. In the above diagram of quadrants, there are a few important examples quoted to get some idea.   

 

Quadrant 2 (Not Urgent and Important) – Quadrant of Quality – Plan it intelligently

The phrase “More you sweat in peace; less you bleed in a war” is perfect to describe this quadrant nicely. Many a times there is free time in our life, but we spend it unnecessarily in many unwanted activities. We should be very cautious about every second in it. If we invest in it carefully; we will reap lots of benefits.     

This is the most important quadrant. There are some activities which are not urgent but very important and if we invest in those activities nicely then we get power do deal with all other quadrants properly and thus we strike a proper balance in our life.

Some examples are as follows

a.       Learning Indian classical music

b.       Drawing nice pictures

c.       Creating poems on various topics

d.       Doing Yoga and Pranayam (breathing exercises)

e.       Chanting holy name       

f.        Reading holy books

 

In this quadrant we can organize our life like anything as follows-

Organization of Things- Creating order for everything from keys to computer, space, filing, etc.

Organization of Tasks- Giving priorities to “to do” using tools from lists to planning charts

Organization of People- Defining what you can do and what others can do and delegating

 

Quadrant 3 (Urgent and Not Important) – Quadrant of Dejection – Delegate it properly

Imagine you and all your family members are about to leave for two weeks of picnic to South India. And all of a sudden uninvited guests may be from close relative background comes with their family to stay at your home as surprise visitors. What will you do in this case? We can’t say no to them neither we can cancel our South India trip. On top of that, what if we have booked flight tickets? But we can deal with this situation very nicely provided we have utilized Quadrant 2 nicely. This is the quadrant of not urgent activities but important activities. In our free time, we should always increase our relationships with our neighbors so that they are always ready to help us in crisis situations. In the above case if we invest in our loving neighbors then they will be ready to host our surprise relatives happily.     

 

Quadrant 4 (Not Urgent and Not Important)– Quadrant of Waste – Minimize it cleverly

Imagine a child consumes a lot of chocolates. But due to too much consumption of chocolates, the child is suffering from many diseases which include bad teeth. All of a sudden mother comes and stops the child’s chocolate eating and instead she gives the child a bitter candy. In effect, the child becomes more rebellious and starts to steal money, and secretly starts buying chocolates. This is the case with our minds. Our mind is like that child which becomes rebellious if it’s delight is curbed. From this we learn that we have to deal with this quadrant which includes too many unnecessary activities like playing video-games, chatting on social media, etc. We can’t all of a sudden stop it but we can minimize it. Dedicate a particular amount of time to it and gradually minimize it and replace it with very constructive recreative activities mentioned in Quadrant 2.

 

 # Tool 2: Learn to Save Time

Be a manager, not a producer

Avoid daydreaming

Concentrate on whatever you are doing (Be here formula)

Be brief in attending Phone calls; Don’t talk the same things in person

First vision then action

 

# Tool 3: Identify where we are wasting our time

                Some Examples where we lose a lot of time as follows

·         Doing things that need not be done at all

~  making a new recipe, reading it from a book, buy all items and drop the idea

·         Doing something that could be and should be done by someone else

~ punching the papers and arranging them in a file, duplicating work that swallow hours,

·         Things may be taking longer because you:

~ are not personally organized

~ cannot find all relevant things you require to complete the job

·         Wasting other people’s time

~ Having a second thought after people have done a great deal of work

~ Forgetting to pass on new information; so people are working on out-of-date information

~ Asking people to see you about something and then neglecting to have relevant papers to hand; so you    waste time (yours and theirs) looking for them

~ Holding impromptu meetings with no agenda, so people do not know what the meeting is about and cannot prepare themselves

~ Allowing interruptions – so discussion lasts much longer than it should and is less effective Keeping punctual people waiting with or without explanation because you are running late. 

 

   # Tool 4: Always be Time Conscious

             Few tips where we can save our time: -

Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter the least.

Write down SMART GOAL and Set Deadlines

Tackle large tasks by cutting them into manageable chunks. 

Set undisturbed time (find a quieter place, have your own `exclusive’ time)

Make the most of meetings

Why does anyone need to be in the meeting?

Send a note or convey it by telephone to those not needed in the meeting.

Effective Time Management is PUTTING FIRST THINGS FIRST.

 

   # Tool 5: Minimize Time Wasters in our day-to-day lifestyle

             Following are some examples where we tend to lose our valuable time, hence we need to work over those

☞  Never setting goals or setting goals and not sticking to them, 

☞  moving around and socializing too much

☞  low level of concentration, getting easily distracted by trivial things

☞  trying to do more than one thing at a time

☞  getting involved in everything thinking, “nothing can move w/o me” 

☞  making too many personal phone calls regularly

☞  not doing the most important work during peak energy hours

☞  indecisive and postponing decisions

☞  liking to help others or to feel important about oneself   

☞  fear of hurting people or to say ‘No’

☞  accepting unrealistic deadlines

☞  not able to get rid of callers or visitors quickly

☞  inability to delegate

☞  forgetting things or badly organized or unclean desk                              

☞  looking for too much of perfection in a job leading to micromanagement

☞  assuming that people understand your motives leading to crisis

☞  forgetting things and not filing important information 

 

# Tool 6: Four Generations of Time Management - Which is the best one?

         

Each generation is having some specification which is depicted as follows: - 

 

First Generation

1)      Keep track of things you want to do with your time –

Eg. Write your report, Attend the meeting, Fix the car, Clean out the garbage, etc. 

2)      Characterized by simple notes and checklists.  

3)      If tasks are not accomplished, put them on your list for tomorrow. 

There are recognition and inclusiveness to many demands placed on our time energy.

 

Second Generation

1)Planning and preparation. 

2)Characterized by Calendars and Appointment books.  

3)Goal setting, planning, and scheduling future activities and events. 

4)Make appointments, Write down commitments, Identify deadlines, 

5)Reflects an attempt to look ahead, to schedule events and activities in the future.

 

Third Generation

1)      Planning, prioritizing, and controlling    

2)      Clarifying your values and priorities.  

3)      Set long-, medium-, and short-range goals 

4)      Prioritize your activities daily. 

5)      Characterized by a wide variety of Planners and Organizers—electronic as well as paper-based—with Detailed forms for daily planning

 

Problems with the Third generation Time Management

                From descriptions of the above generations, it appears that the third generation is the best. But no Sir !!

                If we observe carefully there are many drawbacks involved in it as follows                                                  

   a)     The efficiency focus creates expectations that clash with the opportunities to develop rich relationships, to meet human needs, and to enjoy spontaneous moments on a daily basis.

    b)    The planners make people feel too scheduled, too restricted and turns off people  reverting to first or second-generation techniques to preserve relationships, spontaneity and       quality of life.

 

Fourth Generation – P/PC Model

 

Before analyzing Fourth Generation Model, let us see some quotes about Time Management

“Time management” is really a misnomer — the challenge is not to manage time, but to manage ourselves. 

Satisfaction is a function of expectation as well as realization.  And expectation and satisfaction lie in our Circle of Influence.

 

Rather than focusing on THINGS and TIME,  Fourth generation Expectations focus on preserving and enhancing RELATIONSHIPS and on accomplishing RESULTS – in short, on maintaining P/PC Balance

 

P/PC Model- To explain this model there is a wonderful story. There was a hen who was giving daily one golden egg. The owner of the hen was becoming rich day by day. Once he thought that what if I cut the hen and become rich in one night? I will get rid of the trouble of feeding hen every day. Thus, he cut the hen and unfortunately she died and then there was no more golden egg the next day onward.

This is the case with us. In the passion of accomplishing our passionate goals in our life, we get consumed so much that we really forget that we have some other needs also like physical needs, social needs, emotional needs, and spiritual needs.

Hence P-P/C Balance means Product  (P)  and  Product Capability  (PC)  Balance.

As per this technique, we should take only those projects which match our Physical Assets, Financial Assets, and Human Assets. Otherwise, we will sure to break down and we will be like the foolish owner of the hen who is trying to cut the hen and dreaming to become rich in one night.

Following are some Million Dollar Success Formulas which depicts and reflects above P-P/C formula which are shared by very big and successful and of course happy businessmen when they were asked following question  

 

What is the one activity that you KNOW if you did superbly well and consistently would have significant positive results in your Personal life?

 

Following are surprising answers

1.       Improving communication with people

2.       Better preparation

3.       Better planning and organizing

4.       Taking better care of self

5.       Seizing new opportunities

6.       Personal development

7.       Preventive maintenance

8.       Empowerment

 

Case Study 1 – Ram Panic Worker

Ram is working as a middle-level supervisor in a Five Star Hotel, where he constantly deals with papers, issues, or people. Because of his long service and experience, Management always calls him whenever there is a crisis in practical situations.

Ram often says:

I need more time!  I want to enjoy my life more. 

I’m always running around. I never have time for myself.

I do not have even half- a minute for myself, from eight in the morning to ten in the night. In this Hotel, everything is required to be completed by yesterday.’ Ram, you do this’ and ‘Ram you do that’. ‘Ram this is a crisis’ and ‘that is a crisis’. We need to keep twenty rooms ready by tonight.  The food, flight tickets, personal attention, etc everything has to be arranged right away.  It is an urgent and top priority. I tell you, everything in this place is very urgent.  I only have to do everything myself. I am finished now!

My friends and family and children want my time and I consider them a nuisance to my job. I am ashamed
to say I fight with my wife at least once in two days.  But even if I want to give them time, where is it available?
I am always in crisis because I postpone, but I postpone because I am always in crisis.
There’s too much stress! There’s too much to do —and it’s all good.  How do I choose? I always find important things left behind, and I am unable to complete them.  What can I do?
This type of situation of rushing from one crisis to another crisis, dealing with whatever problem is on hand, is called Crisis Management or Fire Fighting.
Think for a few moments about the likely effects of this lifestyle upon Ram.

 

Ram’s Stress is generated in a Crisis situation. State of Mind dictates Endocrine glands to

    secrete into bloodstream –

       adrenaline hormones (during fear)

       endorphins hormones (during joy)

 

Case Study 2 - Chief Executive of an MNC Mr.Singh – Fourth Generation Time Manager

 

Mr.Singh is the chief executive in an Rs.2000 crore company.  He is the Managing Director at the age of 35. An MBA from IIMA and an engineering graduate from IIT Delhi, he is a dynamic management executive who has climbed fast in his career.  Besides being intelligent, hardworking and efficient in his work, he owes his success to effective time management.  “I do in 24 hours, what others do in 48 hours,” says Mr.Singh with a glow in his eyes.  Let us see how he manages his time during the week.

Mr.Singh gets up every morning by 5:00 am, brushes his teeth, toilet and shave and mostly takes a cold shower that freshens body and mind.  Then he goes for a brisk walk followed by yogasanas that dissolve all the toxins created by the stress of city life; he also performs pranayam (breathing exercises) to balance the air and free one from all diseases.  Then he performs ‘Mantra Meditation’ of Hare Krishna mahamantra which greatly minds elevating for an hour.  It helps him drain off and go beyond all the petty problems of the world and experience divine bliss.  At 7:00 am he sits with Bhagavad Gita for half-an-hour to learn the art of performing Karma yoga.  After breakfast, he leaves for the company at 8:30 am.

While being driven to the office, which takes about 45 min, he browses through the business newspapers, marks important news that he would discuss with the relevant dept heads.  Reaching office he spends 30 min with the Corporate Communication Director to know updates. 
                The next meeting is with his Personal Secretary.  She briefs him on the messages and telephones and progress on the previous day's directions and orders.  He issues necessary instructions, whom to call, what appointments to fix up and what assignments to complete.
                The next two hours are meetings with the different departmental heads.  He gets a brief on what has happened in last 24 hours and how the work is being planned for the next 24 hours.  Problems and possible lines of action are discussed.  He delegates the works to different departmental heads and forgets them for the day.

Till now he has not accepted any call.  The Secretary knows that he is not to be disturbed unless the call is urgent or from someone very important.  Now he is free to talk on the phone.  The Secretary gives him the list of calls.  He indicates the priority and she leaves the room.  She has left the mail file.  He goes through it while talking on the phone.  By the time has finished with the file and the phones, lunch is ready.  He eats lunch with the departmental heads.  It is time to discuss the problems in a relaxed manner and settles inter-departmental problems.
                Back in his room at two, he is ready to receive visitors.  Outdoor meetings are also held during this time for which he goes out of the office.  He also visits government officers, political leaders and important clients in the afternoon.  His coming back to the office is not certain.  He may come.  If he comes, he attends to the business that has emerged during his absence.  He uses this time to plan for the coming days.
                Normally he leaves the office by 6 pm. Back home, he spends an hour with kids.  They normally eat their dinner by 7 pm and go to bed by eight.  They have to go to school the next morning and so have to get up early.

Almost once or twice a week Mr.Singh has to go out for dinner with his wife for office-related or social or personal programs.  He tries to be back before 10 pm so that he can go to bed before 11 pm.  The routine is fixed generally, but he changes it according to the exigencies of work.  But one thing is kept in mind—no time is wasted and every minute is utilized in such a way that he gets the best returns.
                Mr.Singh knows the significance of family and never forgets to spend time with the children.  His Saturdays are exclusively for his children.  On Sundays, he goes with the family to ISKCON to eat out at Govindas Restaurant, join the festival, Darshan of Radha Krishna deities, Sunday school for children, attending kirtans, chanting and dancing with thousands of bhaktas visiting the Krishna temple.  This soothes and lightens his heart.  His wife and children have a great time with their family friends visiting the temple to talk and learn new things.

 

Secret of Mr.Singh’s successful Time Management

§         Prepare in advance, a Schedule for the next day

§         Plan more than what you think you can finish

§         Delegate some of your work to subordinates

§         Train others to take up a part of your load

§         Keep your Desk always clean

§         Don’t encourage unnecessary meetings

§         Save Time through Multitasking

§         Learn newer and ingenious ways to make your job easy (IQ)

§         Invest Time in Relationship building (EQ)

§         Invest Time in Physical well being (PQ)

§         Invest Time in Meditation on God  (SQ)

 

The Fulfilment of Four Human Needs PQ – IQ – EQ – SQ

In fourth-generation Time management P-P/C formula these four factors PQ, IQ, EQ and SQ provides great energy-boosting methods described as follows-

 

Physical Quotient  (PQ) - Regulated Exercise

Regulated Exercise keeps your body fresh, fit and healthy

Exercise consumes toxins 

By stretching various muscles, the pockets of tension are released; muscles get relaxed those were previously tight due to stress

Exercise gives positive signals to our mind and increases the feeling of well-being.

 

Emotional Quotient (EQ) – Invest in Relationships

                Just like we get hungry for food, our mind gets hungry for relationships to fulfill our emotional needs. Hence, we need to invest a lot in building relationships not in a selfish mood. But in the mood that how much I can contribute in other’s lives. This not only satisfies our mind but satisfies our inner need that is our heart.

 

Intelligence Quotient, IQ – Real Education

  Education is to earn a living; Wisdom is to learn how to live

  The first duty of a university is- To teach wisdom but not trade; To teach Character but not technicalities. - Winston Churchill

  Intellectual education influences The head and value-based Education influences The heart.

 

Spiritual Quotient (SQ) – Mantra Meditation

  Christ glorified the Lord’s holy name by saying “Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name”

  Guru Nanak prayed “In the ambrosial hours of the morning I meditate on the grace of the true name”

  Muslims repeatedly chant the sacred name of God - “Allah”

  Buddhists also practice repetition of the name of Lord Buddha (namu amida butsu)

  Puranas say that the perfect and easiest means of deliverance of mind is Mantra Meditation

– Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare | Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare ||

 

I’ve noticed that as chanters progress from one level to deeper level, they become more realistic, more tolerant and more energetic.”  -  Dr. Donald R. Tuck, Associate Professor, Western Kentucky University

 

 

Six Golden rules to reduce Stress which will improve our Production Capacity

 

☞  What cannot be cured must be endured.

☞  Learn to tolerate the ‘svabhava’ nature of others and reduce your expectations. 

☞  Live in the present like children without brooding or regretting over the past or dreaming about the future.

☞  Give up unhealthy comparison.  Discipline your desires.

☞  Reduce your ego that leads to the thinking: I am supreme, I am the doer and elitist syndrome.  Do your best and leave the rest to God.

☞  Seek the company of the godly people.  Taste the joy of surrender to God through mantra meditation on regular basis.

☞  See yourself as a co-worker with God.

☞  See every work as a divine work allotted by God.

 

 

Thank you very much 

Regards

Ajay Gauranga Das