Friday, July 9, 2010

TIME AND TIDE WAIT FOR NONE

In today's fast-paced world, the biggest challenge facing mankind is time. Before the Industrial Revolution, time was at man's disposal and he spent it in any way he pleased. Well, this privilege was cut short post Industrial Revolution. After the Revolution, came the corporate giants. Along with them, came the equation where time was equalled to money and where the law of economics applied: With more demand, supply falls. Similarly,when there was more demand for time, time miraculously seemed to slip out of people's hands thereby creating a need for time management.
Time management is the buzz word of today's corporate giants and for a good reason: Time management skills lead to productivity of the firm, leading to room for growth for the company. It is not only used by office goers and management gurus, but is also known to be benefecial for students too. A student who utilizes time better than his peers stands more to gain in academics, compared to others.
Why is time management so important? Time is limited and scarce. Although every individual has been allocated 24 hours, yet there are some people who seem to have a lot of time, while for others, the day ends as soon as it begins, without any productive work getting done. So, to complete one's task it is recommended to set priorities and meet deadlines. Time management helps one become more organized. But like other elusive objects, time comes with its own capturing device. Certain tactics can be used to capture time. Some are listed below:
- Time is precious: Every second is important. The adage time and tide wait for none is particularly true. It is better to keep your personal life and professional life different.
- Keep a schedule: Everything is a lot easier to manage once you have a timetable for your commitments. And isn't the feeling heavenly, as you strike off each completed task?
- Prioritize your work: This is as important as maintaining a schedule. Kep the urgent tasks for now and the unimportant ones for later. Incase you are unable to decide betwen two important chores, stack them as per urgency. For instance if there is a task that needs to be completed by 10 am and the other by 11 am, arrange them in your list accordingly
- Say No: If you are overtaxed with work, and a colleague offers you more work politely but firmly say no. Finish your work first and if time permits, you can offer to help him/her out.
- Quality: Try to give the work your 100% attention. This will help you to save on time that would otherwise be spent on re-doing your work
- Block out distractions: This comes under giving your task 100% attention. It helps to complete your task on time, if you sit down and try to finish your work in one go.

The best part about time management is, it can be inculcated in every walk of life with time management training. There is no age or gender specified for implementation of time management.

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