EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT; A Vital Tool For Personal & Business Growth
Time management is the process of planning and exercising conscious control of time spent on specific activities especially to increase efficiency, effectiveness and productivity. For you to manage your time you must first know how to manage yourself (Self Management).
Effective time management has to do with working smarter and not necessarily harder to achieve goals in less time. You must treat time as precious. The value of time is the only resources that we can never get back therefore, we must plan our time well and utilise it effectively.
THE FOUR D’S OF EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT
DO: do all you have to do on time and without procrastination.
DROP/DELETE: when you have your to-do list, drop task that are not important and jettison any task with no relevance.
DELEGATE: Give those task that are very cogent but not important to other members of your team or subordinate.
DELAY: Delay tasks that are not urgent or less important for later period.
THE TIME MANAGEMENT MATRIX
- URGENT & IMPORTANT: these are things you must attend to immediately, avoid letting so many things come here.
- NOT URGENT BUT IMPORTANT: This is where you should be, at this point you complete your urgent tasks on time.
- URGENT BUT NOT IMPORTANT: try to avoid this quadrant, a lot of people waste their time here.
- NOT IMPORTANT AND NOR URGENT: Completely avoid, this is the wastage quadrant. spending too much time will lead to economic depression, slow progress. This is when at the end of the day you can’t pinpoint anything productive you’ve done through the day.
STRATEGIES FOR MANAGING YOUR TIME
1. Be realistic (do not over promise, avoid falling into planning fallacy, set clear timelines).
2. Be disciplined.
3. Focus.
4. Consolidate like tasks (be flexible, do not be rigid).
HOW TO MANAGE YOUR TIME EFFECTIVELY
1. Learn to write out your daily plan, have a to-do list (either softcop or hardcopy). Set SMART objectives.
2. Learn when to say no, Remain consistent to your goals.
3. Recognize that obstacles exist and, try to identify them.
4. Make the most of your free time (do productive things during your idle time).
5. Reward your success, appreciate the small wins.
BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT
1. Procrastination.
2. Having an unclear objectives.
3. Disorganization.
4. Idle time interruption.
5. Stress and fatigue.
6. Overloaded schedule