How to Manage Time?

We have always been discussing and pondering how we can effectively manage our time and have enough for ourselves, family, and work. We also think about how to strike a balance between work and life. In our recent AMAs, many of our team members raised their concerns and requested input on how effectively they can manage their day-to-day chores. 

Since time management is a prevailing problem, I did some research and internal reflection on what should be the way out.

Every activity that we do requires a combination of time and energy, but we always talk about managing time, which is a limited entity; the maximum we can get is 24 hours a day. However, Energy is a different story; there could be an infinite reservoir of energy that can be tapped into.

Won’t it be better if we focus on managing our Energy instead of time? We are familiar with the sense of joy and satisfaction we feel on our most productive day; why shouldn’t we look for ways to make each day our most productive one and enjoy the satisfaction that comes from being most efficient. 

Physical Energy

Physical energy decides how active or lethargic you are throughout the day. A small routine change can make a significant difference in available physical energy. But to be physically active does not require you to hit the gym; a 30 min walk or yoga to start your day could boost your energy reservoir. Try to be active throughout the day, do an afternoon walk, intermittently stand up and walk for a while. Avoid eating heavy meals or unhealthy food as they consume energy rather than giving it; eat multiple small meals than a large one. 

Taking short breaks is an effective way to rejuvenate yourself; take a 10 min break every 90-120 min. In these 10 minutes, remove yourself entirely from work; you may use this time to be with family, take care of household responsibility, or have a casual chat with friends. Taking this short break will improve concentration for the next session of 90 min. 

Emotional Energy 

Better control over emotions helps in improving the quality of energy. It’s known that we perform best when we are feeling positive. Every day we face many flight-or-fight situations; they drain our energy and make us feel negative and more prone to impulsive reactions to situations.  

One simple way to get out of negative emotion is 8-10 deep breath-in and breathe-out. It is an incredibly simple but extremely powerful and flawless technique. Intermittent breaks help in sustaining positive emotions for a prolonged period.

Another way to feel positive is by learning to change the stories you tell about the events in your life. The stories we tell and the way we tell them, have a powerful impact on the emotions we feel; try telling stories that are more hopeful and positive.

 Appreciating others always brings in positive emotion, it’s an act which benefits both giver and receiver. You must have noticed the smile that appreciation brings on to the other person and how it makes you happy, as well. You don’t need big events to appreciate others; use small ones, and create positivity all-around. 

Mind Energy 

Close your eyes for just 5 min and observe your thoughts. You will be amazed to see how the mind jumps from one thought to another that is more often not even connected - this state is referred to as Monkey Mind. This happens unconsciously, behind the scene when we are working on something. Though we are physically present for a task or a meeting, our mind is wandering to many places. It causes a decrease in efficiency and hence more time required to complete a task. Imagine if you can accomplish a job with more concentration and less distraction, you can use the remaining time to do something else. 

You can increase your Mind energy by being more self-aware throughout the day. A meditation practice can help improve awareness, make less reactive and more thought-through actions. 

Instead of struggling to manage time and fit in everything that you are not able to, let us think of how we can better manage our energies to increase productivity, have happiness in life, and give ourselves the satisfaction we need!