Time Management Vs Life Management

My thirty-five years of experience of managing teams both, as an employee and as an entrepreneur tells me that most employees and managers are not comfortable at their work place. In some sense, they are unhappy about the work they are doing. A random check in most cases would reveal that even though they seem to be accomplishing the desired goals, most are clueless of the reasons behind the same.

Further studies reveal that in most cases the real reasons for this unhappiness are factors beyond or outside of the work environment. It is this sense of un-accomplishment and inability to do something about it which brings in stress and thereby the downside. On a more practical note, the reason stated would be ‘lack of time’ for whatever we wish to do. It is the inability to “Manage time” for whatever we wish to do, brings in the sense of incompleteness and the stress. “Time Management” is the most sought after advice seek-d in both personal and professional life. In almost, all corporate productivity surveys ‘Time Management’ skills have come out to be the most sought after skills across.

There are experts spoken about it. Numerous books have been written about it. Already there is all kind of ‘Time management tips’ that are easily available. Even technology is playing a great role in trying to improve people’s time management skills. Why is then it remains a skill which seems to be lacking in most of us?

The fundamental issue here is that we look at Time management skills as a skill to “Manage Time”. We have a finite number of hours daily, but the number of days we have in hand is unpredictable and later part is not in our control. The current pandemic situation has demonstrated this in a very hard and realistic manner. If we surrender to this reality, our approach to ‘Time Management’ should change to ‘Self-Management’. The question to be asked is, the time we have in hand ‘what is that for’. Our orientation should change from trying to “Manage time” to “Manage Self”.

Here are some of my guiding principles on the same.

Be aware of yourself.

When is the last time you have spent time with yourselves? Amid all the chaos around, we must listen to noise within. What are my priorities now? What makes me happy now? What are thing things that I would like to do in the recent future, given that my days could be limited? What are my limitations?

These are some of the important questions to be answered honestly by oneself. We all have different dimensions of life. We have a role to play towards family, relationships, maintaining our financial security, maintaining proper health, society at large, and at work. We need to be aware of our expectations from all these dimensions of life. We need to create realistic goals for each one of them. The stress emerges from the fact that we focus on a few of these and leave the rest. Lack of focus leads to crisis and that leads to a sense of un-accomplishment, the root of all unhappiness.

Execution is the Key

We are well aware of what happens to our ‘New Year Resolutions’. We set goals every year and by the second month, they are forgotten. Have we wondered why? Once we set goals it is important to break the goals into small actions with a deadline. We need to brainstorm and formulate the small steps or actions that we need to take to achieve those goals.

Now once we know what to do, how do we ensure that happens. The simple thing to do is to allocate time for the same. Use a calendar and schedule yourselves to perform the task. It is ‘what gets written, is what gets done’. Once we have the schedule, we mustn't procrastinate and attack the ‘elephant’ right then. This is the key to managing time. Irrespective of the results once we perform the tasks, one feels an immense sense of satisfaction that comes in gives Happiness.

Rituals are important

They say it needs 10000 hours of practice to master an art. Successful professionals would practice their skills for hours and years without any interruptions or expectations. Their only focus is to gain mastery over the skills and in all circumstances, they would allocate time to practice. Rituals are practices that are performed regularly under all circumstances. These tasks don’t need reminders and we perform religiously. We must create healthy rituals in our daily schedule. We must have rituals that focus on Health, self, hobbies, relationships in our daily schedule. These aspects are often ignored.

Track yourselves

To have a sense of control on time and it is important to track the usage of time daily. We also need to pause occasionally to analyze the time spent. Use time tracking tools to figure out the time-wasting, productive, creative tasks performed. Use the Urgent Vs Important matrix to figure out the nature of tasks being performed. Eliminate the time-wasting activities and allocate more time for activities that are closer to your goals.