Time and Tide wait for None

“Time management” is the process of organizing and planning how to divide your time effectively between specific activities. Good time management enables you to work smarter – not harder – so that you get more done in less time, even when time is tight and pressures are high. Time management is the essential part of any project execution. Making Project profitable is the ultimate aim of Project Manager. Productivity makes project profitable by effective time management. Failing to manage your time damages your effectiveness and causes stress for entire project team.

 

God gave equal time to everybody but some reach to a much higher position compared to others by effective time management. We can utilize various tools and techniques for optimum time utilization.  If you manage your time effectively you will be rewarded in a variety of ways:

Efficient: You will be more productive

Successful: You will achieve goals and great accomplishments

Healthier: You will feel more energetic and less stressed and so on.

Below are some tips to better manage your time to improve productivity.

 

Make a to-do list

Develop your to-do list. This is a collective list of all the priority activity with a target date. You can create daily, weekly and monthly to do list. You also need to develop ‘not to do list’ for optimum utilization of your time. One can use simple notebook to make to do list, alternatively “Planner” in MS Teams can also be used for it. It will also help you prioritise your work.

 

Take the advantage of Tools

Tools used for time management boils down to focussing on four keys areas Tasks, Time, People and Information. There are various tools available for time management, some of them are online Calendar, Mobile Alarms, Outlook reminders, Checklist, Notebook, Alexa and sticky notes etc. You can use these as a backbone of any productive system. Set reminders and notifications in much advance for your meetings and demos.

 

Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. The technique uses a timer to break down work into intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by 5 minute short breaks. After about four Pomodoro, you can take a longer break of about 15 to 20 minutes. You should note down the distractions in a notebook to analyse it later on. You have to completely focus on one task. The idea behind this technique is that the timer instils a sense of urgency. This Technique encourages people to work with the time they have—rather than against it.

 

 

First things first.

Block your time for important tasks. We can divide our tasks in urgent and important category. Do urgent and important tasks first. Prioritize your task by removing non-essential tasks. Don’t rush to replying mails or answering calls when it comes. Make schedule for this activity. Put a time box to attain completion of tasks.

 

 

 

Do one thing at a time

Don’t do multiple things in the same time, it will reduce your effectiveness. Do only one thing at a time. Saying no is not always easy, although it is vital to time management, understand the implications of saying yes.

 

Audit your time spent

Collect data for your time spent in various activities. Analyse this data, not where you are spending your productive time. This will help you to see wastage of your time for unnecessary things in office like meetings, demos and cafetaria etc. Online Calendar can be used to audit your time if you don't know how and where you are spending it.

 

Read books and articles on time management

There are various books available in market which help us about managing our time effectively.

Eat That Frog and Time Management by Brain Tracy, Pomodoro Techniques by Francesco Cirillo and Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss are some of the good books on time management. We can learn some effective tools and techniques of time management from these books. I have learnt Pomodoro Technique from above mentioned book. 

 

Utilize your waiting time

Some time is wasted while we wait in between meetings or demos. We can utilize this time by finishing some essential tasks like reading mails or making schedules etc. Always keep some activity to finish in this scenario.

 

By practising the above mentioned techniques, you can enhance your time management effectively. Productivity is the key essence of any project. By exercising effective management we can significantly reduce the number of people involved in a project and we can perform lots of tasks in less costs and make our projects profitable. Thus, owning up to effective time management will not only help you to achieve project goals effectively but also enhance your day to day activities and help you prioritise your work.