Time Management as a tool for success

Time Management as a tool for success

Desire is the starting point of becoming excellent in time management, you need to have the drive of becoming better than you are already in time management. But even with the desire,people fail to get better at time management because they are not motivated enough to focus at it or overcome procastination. To develop sufficient desire to develop time management skills, one must be intensely motivated by the benefits they hope to enjoy from developing their time management skills.

The real problem is not with time itself, no one can manage time, but all we can do is manage ourselves and how we spend our time. That is where time management comes into play. In the real sense of it, we have no control over time, it keeps marching on but we have control over ourselves. So we can control what we do with our time and ensure that it is productive.

Time can also be defined as a finite resource, it cannot be accumulated or stored. Developing time management is a way of learning self discipline that allows you move from " I don't have enough time for anything, to "I have enough time to do the things that matter the most". This is where success comes in because even if you have all the time in the world and you do not prioritize the things that matter most in achieving success, then time would equally be wasted. So time management skills help guide you through the best possible way in managing your time to be more productive and successful in what you are doing.

Introduction to Time Management

TIME MANAGEMENT

Managers utilize a lot of resources in carrying out their work, this may include people, materials, money and so on. In any particular job, one resource may predominate, but we will agree that we all have one resource in common, which is time. Time is an important resource used for the achieving personal and organizational goals. There are usually time limits for projects or jobs to be done and everyone occasionally experiences problems getting everything done just in time without extending the planned completion time.

Recognizing the impact of time in attainment of productivity, managers do not only plan their work but also their time. Time management is not optional, it is something that everyone who wants to work effectively must consider whether formally or informally. Infact everyone practices time management to some degree. The only question is how well they do it and how it affects what they do.

Modern management techniques such as organization and methods, motion study, work measurement and so on are used to reduce unproductive times for employees, which are spent on things that do not significantly contribute to the achievement of objectives. Time management can be defined as the judicious use of time to carry out assigned functions. It involves planning, organizing and controlling of productive activities within a time frame. Planning for time according to Peter Drucker involves:

• Keeping record of time
• Changing habit to make effective use of time
• Consolidating the small fragments of discretionary time into large usable periods.

Making it work

With effective time management, your job and career could be positively affected, the effect of getting into time management can be rewarding and varied. Time management can

• Condition the pressure that goes into any job.

•  Affect your efficiency, effectiveness and productivity.

•  Create greater positive visibility

Time management, must be synonymous with self management to be successful. It demands discipline but discipline reinforced by habit. The good news is that it gets easier as you work at it.

The main factors affecting the use of time includes:

• The nature of the job

• The organizational culture

• Personality and skills of the job holders
• Management style of the superiors

• Demand made by own self
• Influence of colleagues

Time management is crucial for success in an organization, lack of effective time management may result into low productivity, stress, poor uality output, disorder, low morale and so on. Some suggestions for effective time management includes:

• Assess how you spend your time

• Have a good mastery of your schedule of duties and the scope of your funding

• Have a daily work plan and adhere to it within reasonable limits of elasticity
• Never engage in an activity without planning
• prioritize jobs and goals
• judiciously allocate time for every activity and make reasonable allowances for delays and anticipated interruptions
• Avoid the bottlenecks and pitfalls of the previous day