“’Time is that fleeting moment when the future passes into the past.”
Where does time go?
The average couple spend just four minutes a day in meaningful conversation with each other, with parents spending just 30-60 seconds a day talking, really talking to their children.
Did you know…
- Five years of our lives are taken up standing in queues.
- Eight months tick away as we open unwanted mail.
- Six years are swallowed up by eating.
- Housework accounts for four years.
- Six months are spent waiting at traffic lights.
- Two years are wasted on returning unanswered phone calls.
- If you hit the snooze button every morning for 10 minutes – at the end of your life, you’ll have snoozed for 352 days (almost a full year).
“Time is the great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.”
Make every moment count!
So, we have some time management misconceptions that tend at times to rule our lives, they are that if I am being effective, I am efficient. They are not the same thing. We have all, at some stage of a project, or stress level, or missed deadline looming, stated that it is better to do the job myself as it is assured of being done properly and there is only one way to do a job the right way.
“Where purpose is not known, abuse is inevitable.” Dr.M. Munroe
This is our biggest challenge as we face new working environments and spaces that mean something else to us, our home not our office. We need to plan before the doing and then have a time gap between the planning and the doing. We also need to plan for our children—for them to grow during this time and still have FUN.
What is True Time Management?
Time management is the process of planning and exercising conscious control of time spent on specific activities to work smarter and harder. It is a juggling act of various activities that help us increase efficiency and achieve a better work-life balance. We are taught from a young age to spend time and money wisely and failing to manage your time can result in poor quality of work, unwanted stress and no work-life balance, just to name a few. Ineffective time management does not just waste your time, it wastes money too.
Whether a company has a culture of disorganisation that fosters time management issues, or there are just a few problematic employees, poor time management can plague a business and act as a foundational cause for larger problems. Good time management is essential to your success and we will explore some tools and techniques to maximise productivity and personal organisation.
The advantages of effective time management can include less stress and anxiety, improved quality of life, more opportunities for personal and career growth.
Time management is an essential skill that helps you keep your work under control, and at the same time work towards that work-life balance we all dream about but falls through our fingertips daily. We would all love to have a couple more hours a day, but we know we are all given the same amount of hours, minutes and seconds to work smarter with and to learn to prioritise and then create a schedule that will truthfully reflect our work and personal priorities. With all of these in place, we can work in a more focused fashion and really start achieving those goals, dreams, wishes, hopes and ambitions we care so much about.
How Do We Master Planning & Time Management?
The main areas for effective Time Management are:
- Planning,
- Goal setting,
- Prioritising,
- Managing distractions,
- Multitasking and ,
- Use of tried and tested tools and techniques.
