Home | Director Desk | Developing time management skills is a journey

Developing time management skills is a journey

By
Font size: Decrease font Enlarge font

 

What have you done today to move you closer to your dreams? Are you expecting to wake up one morning and suddenly do everything to achieve your dream in just that one day? Aristotle said, "We are what we repeatedly do." Success is a daily habit. It's the little things you do every day that will get you to your destination. Developing time management skills is a journey that may begin with this Guide, but needs practice and other guidance along the way. One goal is to help yourself become aware of how you use your time as one resource in organizing, prioritizing, and succeeding in your studies in the context of competing activities of friends, work, family, etc.

Put first things first: It does not have to be a huge thing. Neither does it have to be something that requires a huge investment of time, energy or resources on your part. It just has to be something that you can do consistently. You will discover that you will eventually be doing more of that one thing than you could have thought possible when you started. Over time, it will make a huge difference. Stephen Covey, the leadership guru further adds that "it's usually not the dramatic, the visible, the once-in-a-lifetime, up-by-the-bootstraps effort that brings enduring success. Empowerment comes from learning how to use this great endowment in the decisions we make every day." We subordinate our dreams for our jobs, our bosses, our friends, our parents and a whole lot of other people and activities. We should instead place our hopes and dreams as the most important thing every day.

The time management matrix: Most people spend their time doing things that are neither urgent nor important. One thing that immediately comes to mind is the person that spends every bit of his free time at the bar hanging out with the guys and just having a good time. I would not be very mistaken to say that such a person is not only drinking their income away, but also their dreams.

Television is another not urgent and not important activity which, unfortunately, most of us spend a lot of our most productive time on. It is amazing how television sets in most homes are perpetually on and people are fixed on them like zombies, watching everything that is dished out to them! TVs have invaded our lives and crippled our dreams.

Do the important things: What we need to do is concentrate on the things that are most important. The hard part is that these are usually the things that are not urgent. Yet they are things that will make the biggest difference to our lives. Why not turn off the television set tonight and read an inspiring book? Why not take a quiet moment to sit down and write down what you want to do with the rest of your life? Why not spend some time with your kids rather than with the guys at the bar?

It is not always fun: As you can see, the important things are usually not the most fun or exciting things to do always. However, they must be done. There is a price to be paid for attaining greatness and at times that means doing things we don't necessarily enjoy or want to do. But you must do those things because you realize that your future depends on it. Think about this: if you only had to do the things that are fun and exciting at work would you get anything done? No. But you do it anyway, for the sake of that paycheck at the month-end. Why then, won't you do the things that matter most for your own life? Given are some quick tips that will help you to learn the art of Time Management better.

Editor's Desk

Fundamental Success scripts being true to your word is easy

  Say you’re going to do something and then do it. If you make plans to meet your friend, don’t ditch him for some random date. Likewise, if you commit to go on a date with someone, don’t back out at the last minute for no good reason. If you don’t want to commit, don’t commit. If you’re not sure whether you can, check and see. If circumstances change and you have to adapt or postpone the arrangement, that’s fine too. If someone doesn’t want to make an appointment and then realize he’d rather chill instead. He doesn’t want to give ... Read More

  • Email to a friend Email to a friend
  • Print version Print version