1. TIME MANAGEMENT

2. Economy is too late at the bottom of the purse. Ask anything but time – Napoleon Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion - C Northcote Parkinson Man is ill- equipped to manage his time - Peter Drucker SOME SAYINGS

3. There are seven days in a week, 24 hours in a each day, which makes it 168 hours or 10,080 minutes in each week. This is our full supply of time. There is no way we can add to it. Everybody gets exactly the same amount. How effectively we use this time is what determines our ability to complete the tasks ahead of us? Saving at least 15 minutes a day

4. On an average we spend around one-third of our time sleeping, a quarter on recreation, nearly an eighth of our time eating, nearly a whole day moving to and from work each week and a few hours on miscellaneous things like odd jobs around the house. This leaves us with just 20 percent spent at work. If we think about the time at work we have not been spending effectively, we could easily save at least 15 minutes a day. That amounts to 90 minutes a week or over 75 hours a year.

5. Note the time spent in on each activity IMMEDIATELY AFTER IT. You will probably realise that you have been wasting a lot of time. May be, some of the functions could be delegated to subordinates or other members, who usually do them better any way. RECORD HOW EVERY MINUTE IS USED

6. The top 15 time wasters have been identified by world-wide research undertaken by management consultants. Of these, the tope five are telephone interruptions, drop-in visitors, meetings, crisis management and lack of priorities/daily plan. The next five comprise cluttered desk, personal dis- organisation, ineffective delegation, too much involvement in routine and detail, attempting too much, unrealistic time estimates and lack of OR unclear communication. The other five time wasters are indecision/procrastination, confused responsibility /authority, inability to say 'NO’, leaving tasks unfinished and lack of self-discipline. The top 15 time wasters

7. ELIMINATE ACTIVITIES THAT WASTE TIME : Examine the time logs and question every activity recorded. Do not hesitate to delegate and hand over work, you have grown to love, to someone else. HOW TO DO TIME MANAGEMENT?

8. NOTICE HOW LONG IT TAKES TO FOCUS ON A PROBLEM? Devoting a few minutes here and there to activities requiring real concentration is useless. Organise your time to devote chunks of time, say an hour or more, to the important job. Ensure total isolation with the problem. Reject interruptions unless it is an emergency. There are very few situations which cannot wait an hour and half for attention.

9. We can rank our activities into the following three categories. AEssential (most important) activities to be done by self BImportant – may be done by self if time permits or 80% can be delegated to other. CLess important / routine – delegate to others. THE LCA PROCESS: List priorities, complete each in turn and add

10. – Each morning list in order of important, the tasks. – Complete them one after the other. – Stick to it until it is finished or you have gone as far as you can go on the day. – Set your appointment early to suit you and others. – Then you and they, get started early, adding working time that might have been lost otherwise. – This is particularly valuable when meetings are involved. Breakfast appointments are becoming popular for this reasons.

11. – Learn to concentrate on reading/writing or planning activities so effectively that valuable work is done while you travel. – Change waiting time into working time. While waiting, use that time to think, plan or solve problems. – Keep working till the end of the day. Remember the value of each extra minute. – Maintain ‘reminder diary’.

12. – Apart from organising work, organise yourself physically and psychologically. – Ill-health can cause fatigue and tell on your performance. – A simple change of diet, an extra hour of sleep can do wonders. You may find some tasks tiresome, routine and boring. – Boredom too tells on efficiency. Intersperse the boring jobs with interesting ones ; try to make every job interesting by looking at it from different angle.

13. – Try to complete the routine jobs faster every time, timing them each day, attempting to break the previous day’s record. – Make sure that the quality of work does not suffer. – Soon you will begin to enjoy it as you would a sporting event. – The best way to ‘make time’ is to beat the deadlines. Be ahead of the game at all times. – Complete jobs as early as possible. – By doing so you keep the decks cleared for unanticipated assignments. The result is that you are never too busy.

14. – Mahatma Gandhi used his train journeys in third class to write letters and articles. – Abraham Lincoln wrote his speeches, notes and all other ideas on presidential matters as they occurred to him on small bits of paper and stuffed them in his top hat for later consultation. – John F.Kennedy studied speed-reading at the break-neck speed of 1,500 words a minute which is about five times the average rate of a good reader.

15. Time saving is an art worth mastering and to the extent you master it, you will be rewarded.

16. S. no.Question?Reply Yes/No 1 Have you up to date and realistic specifications of your own job? 2 Do you know what your role is? 3 Do you carry out an accurate and realistic check, over say, one-month period? 4 Are you certain you know how your time is allocated between various tasks? 5 Do you assess the time available each day for your own work as opposed to time spent working with other members of the organization? 6 Is your work planned ahead for say daily, weekly and quarterly period? Check List for MANAGEMENT OF TIME

17. S. no.Question?Reply Yes/No 7 Are priorities clearly identified? 8 Can any of your work be eliminated or simplified, without adversely affecting other work? 9 Are you spending time on work, which can be done quite satisfactorily by a subordinate? 10 Are you getting adequate information you need in time to carry out your work efficiently? 11 Can you restrict interruptions by having set periods of time when other personnel come to see you? 12 Are you able to concentrate on one particular job at a time? Check List for MANAGEMENT OF TIME

18. S. no.Question?Reply Yes/No 13 Can you see that unnecessary sources of distractions in the office, like ringing of the bell, loud ringing of telephones, noise from the typewriters and people chattering etc are avoided so that you can have a peaceful work atmosphere to complete your work in time? 14 Could improvement in mechanization (e.g. dictating machines) cut down delays? 15 Do you maintain sufficient liaison with other departments to avoid duplications and to speed up work? 16 Do you know that avoiding wasted time requires working smarter? Check List for MANAGEMENT OF TIME

19. S. no.Question?Reply Yes/No 17Can the methods by which you communicate be more efficient so that all concerned are immediately clear about what is expected of them? 18 Do you listen actively when other people are talking? 19 Do you know the length of time during which you are able to fully concentrate on creative work? 20 When interrupting other personnel in their work, are you certain it is necessary to do so at that particular time? Check List for MANAGEMENT OF TIME

20. REVIEW YOUR TIME MANAGEMENT SCORE 17-20 Yes Excellent 13-16 Yes V. Good 9-12 Yes Good

21. Spend your TIME as you spend your MONEY. Busy people don’t like to spend five minutes for something that should take one. If you want work well done, select a busy man, the other kind has no time. (Elbert Hubbard) Tips on “Time management”