Mastering your time

Time is something that we can never get enough of .Why do we need to manage time?? How important is it??  A waste of time can result in loss of money, choices, availability and most importantly a loss of time that we can never get back. Those are some of the reasons t why time management is important.

In the session we discussed various methods used by the students in the class to manage time. 

Some of the ideas or methods that were bought out was -:

·         Making a list of things to do according to importance.
·         Making time tables.
·         Using digital reminders.
·         Using post-its.
·         Noting down things to do in day planners.
·         Make metal check lists

Some of the methods bought out by the lecturer was: 
·         Delegating work.
·         Say no to unplanned activities.
·         Analyze if the unplanned distraction is important and if it needs your immediate attention.
·         Prioritizing the work

We did two activities to access of to manage our time. The first active was to categorizing the work that had to be done within the day into a table. The table is shown below.

	Urgent	Not Urgent
Important	BDT homework Get a present	Research for a project for ARMPD Make a blog
Not Important		Watch a movie

• Important -Urgent: These are the objectives that require immediate attention.
• Important – Not urgent: These are daily tasks that do not require immediate attention but are important.
• Urgent – Not important: sometimes we have to do tasks that are not important but require are immediate attention. Such tasks fall under this category.
• Not important- Not urgent: These are things we do that cannot be considered as things we have to do but things we like to do or mostly distractions.

For the second activity we were divided into groups of 4 and were told to draw a mind map based on the activities we identified in the previous activity. A mid map is basically an dynamic view or picture of the task/goals that we have to perform/ reach and how they can be done. In the mind mad we noted down the important tasks that we had to complete, the sub task / activities that have to be done to achieve them, the distractions that we face when engaging in our daily work and how we can overcome those distractions.

Some skills required to manage time more effectively are setting clear goals, breaking your goals down into discreet steps, and reviewing your progress. Some other skills or things we should how to prioritize the work.  This is to focus on urgent and important tasks rather than those that are not important. The table used in the first activity is a useful tool to achieve this. Along with these skills such as organizing a work schedule, a list as a reminder, persevering when things are not working out and avoiding procrastination are needed. (Woodcock, 2013)

The method I normally use to manage my time to make a list of all the things that I should complete in the order of importance. Personally I found the first activity we did very useful than the mid map. Since the table helps to classify the most important and urgent tasks it makes it much easier for me to apply it to my usual method and make an efficient to-do-list. Although some people use mind maps I’m not much of a fan of using it. In one way I think it’s a waste of time to draw it out. Therefore I prefer using to do lists or check lists. I think the great difficulty we will have to face when learning how to master our own time is breaking the habit of procrastination. The following are some helpful tips to learn how to manage time and get rid of distractions and break the habit of procrastination.

Techniques to become the master of your own time (MATHEWS, et al., 2013)

1. Carry a schedule and record all your thoughts, conversations and activities for a week.
2.  Any activity or conversation that's important to your success should have a time assigned to it. Use Appointment books
3. Plan to spend at least 50 percent of your time engaged in the thoughts, activities and conversations      that produce most of your results.
4. Schedule time for interruptions.
5. Take the first 30 minutes of every day to plan your day.
6. Take five minutes before every call and task to decide what result you want to attain.
7.  Put up a "Do not disturb" sign when you absolutely have to get work done.
8. Practice not answering the phone just because it's ringing and e-mails just because they show up.
9. Block out other distractions like Face book and other forms of social media unless you use these tools to generate business.
10. Remember that it's impossible to get everything done. Also remember that odds are good that 20 percent of your thoughts, conversations and activities produce 80 percent of your results.