TIME MANAGEMENT

 

        Theoretically, a day has 24 hours. 

        But, to someone, a day has 48 hours, or even more.

        Why? Can they lengthen the time? Do they have the power to do that?

        Of course, there is nothing like time control magic in this world. 

        People who have more time than usual know how to manage their time effectively.



     Actually, managing time effectively is a long process in which you have to be strict to yourself and stick to your manage-time goals.

    This article will list three basic steps for the time management:

  1. Setting Goal - SMART Goals.

    Things which have specific goals will be done faster than those which don’t have any goal or have vague goals.

    Indeed, an effective time management always has goals and always sticks to them. Therefore, before managing time, we need to set our goals first.

    One of the most famous goal-setting techniques is S.M.A.R.T goals:

  • Specific - A goal needs to be as much specific as possible. You should know clearly what you want to achieve then you can draw your way to go to get it.

  • Measurable - The progress of the goal must be realistic.

  • Achievable - It is important to set a goal which can be approached with come-at-able time and effort.

  • Relevant - The goal should meet what you want to achieve. For example, you want to get A, but your goal is toward B. Then you will never get what you want.

  • Time-bound - It is necessary to have a clear deadline for the goal. The goal may last for 1 or 2 or even 10 year, but it can’t last forever. So depending on each goal, you must have an obvious bound.

Some people write down their goal, some don’t. And the differences of this is reflected in the result of their management. 


  1. Prioritizing - Eisenhower Box.

    After setting a goal in a smart way, the next step is dividing it into small and able-to-do tasks. There are several ways to do this, but the most famous one is the Eisenhower Box.

According to the matrix, tasks will be divided into 4 parts: 

  • Urgent and important (need to be done immediately)

  • Important but not urgent ( plan to do later)

  • Urgent but not important (should assign to someone else)

  • Not urgent and important ( eliminate it)

So, what are the urgent tasks? What are the important tasks?

  • Urgent tasks: you think that you have to do/react to these (like checking email, writing reports...) or you just have limited time to do these tasks so you need to prioritize them.

  • Important tasks: unlike urgent tasks, important ones need to be planned and carried on for long term. 

    Remember, urgent and important tasks should always be handled on time. Meaning that you have to spend more working time on this quadrant.

    Important but not urgent tasks may be done after you complete urgent and important ones. But they are important so make sure that you do them as regularly as possible.

    Finally, delegate or delete all not urgent and not important tasks. 


  1. Tracking progress - Kanban board.

    After you have prioritized all tasks, you need to track the progress of tackling them. 

    The Kanban board is one of the most useful task tracking tools.

    Kanban is a Japanese word, meaning a big board. 

    Basically, you will need a white space (like a white board), and draw some columns to have a clear view of stages of each specific task.

    Of course, you can have as many columns on your Kanban as you want, as long as it helps you follow your progress effectively.

    There are some Kanban board tools in case you can’t bring your "white board" everywhere:

  • Trello

  • Kanban flow

  • Kanban tool

  • Kanbanize

    You can easily find these tools and the guide of using them on the internet. Just do some researches and choose the one which is suitable for you.

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