TIME MANAGEMENT Time is a relative dimension and part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the

duration and intervals of an event. It is also referred to as the 4th Dimension as described by Einstein in his theory of relativity. Time is one of the most important aspects of a common man in everyones day to day life, may he be a President of a country or a farmer in the field or a common man taking care of daily life chores or a simple housewife or a student preparing for his examination. And it is this importance that gave raise to the art of time management to efficiently run all activities of life.

What is Time Management?

Time management is the act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity. Time management may be aided by a range of skills, tools, and techniques used to manage time when accomplishing specific tasks, projects and goals complying with a due date. This set encompasses a wide scope of activities, and these include planning, allocating, setting goals, delegation, analysis of time spent, monitoring, organizing, scheduling, and prioritizing. Initially, time management referred to just business or work activities, but eventually the term broadened to include personal activities as well. Usually time management is a necessity in any project development as it determines the project completion time and scope. Nobody plans to fail yet everybody fails to plan.

Time Management in Life:

Time becomes a relevant factor right from the day that we become aware of our very being. Time management has been an inbuilt system of man unlike another other living creature on this Earth. From the moment we are born, our parents start planning our future and sketch a landscape of activities to be undertaken and completed by them and us, and after witnessing our persona they make variations accordingly, from time to time. For example, fixing the time to nurse the baby (us) to sleep and to wake the baby (us) up, when the baby (we) should be neatly dressed up and all sorts of things. This way they indirectly teach us the way of planning and time management, even though we have not the slightest idea to how to draw our future plans in writing. The first thing that we learn in the 1st standard is to follow ourselves through a given timetable, which is the technique followed by all schools to manage the time so
1

that the teachers can do justice to every subject with utmost efficiency. Thus, making a plan in relation with time is actually Time management. Then as we grow older, parents plan which school we should go to, what books we should buy and within how much time the projects given to the child (us) should be completed. We are taught in class and by our parents to read and write, and thus, once again, we learn to read between the lines and management of time. And before we know it we are ready to give examinations.

Value of Time Management during Examination time

Before and during the examination, Time Management becomes most important; to make sure we do proper justice to the questions asked and not leave any question unanswered. Before the exams, we make a timetable which is nothing but time management again; we give more weight-age to the difficult subjects and less time to the easier ones. Then comes the time of exams and again the art of time management comes in handy. We are given 3 hours. In these three hours we have to go through the question paper, decide the time to write answers for objective and multiple choice questions, fill in the blanks, subjective questions, and write answers with a lot of understanding, memorizing and that too with speed. Once the verbal time management required to answer a question paper in three hours is done, we actually start writing the paper. We finish off all objective and multiple questions within the first twenty to thirty minutes, giving one to half a minute to each question. Then we come to the subjective and essay type questions. Now since these questions need more time, as some questions need logical thought and a framework to answer them, with a proper introduction, explanation of the topic and a proper conclusion. And if there are ten questions, then we have to separately define time for each question, 2 minutes for thinking and 13 minutes for writing the questions. In these questions, some may take 10 minutes to write down whereas others may take 16 minutes to write down the questions. Hence, round about in one hour to one and a half hours depending upon the number of questions and the diagrams to be drawn as per the question we will be able to completely and efficiently answer the questions. Hence examination is nothing but proficient time management with maximum number of correct answers. It is our self-evaluation process to judge how proficiently and precisely we can answer, and where we stand in our school/college/class.

Women and Time Management

Time management is one of the most over-simplified golden rules to be followed to be successful in ones life. But somehow, we become the culprits of over-simplification of the some of the basic rules to live a successful life, as we often overlook them. That is why we have to plan with reference to the time limit that is given. And planning is nothing but a systematic approach to a situation to get the solution early. Suppose that a homemaker is continuously working at home. But there is a lot to a homemakers job. Yes, perhaps one of the most difficult of the situations time management. There are four examples: Homemaker in India Homemakers abroad Working Women in India Working Women abroad Lets discuss the first one. When a lady after her marriage gets settled in her new home and decides to be a homemaker is a big decision and task in itself. The lady has to take care of her in-laws and her husband, and also needs to spend quality time with them to have a healthy relationship. Thus, the moment she gets up early in the morning, she plans her day finding out the way most proficient to get her work finished up before time, so she could spend some time with her husband and her in-laws. In the morning, she has to manage time so that she could provide lunch for her husband and breakfast for the whole family at 9 am. Then she has to manage time to clean up each and every room and do the dusting of the whole house within 9-10 am because by that time the maid arrives to sweep and mop up the whole house. Round about 9:30 am she has to clean up the domestic puja area, keep the puja thali ready her in-laws, and also breakfast which they would have soon after. After lets say between 11am-12:30 pm, she has to take care of some outside chores of the whole family, like, buying groceries for the next day, and take care of important posts or parcels, etc. and be back at around early afternoon say 1 pm to again serve the in-laws their lunch, and have it too with them. After that she has to clean up the whole kitchen and the dining area so that the maid cleans up all the areas, including washing of the utensils. Then the lady gets sometime in which she has to iron the clothes or stitch them, etc. Then before 4 pm she has to prepare tea and snacks for her in-laws and herself. And after having tea and snacks with them, she has to
3

start preparations for dinner, which should be prepared between 6 to 8.Then she has to find time for own hobbies like singing, writing, drawing etc. or if she is doing some kind of business from home like selling Tupperware and other such products. And if spare time is available she would spend it in gardening too. Then at 8 pm the whole family is home to a hot and delicious homemade dinner. After cleaning up the kitchen and the dining area, at around 9 pm she sits with her vegetables to be cut for next day lunch and prepare beds for her in-laws and her husband. Then at night, if asked she would have to give massage to her in-laws or read out a letter from a relative to them. Woof! Too many things to be handled and yet that lady is full of energy and positivity from dawn to dusk. The work of a lady staying at home is much too difficult a task yet so elegantly handled because there is time management and pressure, and in between these situations she maintains the house like a palace and her inmates like kings and queens. Hence, next time you hear a lady saying I am just a housewife appreciate her because no one manages time as well as she does. That is what real time management is all about. Whereas, the homemaker lady abroad has to follow a much higher level of time management. Because in India we have maids, there they dont because they (maids) are hard to afford. Hence cleaning up the utensils, washing clothes, drying and ironing them takes atleast an hour or two to finish the task because she does it whole single handedly. Yeah! She has a dishwasher, a washing machine and a dryer, but still they are needed to be filled manually and operated manually. Plus when she has parties she has to plan a month in advance to take care of every thing single handedly. The working lady abroad never has a moment to herself. Because Monday to Friday, she slogs 12 hours in the office and on weekends she has to make enough meals to last her the following week till the coming weekend. Whereas, the working lady in India, is much at peace, provided she gets the maids for cleaning and washing and making lunch and dinners and her inlaws and her husband are very supportive.

Tips for Time Management

1.

Time being such an important task-master we need to set our priorities into which task: is urgent or important can be taken care of later on after finishing the important work can be done later when have spare time Always use a simpler way to complete a task rather then making it complex. Always plan ahead. Always should have a back-up plan or alternative plan to complete the task. Always keep in mind the importance of the things which make a difference, like, social obligations, family, finances, socialization, work and you.

2. 3. 4. 5.

Methods of Time Management The Eisenhower Method

All tasks are evaluated using the criteria important/unimportant and urgent/not urgent and put in according quadrants. Tasks in unimportant/not urgent are dropped, tasks in important/urgent are done immediately and personally, tasks in unimportant/urgent are delegated and tasks in important/not urgent get an end date and are done personally. This method is said to have been used by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and is outlined in a quote attributed to him: What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important. This method is famously known as the Quadrant Planning. In this type of planning there are four quadrants namely 1. 2. 3. 4. Important and Urgent Tasks Important and Not Urgent Tasks Not Important and Urgent Tasks Not Important and Not urgent Tasks In this method of planning, we need to segregate our priorities and goals depending upon their urgency and importance.
5

The first quadrant, Important and Urgent Tasks are those tasks which need utmost importance, like parents getting kids ready for school, then parents getting ready for work after getting ready, having breakfast, packing lunch and getting the project ready for the presentation to the clients The second quadrant, Important and Not Urgent Tasks are those tasks which need importance after say 15 days from now, like organizing a social party, getting kids ready for their school day trip which is after a fortnight, paying cheque to the employees on the first of every month etc. The third quadrant, Not Important and Urgent Tasks are those tasks which do not come in the list of immediate attention like: attending calls from mobile call centre, distractions, Interruptions by kids and guests or a phone call from a friend living abroad, checking most of the important mails but not very urgent work is defined in them. And the last quadrant, which is Not Important and Not Urgent tasks are the tasks like Trivia, Busy work, unimportant chores. And after we have understood all the quadrants of the Quadrant Time Management or The Eisenhower Method , then all we need to give importance to just one quadrant i.e. Important and Urgent in order to be successful in any phase of life, regarding any situations.

POSEC method
POSEC is an acronym for Prioritize by Organizing, Streamlining, Economizing and Contributing. The method dictates a template which emphasizes an average individual's immediate sense of emotional and monetary security. It suggests that by attending to one's personal responsibilities first, an individual is better positioned to shoulder collective responsibilities. Inherent in the acronym is a hierarchy of self-realization which mirrors Abraham Maslow's"Hierarchy of needs". 1. 2. Prioritize - Your time and define your life by goals. Organizing - Things you have to accomplish regularly to be successful. (Family and Finances) 3. Streamlining - Things you may not like to do, but must do. (Work and Chores) 4. Economizing - Things you should do or may even like to do, but they're not pressingly urgent. (Pastimes and Socializing)
6

5.

Contributing - By paying attention to the few remaining things that make a difference. (Social Obligations). Conclusion Time management plays an important role in our life and through simple planning and for-sightedness regarding our obligations; we can make our life, easier, happier and a success, as it is us who have too many ambitions and goals to fulfill in life.