THE ART & SCIENCE OF TIME MANAGEMENT


By

CA. (Dr.) Adukia Rajkumar Satyanarayan

Ph. D, LL.B, LLM (Constitution), FCA,FCS, MBA, MBF ,FCMA, Dip Criminology, Dip in IFR(UK) Justice (Harvard) , CSR, Dip IPR, Dip Criminology ,Dip in CG , Dip Cyber, Dip data privacy , Dip HRM, B.Com, M.Com., Dip LL&LW+++++

Ranks ALL INDIA Inter CA 1st, Final CA 6th, Final CMA 3rd, Mumbai university 5th +++

Chairman Western region ICAI 1997; Council Member ICAI 1998-2016

Certificate courses 20+, Self-development courses- 75+

Member IFRS SMEIG London 2018-2020; Ex-Director - SBI Mutual Fund, BOI Mutual

Fund

Member IFAC - The Public Accountant Business Committee: 2001-2004

Student of MA(psychology), MA (economics), PGD CSR , PGD crime investigation

IBBI(RV)+++++++++++++++++

"My mission is to empower each Chartered Accountant, each CA student, bring about radical changes in the policymaking, and help India become the number one economy in the world because I believe we are worth it."

Introduction

If the Egyptians had known when they invented the 24-hour day that the future generations will use it as an excuse for not getting things done in time, I’m sure they would have added a couple of hours more to the day. However, we would have found excuses of shortage of time in that scenario as well! Without realizing we have mastered the art of ‘blaming time’ as a culprit for everything that goes wrong in our life.

Now approach the 24-hour day with the attitude that you have 86400 seconds in a day! Now that’s a lot of time.

The reason a 24-hour day seems short is because when we prioritize our jobs, we take it as an excuse for never completing the ones on low priority. We all have things we don’t want to do, but we have to do them anyway. However, in life you cannot chose the enjoyable parts and leave out the unpleasant parts of a task. You have to do the entire job. That’s the only way to reach your goal. The

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sense of accomplishment you will feel at the end of the most hard, boring and complicated task is immeasurable.

There is a methodological way of increasing the hours in the day. For having more than 24 hours a day, improve your time management skills.

Value of Time

“Time isn’t the main thing. - Miles

It’s

the

only

thing.” Davis,

Acclaimed American music composer

Man is an engineer of his own fate. If he makes proper division ofhis time and performs his tasks accordingly, then he is sure to improve and prosper. Tokill time is as culpable as to commit suicide, for our life is nothing but the sum total ofhours, days & years.

Time does not come with a Buy- back facility. It is like an arrow, which once leavesbow, never returns. The scarcest resource we have is our time. Time is a commodity ofwhich everyone has the least but wastes most.

Our Time is even more valuable than our money – for we can earn back the amount of money we spent but we can never get back the time we have lost.

The Value of Time can be best understood from these beautiful words on the internet:

The Clock Is Running. Make the Most Of Today.

To Realize The Value Of One Year, Ask A Student Who Failed A Grade.

To Realize The Value Of One Month, Ask A Mother Who Gave Birth To A

Premature Baby.

To Realize The Value Of One Week, Ask The Editor Of A Weekly Newspaper.

To Realize The Value Of One Hour, Ask The Lovers Who Are Waiting To Meet.

To Realize The Value Of One Minute, Ask A Person Who Missed The Train.

To Realize The Value Of One Second, Ask A Person Who Just Avoided An

Accident.

To Realize The Value Of One Milli-Second, Ask A Person Who Won A Silver

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Medal In The Olympics.

Treasure Every Moment That You Have!

And Remember That Time Waits For No One.

Yesterday Is History. Tomorrow Is A Mystery. Today Is A Gift. That’s Why It Is

Called Present!!!

How do you really spend your time?

American author Stephen R. Coveyin his popular book ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ has given a 4-quadrant Time Management Matrix for prioritizing time and tasks for optimized efficiency and productivity.

Stephen R. Covey’s Time Management Matrix

The author says that ‘Effective people stay out of Quadrants III & IV …. they

also shrink Quadrant I down to size by spending more time in Quadrant II’.

To achieve effectiveness, one needs to understand the value of time and optimise the given available time available at his/her disposal.

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Time Management

“The  bad   news   is   time   flies,   the   good  news   is   you’re   the   pilot”.

-   Michael Altshuler, One of America's authorities on valued-centered living and competitive edge selling.

The concept ‘time management’ can be captured in a single phrase ‘Organize and Execute priorities’. Like any other resource, time needs to be utilized efficiently. Nowadays, the technological advancements which are helping us have also turned into a distraction for us – so much so that we spend endless hours surfing the internet for something we can decipher in five minutes by just referring to a text book and some application of mind. I am not suggesting that the computer or mobile-phone is a bane for us, it is not so. Infact, I am a staunch supporter of all advancements and upgradations in everything in life. The only important point to remember is that ‘time’ is an extremely limited quantity, and therefore should be used in the utmost efficient way so that it is not wasted even for a second. The immediate moment which passes can never ever return, in any possible way. Therefore, it becomes imperative to manage time efficiently so that not even a single precious second is regretted as ‘lost time’.

The great leaders of the world, the legends have done so many creative things in spite of their busy schedule. Their lives teach us one lesson – Time Management. Most of the time management principles are common sense – but alas notcommon practice.

The main reason for managing time is to provide structure to one's life and, in turn, pieceof mind.

Peter Drucker says, “Time is the scarcest resource and unless it is managed, nothing else can be managed”. Time management bridges the gap between success andfailure. Time management is a tool for the systematic ordering of your influence onevents; it underpins many other managerial skills such as effective delegations andproject planning.

Benefits of Time Management

“The way you manage your time can influence the type of day that you will have.”

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Managing time well not only improves your quality of life, but it also enhances your personality and gives discipline in your everyday routine. Some benefits of managing your time are:

• Helps you to Stay organized: If time is managed well, you can organize your life and schedule. Everything has its set time and everything goes in its place.

• Improved personal life: Time management can improve personal life, you can give your time to family, friends etc.

• Enables you to get More work done: If time is managed properly, can get a great amount of things accomplished. With a set schedule, can complete the most important tasks first, and can take care of any needed activities next.

• You can Maximize your time and productivity working with other people and Meet more deadlines by systematizing individual tasks and projects.

• Keeps you healthy and fit as you can use free time to exercise

• Reduces Stress: By having a well-planned schedule for your time, and making room for spontaneous events or emergencies, can reduce the stress in life.

• It helps you to Attain work life balance and handle pressure more effectively. Helps you to manage multiple demands, tasks, and projects with a proactive approach.

• You can Leverage time by using technology.

Overall it develops your personality and makes you a calmer and successful person. Just by incorporating time management in your life, You can plan your day better and in effect get more things accomplished – thereby achieve more with the same resources you had earlier.

Strategies for Time Management

Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by

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temperance         or

medicine,

but

lost

time

is

gone

forever.

- Samuel Smiles

If you know the value of time and have identified the need for time-management, it is important to also know the factors which encourage damage of time. Some Factors which induce loss of time are: Insufficient planning; Hasty Decision-making; Uncontrolled conversations; Skimming and Unfocussed Reading; Unwanted paper work and a cluttered desk; Attitude towards time and work etc. These negative factors which cause time-wastage can be managed by time-management Strategies.

Important Time management strategies:

a) Take time for Planning

Using time to think andplan is time well spent. The purpose, time required for completion, resources to be utilised, buffer for unexpected circumstances – all these things and more will need to be thought about at the Planning stage. Organize in a way that makes sense to you. Even when we decide a fixed deadline for attainment of our goal we seem to not fulfil it. The reason for this lies in the absence of a detailed time-bound action plan which fixes the time frame for each activity to be completed for goal fulfilment. Instead of a deadline we need a planned action schedule for each activity which will ultimately result in the achievement of the goal by our set deadline.

Prioritizing your responsibilities and engagements is very important. Make a Schedule. Allocate specific times to complete tasks using, quarterly, monthly, weekly, or dailyplanners.

b)                                    Set                                     goals                                    for                                    yourself

Find your goal, your purpose in life. Put down your goals on paper. List what you aspire for. A 2015 study by Dr. Gail Matthews, psychology professor at Dominican University of California showed that when people wrote down their goals, they were 33% more successful in achieving them than those who did not put down their goals in writing. Dr. Matthews study focuses on how goal achievement in the workplace is influenced by writing goals, commitment to the attainment of goals and accountability for realization of goals. Goals that are written are concrete. Therefore, the key requirement is to write down your goal.

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Written goals are like a commitment you make to yourself and so it becomes easier to make progress toward written goals.

Set challenges for yourself and maybe a reward system too. Set a time schedule

by which you need to complete the task, motivate yourself and then finally offer

a reward to yourself once you achieve your benchmark. This will encourage you

to not only complete your task but will ensure you do a great job of it and thus

increase the quality of work too.

c) Listing & Prioritising Work

The first stage of improving your time management skill is to list absolutely everything that you have to do. This may sound obvious, but speaking from experience, most people tend to leave important tasks until the last minute, which can impact on the quality of their work and their overall grade.

Use the 80-20 Rule originally stated by the Italian economistVilfredo Pareto who noted that 80 percent of the reward comes from 20 percent ofthe effort. The trick to prioritizing is to isolate and identify that valuable 20percent. Once identified, prioritize time to concentrate your work on those itemswith the greatest reward.

Prioritizing’ the work is important. This can be done by making 2 lists viz.

Priority List and Delegation List. Priority List - Make a list of the important work which needs to get done in descending order of priority – very high priority jobs moving down to the

lowest priority job. Delegation List – Then study the Priority List you have made from bottom to top and decide which of the least priority jobs can be delegated and which have to be done personally by you. Make a Delegation list through which you delegate the jobs which do not require your personal attention. This will help you to focus your energies on the vital tasks and complete your tasks in time.

An important part of focusing on results is working out what to focus on! Many peoplework very hard all day doing little jobs that do not actually affect the

quality                                                                           of                                                                            theirwork.

d) Mix Fun Tasks and Distasteful Tasks

Make a Self-analysis to find out your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats as it is important to know what your talents and weaknesses are as you are more likely to do a better job if you like the work rather than dislike it. Note that almost every work has tedious or unpleasant elements to it - it is important that a right mix of the two is created by you in your planned time schedule.

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Make two activity lists: "Likes" and "Dislikes" Mix up activitiesfrom both lists and work on each activity for a short period of time. When you work alternating between tasks which you love to do and those tasks which are not as much fun for you, then it helps to maintain motivation and interest.

e)                              Don’t                             Procrastinate,                             Get                              started

It is important to start the action immediately. The simplest way to save time is to start off a job immediately. Start with boldness andonce the flow is established you will be pleasantly surprised with the quickresults. Don’t wait to start in a perfect way. Trying to be a perfect person sets you up for defeat. Don’t procrastinate and avoid tasks just so that they are done perfectly. You can always improvise and make things better as you go along, but it is most important to begin.

f)                                         Recreation                                         and                                         Entertainment

Take out time for relaxation and entertainment as that will increase your productivity. Take abreak and give yourself a chance to rejuvenate.A short break helps to perform a task faster and better. Do things which energise and refresh you – this could be different for different people – like watching television, playing games, going for walk, talking with friends or anything else which soothes your mind and renews your energy. Come back to the task and you will be able to perform it withrenewed gusto.

g) Discover your Work Pattern

Think about when you are most alert, so that you can plan your most important work to be completed around these times.Make sure that you get enough sleep. Most people need between 7 to 8 hours sleep every night to remain focused and alert.Different people have their own ‘best time’ zones when they can devote unwaveringattention and produce top quality work in less time. Devote more time to important and high priority tasks in your ‘best time’ zone.

h) Motivate Yourself

Work with a friend tomotivate each other. Consider how long-term and short-term goals will be fulfilled bygetting things done on time. Visualize how it felt

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to get tasks done on time in the past,and remember how stressful it was to put off work.

There are many great men and women in history who have achieved their success through determined insistence. Gain inspiration from other people. Your subconscious mind listens to you. Motivate yourself to overcome temporary failures and make the best use of NOW. Listen to inspirational talks, read self-help books, stay in the company of optimistic people and summon up that strength to utilise your time in the best possible manner.

Imagine yourself in ten years’ time. What would you like to look back upon? What would you like to achieve in 10 years from now? Now remind yourself that utilising your time work hard work is a bridge between your ‘Now’ and your ‘Future’ which you can visualize ten years from now.

i) Logical Conclusion

Any work you do must be ended by you. So every task should be brought to a logical conclusion. Jobs once begun must be put to an end or else you will have left too many jobs half doneand too few complete. Be flexible but realistic, this will help you to correctly enumerate the tasks you can complete in a set frame of time and then make it a point to stick to it.

Don’t get swayed by Distractions.It always happens that the moment you allocate time for important and pressing matters, you will be trapped by distractions which have appeared from out-of-the-blue. Learn to say ‘NO’ to them. The favourite movie you have been waiting to see on T.V for a long time will magically appear at the same time you have allocated for finishing your presentation. Don’t fret. These distractions will make you stronger and improve your self-worth if you stick with the right choice. Just remember not to buckle and indulge in time wastage.

j) Reassess after Fixed Intervals

Make sure to check your progress now and again. This will help you to keep track of your performance and correct yourself ratherthan realizing at the end of the time frame that you have done nothing at all. If you feel you haven’t got much done in the first week, try adopting different strategies or allocating diverse time schedules for jobs than what were adopted earlier.

Some people describe themselves as "working better under pressure." However, make sure that thepressure comes from you and not someone else. The pressure you impose on yourself should be a motivational tool rather than a stress

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generator. Find out what your assets are. If you work your assets into everything you do you will definitely achieve better quality work in shorter periods of time. This will boost your confidence and motivation for completing the other tasks in your schedule.

Use of Mind Mapping to Manage Time

We often think our mind has limitations. But there is little truth in this. It is that we have not been able to explore and use our resources well. Some scientist and researchers believe that an average human being uses only 10% of his brain. However, true it may be limitations, if any can be overcome. Taking an example of students preparing for exams - Some students find it difficult to remember things and blame it on their memory. But there are some very effective memory techniques like Mind Mapping, Mnemonic Technique, etc.

Mind Map is an organizational thinking tool. It promotes an easy way to put information into your brain and to take information out of your brain with the help of colours, images, curved lines, shapes, etc.It helps to gather together large amounts of data in one place and encourages problem solving by allowing you to see new creative pathways.With a Mind Map, a long list of boring information can be turned into a colourful, highly organized, memorable diagram that works in line with your brain’s natural way of doing things.Mind Maps use your brain’s talent for visual recognition to great effect. With a combination of colour, image, and curving branches, they are much more visually stimulating than conventional notetaking methods.

A few examples of how a Mind Map may look like:

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By using the mind mapping technique, you can effectively speed up tasks and information to be memorised or used for attainment of your set goals. Time can be efficiently utilised so that extra time is freed up for other tasks.

Role of Efficiency in Time Management

Chuan and Jing joined a wholesale company together just after graduation. Both worked very hard. After several years, the boss promoted Jing to sales executive but Chuan remained a sales representative. One day Chuan could not take it anymore, he tendered resignation to the boss and complained that the boss did not value hard working staff, but only promoted those who flattered him. The boss knew that Chuan worked very hard for many years, but in order to help Chuan realize the difference between him and Jing, the boss asked Chuan to do the following. Go and find out if anyone is selling water melon in the market? Chuan returned and said yes. The boss asked how much per kg? Chuan went back to the market to ask and returned to inform the boss the price is $12 per kg. Boss told Chuan, I will ask Jing the same question? Jing went, returned and said that only one person was selling water melon. Its price was $12 per kg, however he would sell it for $100 for 10 kg and the seller had an inventory of 340 melons. Currently there were 58 melons on his cart, every melon weighing about 15 kg, bought from the South two days ago. They were fresh, red and of very good quality. Chuan was very impressed and realized the difference between himself and Jing.

-         A very inspiring Chinese story which you will find in different versions on the internet

A job done better than it was expected to be done and that too before it was even required is excellent – An ideal case of Perfecting the Art of Time Management!

Efficiency is the art of achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense. It is the key word which sets apart one individual from another. It is the reason for organizations having some ‘prized’ employees

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which are indispensable to them. It is the reason why some people are more successful than others.

As Bill Gates, American business magnate and co-founder of the Microsoft Corporation says “The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency”.

Just as an organization will never use a technology which will not give ‘efficiency’, similarly no individual can get the opportunity to showcase his passion, talent or belief in an idea if he is not efficient. Efficiency does not mean ‘shortcuts to success’, rather it is the route to ‘sure shot success’. It will attract money and fame to you.

Obviously, the highest type of efficiency is that which can utilize existing material to the best advantage. - Jawaharlal Nehru

It is relatively easy to list what you don’t have and what you may have accomplished if you had it. However, it is very tough to make do with what you have and deliver magical results out of them. We generally blame ‘lack of time’ as the reason for our inefficiency. Using a methodological way of increasing the hours in the day by ‘prioritizing’ the work that is important will end up increasing the efficiency of the work.

Face it – Efficiency has got nothing to do with the ‘lack of time’ and everything to do with the ‘lack of planning your time’. Efficient people achieve more and move faster to their goal.

There is a wonderful story on the internet about a cab driver (which is often repeated in different adaptations) titled ‘Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar’ that proves the significance of efficiency:

Harvey was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey.

He handed my friend a laminated card and said: 'I'm Wally, your driver. While I'm loading your bags in the trunk I'd like you to read my mission statement.'

Taken aback, Harvey read the card.

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It said: Wally's Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, 'Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.'

My friend said jokingly, 'No, I'd prefer a soft drink.'

Wally smiled and said, 'No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.'

Almost stuttering, Harvey said, 'I'll take a Diet Coke.'

Handing him his drink, Wally said, 'If you'd like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.'

As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card, 'These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you'd like to listen to the radio.'

And as if that weren't enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him.

Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he'd be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.

'Tell me, Wally,' my amazed friend asked the driver, 'have you always served customers like this?'

Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. 'No, not always. In fact, it's only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day. He had just written a book called ‘You'll See It When You Believe It’. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you'll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, 'Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don't be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.''

'That hit me right between the eyes,' said Wally.

'Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly,

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