Where Does All the Time Go?
Almost a hundred times a day we complain about insufficient time, about having not enough time to deal with things. Impending deadlines and imminent problems are always there to scare us. Notwithstanding, we don’t try to manage our time by making decisions sensibly. Therefore, we need to draw a distinction between short-term objectives, which tend to be immediate, and longer-term goals, which are made up of a number of different objectives. Our own personal goals and the ones of work must also be segregated from each other.
Oftentimes, we also engage ourselves in unproductive and exasperating working patterns called activity traps. These activity traps include:
- Crisis management: Crisis management is a stressful way of operating that enervates you, and later results in mistakes. Those who become involved in crisis management stumble from one crisis to the other because everything is always top priority for them.
- Responding to demands: When you continue responding to demands, most of the time is used up on immediate tasks and none is left for planning and managing the activities.
- The treadmill: Undertaking an endless series of monotonous tasks leads to boredom and frustration, and thus opportunities are missed.
In order to escape activity traps, you must set goals, choose priorities, and make decisions.
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Deciding how to Use Time?
Making a sensible decision is very important for effective time management. One useful decision-making process is KOALA (Knowledge-Objectives-Alternatives-Look ahead-Action). In its first stage, also called the knowledge stage, you gather facts and make sure they’re concrete.
Once you’ve collected all the information, it’s time to figure out what the problem is, in the objectives stage. In the alternatives stage, you make the appropriate choice by keeping in consideration all the facts. In the look-ahead stage, you predict if those alternatives will aid you in meeting your objectives. The process culminates with the action stage in which you make a choice between your alternatives and put it into practice.
A true manager bases his decisions on the best information he can get so as to achieve the perfect timing. Neither does he respond to the demands of others nor does he do things out of habit. In case of any interruptions, refuse them or postpone dealing with them to minimize the interference.
The Objective Tree
Having a clear idea of where you want to end up is necessary to achieve the mission statement, which lies at the top of the objective tree. Most of the organizations use mission statement as an expression of their ideals and ambitions. Below the mission statement lie organizational objectives which are the long-term goals of the organization; then, the project (or team) objectives which often have a time limit; then the task objectives which are short-term goals; and finally lie the performance objectives which are personal goals and more specific.
Clear objectives support your team members’ understanding of what is expected of them and resolve any ambivalence they have regarding it. In order to keep the objectives clear, objectives should be SMART i.e they must be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound. If the objective is complex or if it requires several other tasks, then it is imperative to monitor and review it regularly.
