Category: Career

Today, one thing which is in great demand and perpetual short supply is TIME.  If you try speaking to anybody across all cross-sections of society, age and class, they will all say “Time nahin hai /Time hee kahan hai?” meaning “Where’s the time, man!!” If mankind could buy time or barter it with something precious, there would have been long queue for that.

It gives me the impression that there is TIME FAMINE all around. Everybody is starved of time. They have so much to do, but so little time for it. May be many more births will also not be adequate to complete unfinished agenda of this lifetime. Fortunately or unfortunately, God has given us all only 24 hours in a day- equal quota for all. It’s up to us,  how we can make best use of this.

Time Famine was a word coined in 1999 by Ms Ashley Williams, a social psychologist who carried out her study in USA and Canada. She finds that people do not have enough time to complete the assignments. Therefore, general populace is not happy inspite of having high income and luxurious life. Time Famine results in increased anxiety, high stress, obesity and feeling of helplessness resulting in reduced levels of happiness.

Let’s first analyze the time hogging habits / distractions that take all our time. A critical analysis will be able to automatically lead us to deleting some of these and spending more time for useful activities. Some of these, though not in order of priority could be flagged as follows:-

• (a) 80-20 Principle – Data analysts have proved it time and again that we spend 80% of our time in activities that provide only 20% results. Therefore, 80% of productive work needs to be done in 20% time resultantly leading to Time Famine. Large amount of activities are time wasters or unproductive. These need to be cut or moved to productive category.
• (b) Oversleep – Sleeping more than required to rejuvenate ourselves. While 6 to 8 hours of sleep is adequate in 24 hours, most of us don’t get a sound sleep resulting in more time in bed with lesser recoup of energy.
• (c)  Being Atlas – Some people feel that the whole world is resting on their shoulders. They want to know everything, do everything themselves and worry about everything happening around them. This feeling of Atlas leaves them stressed always and not finding time for activities which merit their indulgence.
• (d) Social Media – Today, social media has become a big-time addiction. People from all age and class are over indulging in these wasteful activities. You may not be having time for parents, spouse or children but you always find time to respond on social media which has little meaning in your life. You may not know your neighbours but you feel proud to have 5000 Facebook friends. There is something for all tastes and preferences hence the over-indulgence in favourite activity. Also, the desire to be noticed on social media is overwhelming. Today, likes and views count more as achievements. Time is the biggest causality in all this.
• (e) Idle Time – A large amount of time is wasted by all of us, just doing nothing. We just laze around doing nothing and many of us are masters in this art. We are neither studying, nor  playing or doing some useful activity. We are just drifting along through the day and let it pass. Sitting here, floating around and standing there without contributing gainfully to self-  improvement or helping others, we let the life pass.Laziness is also a big addiction. It’s much more addictive than smoking and drinking etc. Gossip and rest add spice to laziness. In Hindiwe call it “Velaagardi“.
• (f) Decision Making – We spend lot of time thinking to take decisions and weighing various options without taking decisions. All this contributes in eating time out of our kitty of 24 hours.

Time Management – If we have a finite time of 24 hours and a lot to do, it leads us to an activity called time management. Much has been written about it. It’s very important in life to learn the art of time management. It’s an art and not the science, because every one  has a customize option of it from President Trump of USA/ PM Narendra Modi to the daily worker, everybody has to manage his time and every day is again an unique exercise in time management. It’s essential that we prioritize, eliminate non- essential and focus on those which yield higher value.  

I would like to share some high value time management tips with all my readers. These are summarized as follows: –

• (a) Prioritize: The most essential function is to segregate mutton from chaff. Since demand on time is high and supply is less, please prioritize your work according to it’s value and follow 80-20 rule.
• (b) Make Schedules: Make your daily schedules, lay down time limit for all leisure activities which tend to extend and follow the schedules with great self-discipline. Have a system of rewards and penalties for yourself to stick to schedules, in the beginning.
• (c) Change Habits: Change certain wrong habits like getting up late. If your rise early by 03 hours. You are ahead of others by that much time. You will have time to think, plan your day, do physical fitness regime and catch up on newspaper etc. Science has also proved that highest energy levels are during morning hours. So please get up by dawn and add value time to your daily time kitty.
• (d) Delegate/Outsource: You must delegate the routine activities to your subordinates to focus on macro aspects. Similarly, outsource daily routine to experts, so that your time is saved. Some of the time saving purchases could be packers and movers, home delivery, car cleaning, pick and drop services, tiffin services, laundry services etc. Nowadays, this is called time purchasing.
• (e) Multi-Tasking: Develop the capability of multitasking. While you must concentrate on studies and tasks that need full attention, peripherals could be clubbed to gain max from simultaneity of activities. Watching news while having food, listening to book reviews in bathroom and catching up on innovation audios during walking/cycling could be easy. We must combine activities  that satiate multiple goals in giving time.
• (f) Time Audit: Every day after you hit the bed and before you go to sleep, have honest appraisal of your daily activity chart. This is called time audit. Mark the time wasters and don’t repeat them next day. Note where all you exceeded allotted time and fix them for future.

Learn to say ‘NO’:  In today’s selfish world, we often find people who are masters at palming off their work or responsibilities to others. Beware of such smarties. Because of respect/ consideration of other’s feeling, we don’t say ‘NO’. Often, we land up utilizing our precious time doing others work, while he/she is enjoying at our cost. So, learn to say NO firmly and not let other’s encroach upon your valuable time. This is called affirmative communication. It may be little awkward or unpleasant, temporarily but it will save lot of time and stress for you, in due course. The other person will also understand and not repeat such requests often.

Work Life Balance:   It is essential, in this fast-paced life, that we maintain a balance between work and life to keep happiness quotient high. A tilt in one direction, drastically reduces the other factor. Moderation is the key to happy work life balance.

Suggested Model: Everybody has a separate model for time management that suites his/her requirements. However, a generic model is suggested here:-

Conclusion: Friends! life is not a 100-meter sprint, it’s a marathon of 60-80 years. Plan and pace your thoughts and actions to arrive at your goals in a healthy and happy state. While you travel through this journey of life to achieve your goals, remember also to enjoy the journey itself. Even with all the challenges and drudgery, life is really worth enjoying.