Time Management

A Presentation by Rajiv Bajaj

The objective of the session is to...

Identify your personal attitudes toward time

management

Discuss key steps in planning / prioritizing

Recognize internal / external time wasters

Imagine there is a bank that credits your
account each morning with Rs. 86,400. It
carries over no balance from day to day

Every “evening” deletes whatever part of the

balance you failed to use during the day

What would you do? Draw out every paisa,

of course!!
Each of us has such a “bank”. It’s name is TIME

Every morning, it credits you with 86,400

seconds

Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this

you have failed to invest to good purpose

It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft

Each day it opens a new account for you

Each night it burns the remains of the day

If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is

yours

There is no going back. There is no drawing

against the “tomorrow”
Time is democratic. Nobody has more or less time

You must live in the present on today’s deposits

Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in

health, happiness, and success!

The clock is running. Make the most of today

 What is Time ?
It is your most under-valued resource

Time = Money

Always, time is a ‘scarce resource’

Managing your Time is as important

as managing your Money !
There is never enough time to do a job
right, but always time to do it over !

We should not rush through our work

at the risk of making mistakes !
If you want time, you must make time !

We need to allocate time according to

our priorities
A job will fill all of the time allocated for it

Poor planning and procrastination are

time wasters
Have the time of your life !

Good Time Management will allow you

to fulfill your personal / professional
goals
 Why do we fail?

“Most people set them, and then get behind

schedules. They then give up this ‘hopeless
cause’.

Even the most successful people get setbacks,

but they work twice as hard to ensure they
achieve what they set out to do.”
- Michael Podolinsky
 Does this sound familiar ?
I am busy round the clock

I don’t have time to do anything I like. I’m not

happy as I don’t get time to enjoy life

I don’t feel I have achieved anything this year

I don’t have control over my day

I wish I had 28 hours in a day so that I could get

more things done
 Balance Your Life
Balance in life is important

Recognize each aspect of

life is important

I am not getting enough

time for family /personal
Health Work
Family Finance
life because of work

80% of time is spent on

work
 Time Management

Get “SMART” with TIME

SMART is Simple Measures that Ascertain

Resourceful usage of Time
 Resources of a Manager
Men

Money

Minutes - TIME

Material

Information
 Unique Characteristics of Time

Regular

Inflexible

Non-discriminatory / Democratic

Once lost, ……. LOST FOREVER !

 What are our Time Wasters?

Personal / Internal

Organisational / External
 External Time Wasters

Be aware of ways others or the environment

waste your time:

Interruptions, especially email

Office socializing Too many meetings
Unclear goals Unscheduled visitors
Poor work environment
Trying to get other’s cooperation
Bureaucratic “red tape”
Others you can think of ____________________
 Internal Time Wasters
Be aware of ways in which you waste your
own time:

Procrastination Lack of planning

Lack of priorities Indecision
Slow reading skills
Physical or mental exhaustion
Not being able to say “No”
Messy work areas Low motivation
Others you can think of ____________________
 Time Management Process

1. Set your own priorities

1. Personal
2. Professional
2. Determine your goals for each priority
3. Plan the steps for goal attainment
4. Allocate time appropriately for each step
5. Use time management tools / techniques
 Step 1- Set Priorities
Are you unsure about what is important to
you?

Think about what you would do if you only had

one more year to live !

You can’t do everything - Think about

what you would like to accomplish !

Think about what regrets you might have for

not accomplishing something
 Step 2 - Set Goals for each priority

Remember, You can’t do everything !

Personal priority: Spend more time with my

family

Goal: Spend additional ½ hour with family at

dinner

Goal: Spend one afternoon every three

months with parents
Professional priority: Achieve a promotion

Goal: Learn to make powerful presentations

using Audio-Visuals in next 3 months

Goal: Enroll in IATA Diploma Programme in

Marketing by year-end and complete it in 6
months
Your Goals should be …..
 Step 3 - Plan for Goal Attainment

“Planning is bringing the future into the

present so you can do something about
it now.” - Alan Lakein, Time Management
“Guru”

“If you don’t know where you are going,

any road will take you there !” - From the
book ‘Alice in Wonderland’
 Step 4 - Plan to allocate time
Visualize the end result : Your Goal

Estimate the time required

Break the whole into pieces
Develop a schedule
Check your progress against your time
estimate
Refine the schedule if needed
Anticipate / allow for possible problems
 Step 5 - Time Management
Tools and techniques
Use “To Do” lists for planning

Create a time diary to track where your time

actually goes

Become aware of your external and internal

timewasters and avoid them

Pulverize paperwork
 T.O.S.S. Paperwork / Email
Trim – Remove yourself from excess email, mail,
memo, newsletter, and magazine routings
Outsource immediately – Throw it away, pass it
on
Save – File things you must save immediately.
Regularly compress electronic files. 80% of
what you keep, you’ll never use again!
Start – Do it now. Set aside time daily to handle
email and paperwork, then junk it, handle it,
answer it, file it as you work through the pile
 To Do lists
Remember -
If you Fail to Plan, you Plan to Fail !
 To Do lists
A to-do list is a standard tool in time
management. It usually is a flat list of
tasks that a person needs to complete. To
increase the efficiency of the ordinary to-
do list, prioritize the tasks in four different
categories:

1. Important and Urgent

2. Important but not Urgent
3. Not Important but Urgent
4. Not important and Not urgent
 Activity Quadrants – To Do Lists
Urgent Not Urgent

I II
Important

•Crisis •Preparation
•Unscheduled client meeting •Prevention
•Pressing problems •Planning
•Deadline-driven projects •Relationship Building
•Empowerment

III IV
Not Important

•Interruptions, •Trivial activities

•Some meetings •Some phone calls
•Popularity actions •Time wasters
•Peer pressure •“Escape” activities
•Irrelevant mail
•Excessive TV
 Activity Quadrants – Actual

Urgent Not Urgent

I 30% II 5%
Important

•Crisis •Preparation
•Unscheduled client mtg •Prevention
•Pressing problems •Planning
•Deadline-driven projects •Relationship building
•Empowerment

III 50% IV 15%

Not important

•Interruptions, •Trivial activities

•Some meetings •Some phone calls
•Popularity actions •Time wasters
•Peer pressure •“Escape” activities
•Irrelevant mail
•Excessive TV
 Activity Quadrants – Desirable
Urgent Not Urgent

I 20% II 75%
Important

•Crisis •Preparation
•Unscheduled client meeting •Prevention
•Pressing problems •Planning
•Deadline-driven projects •Relationship building
•Empowerment

III 5% IV 0%
Not Important

•Interruptions, •Trivial activities

•Some meetings •Some phone calls
•Popularity actions •Time wasters
•Peer pressure •“Escape” activities
•Irrelevant mail
•Excessive TV
 The Quadrants Explained

Effective People –

Stay out of Quadrants III & IV because they

are not important

They shrink Quadrant I down to size by

spending more time in Quadrant II

People become inefficient, when they

focus only on I & III and not on II
 The Quadrants Explained
People become non-performers, when they
focus on III & IV

Working on Quadrant II is the heart of

personal time management

Being high impact activities, when done

regularly would make a tremendous
difference in our lives

Initially, the time for quadrant II activity must

come from Quadrants III & IV
 Improving Yourself
Do a SWOT analysis of yourself (with no
inhibitions)

Identify your :

S – Strength
W– Weakness
O – Opportunity
T – Threats
How do you do a SWOT of yourself?

Strengths:

What advantages do you have ?

What do you do well ?

What relevant resources do you have access

to ?

What do other people see as your strengths ?

Weaknesses:

What could you improve ?

What do you do badly ?

What should you avoid ?

Are you fully qualified for the future

opportunities ?
Opportunities:

Where are the good opportunities available to

you ?

What are the interesting trends that you are

aware of ?

What is your special talent that can get you

ahead ?

What are you really good at ?

Threats:

What obstacles do you face?

Are the required specifications for your job

changing?

Is changing technology threatening your

position?
Could any of your weaknesses seriously
threaten your job?

Is there any threat to you which will force you

not to take the “Opportunity” when it comes
along?

Carrying out a personal SWOT Analysis

is an important step in finding life and
career direction !
 Getting SMART with Time
Chalk out a strategy to overcome your W’s and
T’s

Constantly work towards improvement. It has

to be a daily affair, not to be accumulated for
a week and done at the end of the week

Put little bit of time apart EVERYDAY for this

and you will see the improvement for yourself
very fast
 Finding That Extra Hour

Early or Late – Get up an hour earlier than

usual and / or Go to sleep an hour later than
usual. Difficult task, but necessary in today’s
world

Delegate & Distribute – Another way of

gaining little extra time – easier said than done
– but needs to be done ruthlessly
Take Quick Decisions – Do not keep
pondering over an issue. A timely decision,
even if it is not the best one, would provide
far better output than a Wonderful decision
taken after the time is past !

Is it my problem ? – Most of us have this

habit of getting into matters that do not
concern us – mostly because we do not
know how to say NO politely.

Remember, solving the whole world’s

problems is not your job and you will never
be able to do it
You can’t win it all – Everyday we undergo
continuous struggle and competition. We
can’t win all the time

Learn to accept failures with modesty and

grace

No battle is the last battle and No opportunity

is the last opportunity
 The Biggest Mistake
The Biggest Mistake people can make is try to
use each second fully, which is impossible.

So, “Don’t try to achieve every goal you want

to achieve. Achieve only the goals you need
and stay focused on the important things in
life.”
And don’t forget to make
time for your long-term
Goals !

“Time = Life, Therefore,

waste your time and
waste your life, or
master your time and
master your life.” -
Alan Lakein
THANK YOU ….

FOR YOUR TIME !