You wake up fresh with all the energy to tick off the activities and things to do on your list. To help us remind everything, we have smartphones and even software/applications designed to
not forget and waste any second of our precious time. But how do we manage time and utilise it efficiently and effectively? How do we find the perfect balance?
To get yourself sorted from the issues of time management, ask these 3 R questions:
1. Is it Required? And what is required of me?
Do a thorough priority check of the activity you must do. Is it worth doing it now or else you could focus your time and efforts on things that require immediate attention.
And what is required of you from the activity becomes the next question! For example, is it required to do the project delegation scheduled for the coming day, right now when you have a
presentation to be done for the evening? Understand what is required of you to do the task well. Because at the end of the day, to complete a task properly, you need to conduct a realistic assessment.
2. What is the Return from it?
With a gradual progress in your career you start discovering the activities that has the potential to yield better returns in comparison to certain other activities. It is vital to focus on those
choices that can give you a higher return on investment. [Talking out of management context, this is applicable in personal life too – anything that does not reap value should be reconsidered before doing to ensure that we gain some value out of it.]
3. Can you Reassign?
Because you are good at it doesn’t mean that you should always be the one to get things done! Simple tasks can be reassigned to others, if they have sufficient time and if it does not require
your attention. This can help you focus on other important things and also frees you for some time. And to give this statement a solid meaning, let’s quote John C Maxwell: “If something can be done 80% as well by someone else, delegate.”
Your schedule might be tightly packed but understand, with proper planning and time management with these 3 R’s everything can be done under 24 hours time. Curate your list, prioritise, take a quick look at its returns or gains, and finally if there are certain things that can be done well by others and if there are no restrictions, please do reassign. Give it some time to fall in track and see yourself become a pro at time management!