Utilizing time effectively by Priority Management

To start with the topic, I am first citing few quote on time:

• Procrastination is the foundation of all disasters.
• One always has time enough, if one will apply it well.
• Time = life; therefore, waste your time and waste of your life, or master your time and master your life - Alan Lakein.

One who wants to manage time should understand the time management is a myth.

One should manage himself/herself and his / her priorities.

Because you always get 24 hours in a day and every person who was successful or is successful also had or is having 24 hours a day only. It is therefore important to manage the priorities whether it is working life or personal life.

Managing priorities at office:

1. Always maintain a to-do list and keep that in front of you.

2. Meeting should be based on pre-defined agenda and to the point. Else in meeting, hours will be wasted and minutes will be taken.

3. Do not see your mail as soon as notification pops up. You can define your time to check your emails. One should generally not put more than 30 to 40 minute in a day over checking and replying emails divided in 3 to 4 parts of 10 minutes each.

4. Always do the important task at the time when your energy is at peak. Normally it is first thing in the morning.

5. The human brain can only focus for about 90-minutes at a time. Schedule a break at least every 90 minutes to avoid burnout and maintain high productivity throughout your day.

6. Learn to say no. Your time is precious. Don't waste it on people, meetings, and projects that don't align with your mission and goals.

7. Set time limit to complete a task, the time constraint will push you to focus and be more efficient.

8. Make the best use of your waiting time when you are in queue or at the airport etc.

9. Prioritizing your task: Categorize your task in below: 

• Important and urgent - Tasks that must be done immediately. Do them right away.
• Important but not urgent - Tasks that appear important, but not very urgent. Decide when to do them. But complete these task before they get shifted to the 1st category.
• Urgent but not important - Tasks that make the most "noise," but when accomplished, have little or no lasting value. Delegate these if possible.
• Not urgent and not important - Low-priority stuff that offers the illusion of "being busy." Do them later.

10. Delegation: If you've done a good job of hiring talented, dedicated employees, there's always more work they can take off your desk.

The author can also be reached at mmalu.manish96@gmail.com