And how the time flies…

Well, reading the title you may have felt that this post is going to be the mushy types about some pure nostalgia like our childhood memories or years of growing up. But actually, I was thinking of dedicating this post to all the wonderful women I know in my life who feel the need to brush up their time management skills. I keep hearing this excuse from a lot of people around me that they have too many activities to complete and very little time for it. Because of this they are constantly hassled and stressed. People feel burdened with the daily chores and find a little time for themselves. This affects their behaviour and thereby affects everyone around them. Some people have never had the time to explore a new hobby, work their loved hobbies and worse more, some don’t even know what they like any longer! I know some colleagues in office who eat lunch at 4 pm or skip it altogether since they don’t have time for it! I mean really? Are you the Prime Minister of India that you are so loaded with work? If this is happening to you then either you are an unplanned person or you need to do some delegation of responsibility. If you are regularly worried and do not feel in control of your life then anger outbursts, irritability or depression (thinking of a higher possibility) are bound to happen. So how do we tackle this situation? We have 24 hours in a day out of which we sleep for 8 hours. So come to think of it, we still have a good 16 hours to yourself to make the best use of it. Here are some tips which I hope help you because it has certainly helped me:

1.       Wake up early

Haven’t we heard this cliché statement since our childhood – Early to bed and early to rise makes you a wise man’? Well, it’s so true. Learn to sleep early and rise early only to find that you have so much more time in your hand so complete pending chores. You can discount yourself on Friday and Saturdays nights though!

2.       Plan your day by prioritizing your activities

Every morning make a list of the not so important, slightly important and very important and critical activities. To each one his own. What may be important for you may not be important for someone else. Then accordingly to the list, you can write down how much time is required for each activity to be completed and start off by doing each in that order. This way you will eliminate time wastage

3.       Be less on the social media

Nowadays everyone is addicted to various social media platforms like Whatsapp, Face Book, Instagram and Twitter and so on. I agree that these interactions are required in today’s times but please limit your use of social media for your important consumption only. Do not get carried away and waste more than 45 mins to 60 mins on this. Social Media is a perfect formula for sapping away your time which you can otherwise use so productively.

4.       Be less on phone calls/Television

A phone / TV is meant for you and your convenience. It’s not vice versa. You are not meant to be a slave to your phone / TV. Every phone call, every SMS need not be replied to at that very moment and every program need not be watched on TV. Every friend, relative, acquaintance can’t be spoken to each time. Learn to distinguish between what is urgent and required at that moment.

5.       Control the guests dropping in

We Indians have it in our culture and therefore ingrained in us since our childhood that serving a guest is like serving GOD so we must always be happy to welcome the arrival of guests. Yes, this is absolutely true but not if it’s going to distract you from your prioritized activities. A household where guests are pouring in all the time (planned or unplanned) is a household where kids are sub consciously learning that routines are not important which will ultimately result in unfocussed and undisciplined lifestyle rather leading to a habit of procrastination.

6.       Delegate and ask for help!

Don’t try to be a superman or a superwoman. Ask for help from your spouse or other family members if required. Asking for help doesn’t mean you’re not capable, it only means you are human and each family member must chip in for household activities. If you burden yourself with multiple things which virtually can’t be handled by a single person then you are bound to fail. Learn to distribute and supervise activities if required. Everything need not be done by you. Some things may need somebody else’s expertise.

7.       Plan your Meals in advance

Plan your meals on the weekend so that you don’t waste unnecessary time on it in the weekdays. When I say planning the meals I mean planning what you would be eating for your three important meals – breakfast, lunch and dinner, your kid’s tiffin boxes and also the groceries required for preparing it. This will save a major portion of your valuable time.

I hope these simple tips help you in your day to day life and make you a more productive person. I can also recommend these good reads below on the same topic – Time Management:

ü  The Art of doing twice the work in half the time – By Jeff Sutherland

ü  Habit Stacking – By S.J.Scott

ü  Deep Work: Rules for focused success in a distracted world – By Cal Newport