Who Stole Your Time? 10 Tips for Effective Time Management

Your success is linked to your understanding of the value of a resource called time. Time lost can never be recovered. While you are still able to work, make your time worthwhile and productive. While sleep is important in that you rest the body, some have a challenge of over committing time to sleep and slumber. The issue of time management is what has separated the rich from the poor. Somehow in some parts of the world it is acceptable to be an hour late for an appointment without feeling guilty. It’s the “normal” expectation. Meanwhile, others rushed and had to stop all other processes to make the meeting. If you cannot respect others by being on time for meetings then you are not a candidate for greatness. We all have 24 hours in a day no matter which part of the world you are from. Just entering a day without a plan creates frustration in that you end the day tired but with no clear account of meaningful results. You wonder and ask the all important question “Who stole my time?” Make a choice that you have control over your time – no one has the right to impose themselves onto your plans. You have a final say on how you want to roll out your day. You are under no pressure from anyone to do anything at any time if they do not fit into you schedule. When you recognize that there is time for everything under the sun, you will not limp on the road to greatness, you will maximize every moment available.

The moment I am awake I immediately assume different roles within different TIME FRAMES or TIME SLOTS. E.g – I operate in the following roles; father, husband, team leader, director, subordinate, church member, counselor, mentor, protege, customer, supplier to name a few. It would be tragic to play the role of boss or director to the kids who are looking for my fatherly role. My success is in my capacity to appropriate the roles I play within specific time frames. Watch how your time is spent closely and your effectiveness in each time slot. Your time is your asset which can bring you good results if properly managed.

A few tips that can boost your effectiveness:

• Plan & Prepare your time day in advance - do not just enter a day hoping there will be order. Order starts on your plan. It is a deliberate exercise. Your plan includes the TO-DO List. When you fumble through without a plan you end up spending a lot of energy in trivia rather than main issues.

• Arrive before the meeting starts – this allows you to setup and prepare your space, paperwork, computer and any other material you intend to use in the meeting. You cannot afford to be fumbling even 2 minutes into the meeting. Arriving late shows a total disregard and disrespect for other people’s time.

• Use time management tools – Have a diary and use it – when you diarize, you will not miss important meetings and most importantly you will also not be late for any meeting. A diary is one of many tools you can have. Electronically you can diarize in your phone or computer and set alarms and notifications. Electronic diaries even pop reminders and alarms which are hard to ignore. A simple clock is crucial – Anything that keeps time reliably is necessary, whether is a phone, clock or wrist watch. Keep checking your time as over reliance on a clock which has its own time different from the rest of the town is as good as taking a malaria pill to stop measles. It is a waste of time.

• Set appointments, don’t just rock up - This enables you to be focused and not have a queue waiting for you. You can set appointments taking into consideration travel time etc. Just as you do not expect surprise visitors with no appointment, do not be the one to visit others without prior communication. They may not tell you but you may be seriously inconvenient. Relatives can be the biggest problem here.

• Set goals - If you start with annual goals, you can break that down over 12 months and over every single day of the month right down to the hour. With no goals, anything you do will seem like it is the correct thing to do. You won’t have a compass so wherever the ship is facing you go, whatever the direction of the wind, you follow.

• Prioritize – What is urgent versus what is important? Sometimes you have a combination of crucial and urgent but in a number of cases, the urgent and pressing can wait. The fact that petty cash has run out and people want you to run to the bank to get cash is less important to the business proposal for a new product which is due later in the day. Make the big things take precedence over trivial items. When you mix up priorities confusion settles in all the time

• Delegate / Outsource & Demand Results- You can save time by not doing it all yourself all the time. You are not measured by who did the work but on the results. If you work through others you will gain more time to focus on core competencies or key results areas.

• Evaluate and Assess the trends – At the end of each day, assess the areas you spend most of your time in. Are they in line with your goals? If not then correct that on the next day. If you do not assess your effectiveness then you may spend all your life doing things the correct way but not necessarily in the expected time.

• Procrastination - Nab it. This is one force that steals valuable time. You spend time throwing all important issues into the future. “I will do it someday”. Do not pile up pressure for yourself unnecessarily.

• Identify time stealer & time wasters - Lots of activities seek to steal your time. People who rock up at your business for unplanned personal discussions do not deserve an ounce of attention. Emails, online chats, browsing internet and social calls can some sources of time leakages. Email, Internet and Phone calls occupy the bulk of many people’s budgets. A habit that works for me is that I respond to emails as they come. I surf the internet when I am least busy (lunch time, at night etc.). Within 3 minutes of your phone call you should have established your reason for calling and solicited a response already. You can conclude a sale in 3 minutes. Avoid long social greetings where you ask about “how many goats you friend now has”. Make people pay for jay talk.

• Maximize on “wait” time - I have learned the art of creating things to do while I wait. A lot of time is spent in queues at doctor’s rooms, in between your meeting etc. I use my cell phone productively (thanks to Nokia company) to journal my thoughts which sometimes end up on my website. I carry reports with me and I take time to read them there. I can use that time to check for urgent emails requiring spot on answers. That way I minimize idle time.

Rabison Shumba is a writer, businessman and philanthropist. Writer of the book The Greatness Manual which you can preview on http://greatnessmanual.wordpress.com. Founder and CEO of Infotech Solutions and Greatness Factory Trust. Rabison speaks about success, leadership, motivation and inspiration. His trust works with disadvantaged school children supporting them with school fees and general livelihood. He also helps to network artists (musicians of all genres) to facilitate information sharing and building of future celebrities. Rabison is well traveled having been to Asia, America, United Kingdom and all over Africa. He is married to Jacqueline Edwards and they have two children. They reside in Harare, Zimbabwe, Southern Africa.