Everyone has at least one friend in their group who is chronically late; irrespective of the fact that you have informed the person about the engagement days in advance or if you are regularly traveling in Mumbai local trains, it is a very common sight to see some people always rushing in to catch the train; while the train is leaving the platform. It is a dangerous thing to do because if you miss your judgment in getting in the moving train you might end up under the train and lose your life. When asked about the reason for this rushing in like this every day you will mostly get the answer ‘I got late’. Getting late is a sign of bad time management. They don’t realise that they have a problem and it has to be addressed.

How many of us have wished that there were more than 24 hours in a day? Almost everyone, we manage our time so poorly that even entire one day is not enough for us. With the growing competition, it has become a necessity to be able to manage our time efficiently. But the challenge is not to manage the time; it is infact to manage ourselves. Most of the people spend their time reacting to the things that are urgent, thinking they are also important. But the reality is that the urgency of these matters is often based on the priorities and expectations of others. At times people try to focus things where the matters are neither urgent nor important as a form of escapism from the work to be done

People who excel in managing their time focus on the things which they know that they need to do, but rarely get around to doing because they are not urgent like building relationships, planning, and preparation etc. i.e. AnEffective TimeManager thinks preventively rather than urgently. One of the most effective ways to excel in time management is to follow the Pareto Principle or the 80/20 rule which states that 80% of the results flow out of 20% of the activities. In simpler words it means that if you have ten to-dos in your list out of these two things will be more worth than the other eight things in the list, so to follow this principle in your daily life you have to identify the most important goals i.e. the 20% which will yield maximum results in what you are doing.After identifying the 20%, the rest of the activities which at present is not important can be delegated to others who will help in finishing that job. Delegation is another method for managing our time. The reason we are pressed for time is that we have too much on our plate which eventually lead to delay in projects, assignments or appointments. It is better to assign some of the tasks to others Instead of doing all the things yourselves; it saves a lot of time.

Another element which affects our time management is our inability to say “No”. It is essential that we should say “No” to the things which will come in the way of the things which are really important in your work or schedule. Although saying “No” is difficult; but it is important to focus on the things which are your highest priorities.

One has to understand that Time is a very valuable thing and we have to respect that. Time once gone cannot come back. If we fail to manage our time it would be an arduous task to meet our goals. Everyone has the same amount of time with them, but the difference is that successful people know how to manage their time effectively and efficiently.