By: Dr. Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, Sr. Associate Editor-ICN Group
Identify, how much time do you effectively have other than sleep and daily chores
KOLKATA: We all know that some time usage is out of our control and we have to perform some tasks, whether we like them or not. Sleep, daily chores and commutation time to school or workplace eat a major chunk of our time; though good news is that even these areas can be organised in a better manner to save your time. When you start planning your time, you have to see, how much time is effectively available with you after sparing time for these compulsory activities. Though time utilisation patterns are different for different persons, a model time utilisation pattern looks like this:-
| 8 hours | Sleep |
| 8 hours | Workplace/ School |
| 8 hours |
Daily chores including nature’s call, getting ready for Job/ Business, taking breakfast/ dinner, commuting to the school or workplace |
Without understanding the effective time utilisation patterns, a person is left with only a little time in the last category above, which amounts to a maximum of 2-3 hours. If the time utilisation patterns are improved, you can add 3 more productive hours to your life, that too daily. In effect, you will not get 3 hours against already available 24 hours a day. Actually, you will get these 3 extra productive hours against previously available 2-3 hours under your control, thus almost doubling the productive time, effectively under your control.
3 hours a day translate to about 1000 hours a year. If these principles are applied by a youth over his remaining life of about 50 years or so, he will be able to add 50000 productive hours to his life, which he can utilise at his will.
Why the extra time is required at all?
You may think that the life is going comfortable; I am able to do the desired works on time; I watch TV for 3-4 hours a day; I make parties with my friends; I enjoy weekends with the family; what else is required in life and for what, the time management skills are required. Here, I must tell you that extra time may fetch you so many benefits that you cannot imagine right now, unless you have at least 3 extra hours a day, which can be utilised for:-
Taking better care of your health by way of starting morning walk, physical & breathing exercises, meditation, etc.
Working towards achieving your goals.
Doing necessary works like taking care of the studies of children etc.
Extra time with your loved ones in your family & friends.
Learning any skills, you ever wanted to learn; like playing any musical instrument or dancing etc.
Pursuing activities providing happiness.
Social service.
Playing sport of your choice; like golf, chess, cricket or football etc., for which you are unable to spare time in your current busy schedules.
Leisure time for doing anything you want; or for doing nothing. Hahaha.
Time management will not bring you stress, but enjoyment
Very often, you feel that you would like to do this or do that, but you have no time. Finding time for too many things is a big challenge for everyone, be it employers, employees, students, housewives or businessmen, etc. Everybody complains that there are never enough hours in the day to get all the things done. Here I want to tell you that essence of time management is ‘prioritising’. It is self-management. You may think that we already have less time; from where we will get time for planning & prioritisation.
Here I want to clarify that the real skill lies in listing out all the things which have to be done; developing a plan to meet them as per the priorities fixed by you as per your choices; and taking actions accordingly. Time management is not for making your life harder. You don’t need to become a ‘workaholic’ just because you have decided to manage your time properly. Rather, it is to help you work smarter and to accomplish your works more easily. Time management is for living your life well, so that you get the time for everything you want; and everything includes your enjoyment, or even doing nothing, enjoying the luxury of glaring at the night sky.
(…To be continued on every Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday & Saturday)
Dr. Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, Creator & copyright holder of the concept G.O.P.T.A.© is an Author, Certified NLP Lifestyle Practitioner, Corporate Trainer & Motivational Speaker and recipient of Honorary Doctorate of Excellence (Management) by prestigious Young Scientist University, California, USA
My book ‘How to Add 50000 Productive Hours to Your Life’ is available at Amazon & Flipkart in English at http://bit.ly/HowToAdd50000ProductiveHoursToYourLife
and in Hindi at http://bit.ly/अपने–जीवन–में–50000-उत्पादक–घंटे–कैसे–बढ़ाएं
