Entrepreneurship: Time management (II)

“An inch of time is an inch of gold but you can’t buy that inch of time with an inch of gold.” – Chinese proverb

Last week, we posited that our life is the time we have on this earth and that the good use of our time is what largely determines our successes. We then brought out some of the individual, social and environmental challenges we have that make us waste so much of our time without notice. Today we will take some of the benefits of good time management and also some of the ways to make effective use of our time.

Doing more: By being alert to the imperative of the good application of our time, we stand a chance of beginning to do so much more in less time and with less effort. By developing our time management skills, we can significantly improve the quality usage of our time and the results we can achieve therefrom.

Lower stress levels: Putting our time to better use has proven ways of lowering our overall stress levels which in turn enhances our capacity to do more per unit of time.

Creates more opportunities: The more we are able to do in less time, the more opportunities for progress we get in our lives.

Leads to success: Our ability to do more and the greater opportunities that open up in our careers and lives will, naturally, lead to more successes.

So, how do we develop and sharpen our time management skills?

Always start with the mindset: As with most things we discuss, the starting point is always to get our minds to understand, accept and internalise the changes we wish to make. To succeed in life, we have to realise and accept the need to monitor and enforce the optimum use of our time. Without this first step, we will neither be conscious of the time factor itself nor committed to its principled application.

Set your goals correctly: After internalising the philosophical basis of the importance of time management, setting your goals correctly is the starting point of any time management exercise. Without correct goal setting, none of the subsequent actions will lead to desired results.

Prioritise: Once you have your goals set out correctly, the next challenge is to prioritise the activities you will be needing to carry out. Without prioritisation, you may, at best, just end up achieving too little in relation to the resources you commit to endeavours.

Plan your activities: After prioritising your activities, your next task is to plan exactly how to go about doing what you have to do. This will include setting when (time), where (place) and how (method) to do what (the activity) you need to do.

Set time limits: A part of planning your activities that deserves special mention is the need to set time limits to your activities. Meetings, visits, etc. should have time windows within which you hope to conclude them. Obviously, you may have to, sometimes spend more time than planned, but with experience, discipline and persistence you will get to be making increasingly better estimates.

Remove non-essential tasks: Sometimes we just feel ‘obliged’ or perhaps compelled to fill our time with activities irrespective of their importance and ultimate value add. This is completely unnecessary. Eliminating non-essential tasks will free your body and mind to do the more important things that add true value to your life. Don’t feel guilty having free time.

Create a routine: Developing and building a routine is a sure way of enhancing our efficiency. Wake up each morning around the same time; Create specific times for reviewing and working on documents as well as office meetings, checking work emails and responding to them, etc. Obviously, we have to alter our routines from time to time to meet emerging realities. But having a working template will generally help us very well. One of the major benefits of having a routine is that even other people you deal with will get to know your routine and respect it, thereby helping you further.

Slow down! Quite counterintuitively, one of the ways to improve the good usage of your time is by slowing down. By slowing down we are able to see things more clearly and we experience them in greater details. The clarity and experience both enhance the quality of our lives and our capacity to do better, more and with less effort.

Specifically in Nigeria, I like to always suggest some actions to help free our time. As Carl Sandburg puts it, “Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.”

· Always make appointments to visit people and for people to visit you. If you will, for genuine reasons be late to appointments, call well ahead and inform the other party. Be realistic by telling them when you expect to be with them. Please, don’t say you will be there ‘in five minutes’ when you sincerely know it will take you thirty! Tell them it will take you thirty. No one will kill you!

· Keep reasonable, practical gaps between appointments so that meeting extensions and traffic situations can be accommodated without being late to subsequent appointments.

· Avoid looking irresponsible, incompetent and having to apologise for being late to appointments by setting out early.

· Respect other people’s time and ask that yours be respected also. Extract yourself from the terrible attitude we shamelessly call ‘African time’ and demand that others don’t mess with your time either.

· You don’t have to attend all weddings and parties for goodness’ sake! Set criteria about those that you should attend and stick to it.

· Focus on those activities that are of importance and avoid those that just keep you busy without much positive returns.

Today, we brought out a few of the benefits of the good utilisation of our time and some of the ways we can actually make better usage of our time. Next week we will take up Personal Management.