Know why I am doing a series
on this?
What Psychologists Don’t Talk About Time Management?
CONTENTSIntroduction
What is Time Management?
The Question of Willingness
Rating Scale on Time Management
Wasting Time
Geometric Progression of Time
Mantras on Time Management
Summary
Introduction
Almost everyone who books a ticket on public
transport, at a theatre, to a cricket match, or elsewhere comes on time. There
is a far more serious problem of distorted value systems associated with not
managing time at work or studies, which is What Psychologists Don’t Talk About Time
Management?
One of the greatest challenges the modern way of life has opened up is the use of time. When every aspect of life depends upon keeping up with time, it is necessary to learn time management skills.
Management Gurus, Motivational Speakers, Soft Skill
Trainers, Leadership Coaches, Student Mentors, Career Advisors, and scores of
others keep flooding participants and aspirants with information about Time Management. The greatest irony is that no one needs any training or coaching in
managing time.
Did they not come on time to the training program?
How many times have they missed their buses, trains, or
flights?
If they have time to stand in a queue overnight, what
are they being told about to manage time?
What is Time
Management?
Time Management is "prioritizing relevant events and enforcing actions effectively." When I put this definition within quotes on Google Search, it said, "No results found."
This definition of Time Management includes several
aspects.
- You have to choose only relevant events ignoring irrelevant and unimportant events.
- Then, you should order them and choose the most crucial event.
- Next, you should choose those actions that are beneficial for the outcome.
- Later, enforce these chosen actions to obtain the desired result.
However, this is not as easy as it looks. Time
management is not merely managing time but managing oneself as you will see in
‘What Psychologists Don’t Talk About Self Management?’ I have listed 42 tips
that are helpful for self-management.
In addition, it has to account for finesse in executing
the plan of action as you will see in ‘What Psychologists Don’t Talk About Personal
Efficiency?’
Finally, it all depends on the individual’s value system
as you will find out in ‘What Psychologists Don’t Talk About Value System?’
The Question of Willingness
EXERCISE
Two
buses are going to a destination that is approximately 300 miles away. Both
buses leave the bus stop at the same time.
The
first bus “Bus A” has no stop for 4 hours; no food for 4 hours and you can’t
carry food inside the bus; no water for 4 hours and you can’t carry water
inside the bus; and no toilet break for 4 hours.
The
second bus “Bus B” stops every hour; you can carry food inside and have food
whenever you want; you can carry water inside and have water whenever you want;
and stop for the toilet whenever someone wants.
If
you were asked to take the journey, which bus would you choose?
“Bus
A” or “Bus B”
Choose B
There is nothing wrong with choosing either bus. But bus
B will take a longer time to reach the destination when compared to bus A. As
everyone on the bus values comfort and luxury, they assume that their time is
more important than that of others. When you tell people that the bus stops whenever
someone wants, each person thinks that it is their right to stop the bus.
Collectively, this will increase the journey time.
If we value time, we have to forgo drinking water and
going to the toilet for at least four hours.
If we value our comforts, we have to forgo our time.
In almost all cases where I have administered this
situation, participants invariably choose “Bus B” initially. But when I point
out that the bus goes nowhere because somebody will keep stopping the bus for
whatever reason, they see the point and agree reluctantly that “Bus A” is
better.
This is the issue I have been trying to address. As we
have seen in ‘What
Psychologists Don’t Talk About Choices?’
when we are given the liberty to choose, we tend to choose something
detrimental to us rather than beneficial to us. We always feel that our
happiness is more important than collective welfare. This has been verified several
times in ‘What
Psychologists Don’t Talk About Happiness?’
Rating Scale on
Time Management
Suppose you are asked the following ten questions, how
would you answer them?
DOWNLOAD Testing Time.pdf
You are supposed to rate yourself on each question. The
score for each column is given in parentheses. It ranges from 1 to 5. You can
download the rating scale and use it whenever necessary.
After answering all the questions find out your score
for each question and total them up. Refer to the table below to see the interpretation
of your score.
|
Total
Score |
Interpretation |
|
10 |
Managing Time Very Well |
|
11 to 20 |
Need Slight Improvement |
|
21 to 30 |
Average Time Management |
|
31 to 40 |
Difficulty in Managing Time |
|
41 to 50 |
Impossible to Manage Time |
There is no need to show your score to anyone. This is
only for your feedback.
WASTING TIME
ANECDOTE
This is an old story. This boy was very fond
of jamoons. He loved them so much that he always wanted nothing else but
jamoons. His grandmother knew his desire and when he went to her house on
holiday, she prepared a plateful of jamoons. He ate plenty of them to his
heart’s content, and when he no longer could eat, he went to blissful sleep. He
woke up with a major stomach ache and couldn’t control it at all. His
grandmother took him to the doctor, and after investigations, the doctor asked
him, “What did you eat for breakfast?” His answer was, “Jamoons”. “What did you
eat for lunch?” “Jamoons”. The doctor understood that this was a case of
indigestion and gave him a tablet to swallow. The boy looked at the tablet,
looked at the grandmother, and then looked at the doctor and said, “Doctor, if
you think I have space in my stomach for this tablet, please give me one more
jamoon, so that I can be happy!”
This is exactly what we do with our time.
We spend almost all our time doing unwanted and
unnecessary tasks, and once we get some extra time, we spend it on the same
unwanted and unnecessary tasks, rather than on something very important and
crucial.
Geometric
Progression of Time
Individual Time –
You spend half-an-hour in a grocery store – Time spent = 30 minutes
Adds to Cooperative Time – You go with a
friend to a mall for half an hour – Time spent = 30 + 30 = 60 minutes
Multiplies with Collective Time – You
attend a party with a family of four, for half an hour – Time spent = 30 X 4 =
120 minutes
Whether you are a student or an executive, think of the
amount of time you would have spent in your life, especially as part of the
Collective Time.
Mantras on Time
Management
Summary
Time management is to make effective use of what we do
and choose the most appropriate one to do. If we are willing to prioritize time, rather than other comforts, we can easily manage our time.
Evaluating yourself now and then will provide a better yardstick for how you
are managing your time. We tend to waste time and when given extra time, we
would waste it, too. Collective time is costlier than individual time or
cooperative time and we should be wary of how we use our time. The mantras on
time management emphasize its importance.
Know why I am doing a series
on this?
Let me know if I am wrong. I have started this series because there
are hundreds of things psychologists don’t talk about. I feel that it would
benefit everyone if they did so. I hope at least now, they will make a
beginning.
This is an attempt to bring to the fore what has been hidden for a very long time.
What Psychologists Don’t Talk About Self Management?
The 42 Tips given here are
good for Time Management, too.
What
Psychologists Don’t Talk About Personal Efficiency?
What Psychologists Don’t Talk About Value System?
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