Time Management

Understanding Time Management techniques
Welcome back to the third section of this course. Now before I start this section, I would like to tell you a small and interesting story. 

Once a woodcutter got a job with a timber merchant with good pay. On the first day on the job, he cut 18 trees. The employer was happy and impressed. On the second day, he managed to cut 15 trees; the employer was still delighted but surprised as well. On the third day, he only managed to cut 7 trees but with a lot of difficulties. The woodcutter himself was surprised and thought that he was losing his strength. At the end of the day, he went to the employer and apologized for his performance. The employer was surprised and asked him when did he sharpen his axe last. The woodcutter replied – I have not sharpened my axe because I was busy cutting the trees.

Now imagine that the trees are our goals that you are the axe. If you do not learn to focus your energy in the right way, you will be less productive and efficient. 

So what do we understand from this?

The secret here is that it is not about how hard you work or how well you manage your time when it comes to time management. It is about how you handle yourself and your energy. It is about how to be productive while focusing only on essential things. 

Similarly, it is not about having the skills to manage your time; in this case, the axe would be the techniques you use to stay focused. This is what this section is all about. On this note, let us move ahead and understand the three basic techniques you can use to effectively manage your time and energy. 

As Richard Branson quotes – “If you don’t have time for the small things, you won’t have time for the big things.” This stands true. If you do not pay attention to small things, you will not enjoy the more important things in life. When it comes to achieving your goals, you need to take small baby steps or short-term goals that will take you to know your main goal. 

So, what are the small techniques that you can use to accomplish your main goal? Well, here they are. 

Set short and long – term goals
A person without a purpose or a vision is a person who has nothing forward to look out for. The goal doesn’t need to be fancy; it can also be something simple like ensuring you get food on the table. The idea here is to have something to look out for. Your long-term goal is the primary purpose of your life. It is something that you are passionate about. Your short-term goals will be based on the immediate things that you need to accomplish while keeping in mind your long-term goal. 

Calendar management
Calendar management comes in handy to prioritize your day, week, and month. You do not have to micro-manage your time to the minute or second. Just make sure that you note everything you need to do. This will help you to strategize your day accordingly. 

Assignment prioritization
Prioritizing your work only makes it easy for you to finish it properly. You can prioritize your job the way you want. For time-consuming tasks, you can break it in a way where you spend one day doing the necessary research and jotting down points. This will help you prepare for the next day, where you would only need to compile the points into a proper text. On this note, we come to the end of the third section. I hope the information you have gained so far has given you a good insight into what and how you need to do things. Let us move on to the fourth section, where I will cover a few strategies that will help you manage your time.