TIPS ‘N’ TRICKS
Who doesn’t want a calmer morning, a less hectic afternoon and a more peaceful bedtime? Day-to-day demands have become overwhelming and create an atmosphere of constant stress. Consequently, effective time management is a skill essential to all.
Many a times, youngsters are overwhelmed by the prospect of fitting everything they have and want to complete into the few hours after school. Between homework, activities, and just time to play, there’s a lot to do. With exams just round the corner, it’s natural to feel the pressure and have panic attacks.
The important thing to remember is that there are 24 hours in a day and that is same for everyone. Therefore, good planning is the key to getting the most from all of our activities. This discipline not just helps create a good study-life balance, but also benefits us in many areas of our life.
Time management is a number of habits or learnable actions which can be learned via improved knowledge, tutoring or deliberate exercise. It represents a variety of techniques, skills and tools utilized to manage time when achieving definite jobs, assignments and objectives. Below are some key techniques to manage one’s time effectively.
ABCD Analysis
A technique that has been used in business management for a long time is the categorisation of large data into groups. These groups are often marked A, B, and C - hence the name. Activities are ranked by this general criterion:
A - Tasks that are perceived as being urgent and important,
B - Tasks that are important but not urgent,
C - Tasks that are unimportant but urgent,
D -Tasks that are unimportant and not urgent.
Pareto Analysis
The idea is 80 percent of tasks can be completed in 20 percent of the disposable time. The remaining 20 percent of tasks will take up 80 percent of the time. This principle is used to sort tasks into two parts. According to this form of Pareto analysis it is recommended that tasks that fall into the first category be assigned a higher priority.
Eisenhower Method
Using the Eisenhower Decision Principle, tasks are evaluated using the criteria important/unimportant and urgent/not urgent, and then placed in according quadrants in an Eisenhower Matrix (also known as an “Eisenhower Box” or “Eisenhower Decision Matrix”). Tasks are then handled as follows:
POSEC Method
POSEC is an acronym for “Prioritise by Organising, Streamlining, Economising and Contributing”. The method dictates a template which emphasizes an average individual’s immediate sense of emotional and monetary security. It suggests that by attending to one’s personal responsibilities first, an individual is better positioned to shoulder collective responsibilities.
Prioritise - Your time and define your life by goals.
Organise - Things you have to accomplish regularly to be successful (family and finances)
Streamline - Things you may not like to do, but must do (work and chores)
Economise - Things you should do or may even like to do, but they’re not pressingly urgent (pastimes and socializing)
Contribute - By paying attention to the few remaining things that make a difference (social obligations)