Effective Use of Time

Effective Use of Time

One of the most important factors in our life is time. Each one of us has specific amount of time measured to us and as the clock moves forward the time left to us becomes less and less. Wisely has it been said that “lost wealth may be regained by industry and economy, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance and medicine but the lost time is gone for ever.” The success in life depends on whether we have put each moment of time available to us to the best possible use or wasted it.

“I am too busy”, “I haven’t the time” are the usual replies we hear from the top executives. This is often an unconscious effort to excuse incapacity. There is always enough time to go around if it is used properly. If we enquire in detail we would be shocked to know how waste of time is going on everyday in offices, factories and stores.
(a) Letter redictated because information was not
fully assembled before first dictation 10 Minutes
(b) Half-an-hour writing a formal report which
could have been better in a three-sentence memo 25 Minutes
(c) Ten minute’s coffee break stretched to 25 minutes 15 Minutes
(d) Looked for a paper not properly placed 10 Minutes
(e) Went upper storey to see the Boss to know his
programme which could have been enquired from
his P .A. on phone 15 Minutes
(f) A fellow executive comes for a minute’s consultation
and indulged in idle gossips with him 20 Minutes
(g) Inspected a new machine installation which could
have better been supervised by a foreman 40 Minutes
(h) Telephone from wife discussing an outing programme
for the evening 5 Minutes
(i) Waited alongwith four others, in a conference, for
a file which could have been collected beforehand 10 Minutes
(j) Work interrupted too often when clerks and supervisors
came to supply information or to seek clarification 30 Minutes
Total avoidable waste of time for the working-hour-day 180 Minutes
Planning effective use of time
Before you plan out your work you need to know, in detail, exactly how you spend your time. For this purpose you should record time spent on various activities in a day atleast for a week. The time taken by each activity may be recorded. Compilation of these figure will reveal the pattern of activities, tasks involving greatest expenditure of time and factors responsible for waste of time. On the basis of this analysis it is possible to plan or budget your daily time.