Here is a quote – Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work in hand. The Sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.
—Alexander Graham Bell
At times, we do come across time-challenged folks who are clueless about where a major chunk of their time goes. Torn between different activities and expected results, they fail to realize the importance of time and hence, the chaos becomes even more difficult to handle.
Therefore, instead of indulging in too many activities, we should prioritize our passions and focus on goal/s. Once these are ready, we need to plan; when the final plan is there, our prime focus should be to make it the center of our work schedule.
Here is a short story that I think you will certainly love. Once a professor brought a big glass jar to his class that he filled with large rocks. Then he asked his students if the jar was full. All shouted and responded in the affirmative. Now, he dumped some gravel into the same jar and then asked his students, ‘Is this jar full now?’ Most of them shouted a big ‘yes’ again. Now he added some sand in the jar and again asked the same question. The students’ answer was exactly the same as it was earlier. Finally, he poured some water into the jar until he filled it to the brim.
Then the professor explained what all that meant. He told his students that the big rocks stood for things, responsibilities, passions, and goals that matter the most, which we tend to forget or find time for when pursuing meaningless or less important stuff (gravel, sand, water and whatnot). Our focus should be on big rocks (priorities) and allocating most of our time to them only. After all, if we fill water, sand, and gravels into the bucket first, we won’t have any time left for those big rocks. For when we have our priorities right, we don’t need to worry about less meaningful stuff.
Set your priorities before planning to manage time
Instead of complaining about the lack of time, don’t you think you should ask for the right direction? The best way to find solutions to time crunch is planning, but only after you have carefully chosen your priorities. After all, unless you draw up a schedule to run the day, chances are that the day will run you. Faking busy without knowing ‘busy doing what’ is just a moment, which we often mistake for achievement. With such kind of feigned involvement, your chances of managing time reduce to nothing. On the other hand, when you are sure about your priorities, you’ll somehow squeeze time out for important tasks that deserve your attention.
Managing time is both an art and a science
We spend only a small part of the average workday on ‘important’ and ‘crucial’ things, while most of it is spent on meaningless or less important activities. Therefore, instead of trying several methods and wasting time, won’t it be a better proposition to learn how to manage time?
Rather than doing wrong things quicker and considering it a form of managing time, the art and science of making value out of time actually means doing the right things with a justifiable focus on deadlines.
