TIME MANAGEMENT

Time is a very important aspect of man. It has been part of the corporate existence of his day to day activities. Without time, man is in a disillusion. The more reason why his life begins and ends with time. Time management refers to tools or techniques for planning and scheduling time, usually with the aim of increasing the effectiveness and or efficiency of personal and corporate time use. In other words, time management involves effective planning and regulation of one's time towards attainment or accomplishment of a given task More often than not there is too much to do and enough time to do it. Because of time constraints, you need to learn how to maximize your time at work/study by doing more important tasks in the time you have and learn to put aside the less important tasks. The emphasis of the important of time is big. As one text put it we have time, keep time, buy time, save time, waste time, kill time, pass time, give time, take time and make time (Whetten, 1995: 113). Once somebody know how to manage their time, they will be able to maximize what they do to accomplish more at work/study and thereby reduce stress.

 FACTORS THAT AFFECT TIME ESTIMATION

TYPE OF ACTIVITY: The more .often a task is broken up or interrupted, the longer it seem to take.
 A period of doing nothing appears long.

1.          I.            Than when one is doing something. Also, relatively passive activities appear longer than those requiring active participation. For instance, time passes faster for a student who takes notes of lecture than for one who passively listen to lecture.
2.        II.             Level of motivation: The more one is motivated on a giver task, the shorter it appears to last. Clearly, motivation and the type of activity pursued are interdependent factors. Lack of motivation tends to interrupt attention to a task.
3.      III.            Personal traits: There is marked individual differences in the ability to estimate time. Influence of age shows that children use the same criteria as do adults, but give more variable estimates of duration.
4.      IV.            Physiological effects of drugs: it is believed that the effects of drugs affects individual perception of time. Stimulant drugs (thyroxin, caffeine) produces over estimates of duration while depressants and anesthetics (barbiturates) promote under estimate of duration. Under the influence of hallucinogens (marijuana) people tends to estimate absolute duration a s yen) long. A marijuana user may under estimate the speed of motor, thus increasing the chances of accident.
5.        V.            Sensory deprivation and hypnosis: Prolonged stay in experiential isolation chambers compresses the

BASICS OF GOOD TIME MANAGEMENT

To begin managing your time, you first need a clearer idea of how you now use your time. That is, an estimate of how much time you currently spend in typical activities will help you get a better idea of how much time you need to prepare for a given task. It will also help you identify you time wasters.
The most basic ways to start hammering away at the problem of losing time includes the following: 

1.         I.            Routine of making "TO DO" lists and daily reminders. Although this by sound simple, people have a lessening sensitivity to this procedure due to 'habituation'. Making "TO DO" lists is a common sense rule that simply means that you need to do some planning in advance each day. This is in a way suggest that you rely less on your memory each day when you have multiple tasks to do. It is therefore suggested that you have only one list, not multiple list on separate scraps of paper and more importantly, you put "TO DO" lists in a place where they will pop up when you may forget to do them, like in your wallet or in the reminder menu of your mobile phone. by doing this, you will not simply overlook them because you are used to them being there. They will be brought to your attention because they are in obvious spots.
2.       II.            Establish priorities of daily tasks: By doing this, you would want to separate your tasks in order of importance and deal with them one at a time. When this done, you should complete these tasks in order, not skipping from one another, leaving some par t i a I 1 y finished. It is therefore suggested that you use your best time to do your most important tasks. The reason for this is obvious. Because you will do your best work on the most important task and the less important tasks will not require the amount of energy or thought to complete, you will have reached your goal of doing your best work on the most important task.
3.     III.            Identify and fight causes of procrastination and laziness: This is a habit that we all do, but the fact is that we procrastinate so often than many things never get done. Some find themselves putting things off until the last minute, to others„ they hope for time to complete tasks or think that they could have done a better job if they have mere time, and perhaps if they do not tackle a task, it will go away or somebody will pick it up for them. It is a habit people must change, by stopping yourself from putting things off and using time effectively and efficiently. It is the best way to work through time stress and to avoid tasks overload and lack of control.
4.     IV.             Avoid or curb interruptions: These interruptions are usually short in length (5-10 minutes) but seem to build up and have a roll over effect on each other. One of these interruptions is a drop in visitor. These people usually stop by to tell of their past weekend or something the sort. Although common and acceptable. Another one of these interruptions is unimportant telephone calls. Many times people call or receive a call from a friend or companion to discuss things that are not work related. Because it would be virtually impossible to eliminate these Interruptions, it is suggested that cutting them down could save people several hour a week to attack the tasks that are causing them stress.
5.       V.             Learn to say 'no': the ability to say 'no' to tasks arid other affairs that are not really important when time is not on your side is an effective time management skill. By turning things down and staying committed t o your task will save time because you will be able to complete this task in the time you have allotted. For example, an acquaintance of yours would like you to watch a football match or a movie with him tonight, and your plan was to study in the night. You really are not interested. You want to say no, but hate turning people down. Politely saying no should become a habit, and that would frees up tim4fOr the things that are 1 U A Li most important.
6.     VI.            combine  several activities: The only way to get out of a day what you want out of it is to go into the day organized and under control. People often panic when they are faced with deadlines and time constraints to get things done. By panicking, people put the stress on themselves. They should instead learn to combine several activities into on time spot. While commuting to school, listen to taped notes, or make a mental list of the things that need to be done. There are several activities that you can do to combine your time, above all be creative and let it work for you. Remember, everything or earth has its time. As the popular saying: a time to read and a time to play. Reckon with time, be conscious of it, and use it judiciously.