How to be a pro at time management

You are hard-pressed for time and this has been the case for as long you can remember. Wondering how you got here? Let’s be honest and real. The more you try to reach out for time the more unapproachable it seems.

In our inability to understand time or to question its meaning, we have confounded our miseries as to-do task list which remain unchecked. We have failed to understand that time is an integral part of our lives. Instead, we look at time in terms of deadlines, expiry dates on milk packets, year of graduation, marriage and death.

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To yearn for balance, of any kind, in this lopsided state that we find ourselves in, is only natural. But to hope to find it without understanding time as life is impossible. It’s important therefore, that as a responsible entrepreneur you slow down and re-look at life and time and how to find one in the other.

Apart from that, here are three guiding lights to help you manage your time beautifully.

Take a break

It’s called a break because you need to break yourself from that which is holding you back. The first step is to identify the cause of stress at work. Is it money-related? Is it due to lack of inspiration? Is it a general sense of stress and chaos? Once you delve deep into the root of the cause, you’ll find yourself unburdened of uncertainty. And it’ll be easier to take that call when you take a break.

Taking a break will give you time to assess your priorities, sort your goals and create a roadmap for appropriate action. It’ll give you a chance to rediscover yourself and your dreams. A break does not mean that one must throw caution to the wind and expend one’s energy in pursuit of ‘fun stuff’. A real break is time one allots for clarity.

Know when to say Yes and No

Most of our happiness or dissatisfaction stems from our inability to know when to say Yes and when to say No. At work, in fear of entering someone’s bad books, we often find ourselves doing late nights and foregoing weekends. This display of cowardice not just affects you but comes at the cost of other's time and efforts.

However, when you are level-headed, you are aware of your priorities and so are those who work with you. You ensure that you are not seen as a shirker who says No to everything or a subservient individual who says Yes thoughtlessly. You come across as someone who has the work-life balance figured. And you know that’s possible only when you are capable of making right decisions for yourself – decisions that neither harm others nor hinder your peace.

"We are all allocated the same 24 hours each day. And time is not something that any of us can buy more of. But busy as the best entrepreneurs are, the happiest ones invest their time in what matters most to them." -- inc.com

Don’t procrastinate

A procrastinator is a firm believer of the unequivocally misleading adage – there’s more time. For them tomorrow is the eternal saviour, a place where everything is good and decent and where all problems meet their end. If you are one of them, and think of time as something that exists in tomorrow, you will always fail when it comes to time management. The solution lies in being realistic and not falling for the first temptation of postponing a task.

Once you learn to manage your time, you may begin to have extra time in your hand. Use it to explore other passions, which gathered dust all this while. As this becomes a common-practice, you'll come to a realisation that by managing your time you have in fact managed your life.