Time management: Work-Life balance
January 22, 2012, 8:01 pm , The Island.
Welcome
Welcome to the seventy fourth (74th ) edition of the regular column "The Catalyst".
Personal Development Skills
Some time back here in this column we discussed about time management skills. There was a request to cover such similar topics which can be broadly identified as personality development skills more in the column. We have discussed things like presentation skills also in the past. Today I thought of refreshing our minds about time management skills and then discuss a few other areas such as stress management, conflict resolution skills, meeting skills etc in the near future.
Time Management
There are some who say that the Asian culture doesn’t have an inheritance of working to exact times as the Western culture. Some also take the view that certain Asian and African cultures are actually core-value based. What this means is that, they aren’t too worried about the finer details of things like working to exact times but rather work based on core values. As long as values such as helping each other, friendship and brotherhood are met, they are kept happy. They would be working to approximate times rather than exact times.
I don’t disagree with this argument. However, whether we like it or not, we are now caught up in a system where we need to work according to time although one could claim it’s a bit Westernish.
On the flip side, for generations our culture has had auspicious times (nakath) which we take into concern during Sinhala/Hindu new year as well as when initiating other important milestones in our lives. So, it’s not correct to say that working to time is completely out of our way.
Time Management as a habit
I think it is difficult to impose things like this on a society. Such things need to be put into the system within the people and make them habits. Cultivating this attitude needs to happen early in life when people actually groom themselves to be future adults. For that firstly, we need to make sure adults and the society as a whole displays such qualities so that youngsters learn from it. Of course as folktales tell us, when the adult crabs walk sideways, the babies learn to do the same way! So as grownups, all of us should become examples for our future generation.
Secondly, at schools we can put this into practise by walking the talk and really doing things on time. One thing that I fail to understand is that although through the entire school period students’ work in line with a set time table, they don’t come out from the system as punctual people. Perhaps not all the teachers are that punctual or maybe the influence from the parents and the society at large reverses what the school system does.
Useful Tips
Apart from punctuality, there is a whole lot of things we could do to better utilise our time. What you accomplish during a 24-hour period depends on your own motivation, your energy, your skills and abilities and other resources. Since there are always demands on your time, it may be helpful to think about what you will do with your time and to consider some strategies for more effective time management. Time management is not a way to make us work harder and longer, but a means to help us work smarter to accomplish work more easily and rapidly.
Benefits of time management are that it would make things efficient, successful and let us be healthy. There are a lot of things that make it difficult for us to manage our time effectively. Unclear objectives, disorganization and inability to say "no" are some of those reasons. So, we need to try and improve on these areas.
Interruptions usually are a big hassle in effectively managing time. I am always interrupted by the mobile phone for instance! These calls not only distract us from the task, but sometimes they interrupt the train of thought and you can’t return to where you were before the call. Therefore you need to identify the ‘interruptions’ and learn to manage them effectively.
We all like to pay visits to our friends and relatives’ places, but conversations for excessively long times can cost us time.
As much as we think we are busy, there are times in our day when we are not really doing anything. Recognizing and making use of these times can have a positive effect on our efforts.
Doing too many things at once also make things too difficult. I have seen this quote which says "The quickest way to do many things is to do only one thing at a time".
All work and no play is also not advisable. Most successful people balance work and life well. When work takes over our lives, we not only give our body little time to re-energize, but we may end up sacrificing the really important things in life like family and friends.
Work Life Balance
When we talk about Time Management, what we talk about is not a life that does as much "work" as possible. No. It is about a life that manages time in such a way that you have time for both "work" and "play". "Play" in the sense other activities in life. It could be about family gatherings, dinners, musical shows, games, movies and what not. The work life balance is a very important thing. Professionals as well as many individuals today who are running hard in this competitive world find it hard to manage multiple things that are on their plate.
But by being conscious of the need to balance all these within limited time frame is a good start so that you consciously allocate time for everything.
I don’t pretend to be a one that has the best work life balance! Of course I do have my challenges but I am conscious of the need to balance and actively working on it daily while having further improvement goals in my mind.
I invite you to send your ideas and opinions on this area and then we can discuss those through this column.
Be SMART!
One important strategy you can employ to manage your time is to set clear goals for yourself. Effective goals should be SMART. i.e.: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based.
When a goal is too vague, you may never know how to reach it. Make sure that you know exactly what you hope to achieve. When you have a goal that is measurable, you will know how far you have to go to reach the goal, and when you get there its easily trackable that it has been successfully completed or otherwise. Although it is commendable to set your sights high, sometimes we try to accomplish more than we can actually do. So, let’s try to set achievable goals. They should also be realistic. And the last important thing is to make the goal time-based. It is important to set time guidelines for your goals, so that you can keep track of your progress as you are going along.
When you set SMART goals, it’s good for the task as well as for the use of time eventually helping with work life balance objectives as well.
Another strategy is to practice Do, Delegate, Delay or Delete. Each thing you have to do can be prioritised based on this.
Do – Determine the things you think are most important to accomplish and things you should do yourself.
Delegate – A truly effective person understands that it is not productive to try and do everything themselves and recognizes that some things are better handled by others. Delegating not only frees up your time for other things, it ensures that resources are used wisely.
Delay until another time – Some things can wait. The danger is delaying too many things until deadlines are near. The best policy here is to consider when things are due, how long it will take to accomplish them, and what your current workload will allow.
Delete – If you have set goals using the guidelines (SMART) mentioned earlier, you may recognize that some of them are not achievable or realistic, or that they are just not important. This could even help in managing the work-life balance.
Another personal time management skill is to make good use of "waiting time". For instance:
- Time you spend commuting on a train or bus
- Time you wait at the doctor for your appointment
- Time you spend "on hold" on the telephone
- Time you spend when you arrive at a meeting earlier than you had anticipated
The trick to making use of your waiting time is to always make sure you have something with you that you can work on in the event that you are kept waiting. For instance reading letters/books, emails or writing letters.
I hope today’s discussion will be useful and helpful for you.
A National Conference
Just to update you about an important event, the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies will host a National Conference on the ‘Role of the Business Community in Reconciliation’ from 2:00-6:00 pm on Tuesday, 24th January, 2012. Sri Lankan businesses have contributed appreciably to the reconciliation process by investing in Sri Lanka’s Northern and Eastern provinces. Members of the business community and experts on reconciliation will present on their contribution to the national reconciliation process.
Speakers at the conference will be:
* Rohan Gunaratna, Head, International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research
* Harin Malwatte, Secretary General, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce
* Emelda Sukumar, Government Agent – Jaffna
* Deivanayagam Eassuwaren, Chairman, Easwaren Brothers Exports (Pvt.) Ltd.
* Sanath Ukwatte, Chairman, Mt. Lavinia Hotel
* Aruna Lokuhetti, President, Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka
* Linda Speldewinde, Managing Director, Academy of Design Colombo
* Mano Sekaram, CEO, 99X Technology & Secretary General SLASSCOM
* Waruna Madawanarachchi, Director, CIC Agri Businesses Ltd.
* Brindley de Zylva, Managing Director, CEO, Lanka ORIX Finance PLC.
* Asanga Abeyagoonasekera, Executive Director, Kadirgamar Institute
See you next week!
The Columnist
Yasas Vishuddhi Abeywickrama is a professional with significant experiences. In 2011 he was recognised as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) in Sri Lanka. Yasas has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from University of Colombo and a Masters degree in Entrepreneurship & Innovation from Swinburne University in Australia. He has worked in the USA, UK, Sri Lanka & Australia and being trained in the USA & Malaysia. He is currently involved in the training organisation, Lanka BPO Academy (www.lankabpoacademy.lk). Yasas is also an Executive Council Member of the Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL – www.cssl.lk). Apart from this column, he is a regular resource person for ‘Ape Gama’ program of FM Derana (Sunday 3-5pm). Yasas is happy to answer your relevant questions – email him at yva@lankabpoacademy.lk .
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