PROJECT ON

TIME MANAGEMENT

[1]
 PREPARED BY

NAYAN GAUTAM

SUBMITTED TO

MUMBAI UNIVERCITY

SATHAYE COLLEGE

ACADEMIC YEAR 2008-2009

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CERTIFICATE

[3]
 I Prof. Gouri Despandey here by certify that Master Nayan Gautam of
Sathye College of T.Y.B.M.S (Semester V) has completed this project on Time
Management during the academic year 2008-09. The Information submitted is true &
original to the best of my knowledge.

Signature

(Gouri Despandey)

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 DECLARATION

I Nayan Gautam student of Parle Tilak Vidyalaya Association’s Sathye

College of T.Y.B.M.S (Semester V) roll no. 15 hereby declare that I have completed the
project on Time Management in the academic year 2008-09. This information is true &
original to the best of my knowledge.

ACHNOWLEDGMENT

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 We thank our Prof. Saugandika Krishnan & Gauri Despandey to give us this
opportunity to make this project & help us to learn more through experience we had
during this project.

I would like to thank firstly Prof. Gauri Despandey for being my guide &
helping me to do this project by guiding me in each & every matter.

I would also like to thank my friends, family & inside-outside faculty

member for the support & encouragement.

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 INDEX

Sr.No TITLE PAGE NO.

1. Introduction
2. Importance of Time Management 1
3. Principles of Time Management 6
4. Time Management Cycle 9
5. Goal Setting 12
6. Time Awareness & Time Tracking 32
7. Planning 34
8. Taking Action 38
9. Time Shifting & Adjusting 39
10. Questionnaire 41
11. Time Management Quiz 44
12. Examples of Time Management 47
13. Case Studies 55
14. Conclusion
15. Bibliography

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 INTRODUCTION

Time management is the proper delegation of the time we have in order that the most
important tasks are achieved before the more menial and less important ones. It means
getting the maximum value and benefit out of every activity accomplished, no matter
how small or big. It means accepting that not everything can be completed at the same
time and that there are things that can be achieved within the limitations of our human
faculties.

If we waste time, there is no bank where we can withdraw time; we previously saved to
replace the time wasted. To come to terms with our humanity is to realize that our time is
limited. Given this realization and probability that you would like to better organize your
time, here are some techniques that you can use in your professional and private lives.

The grand tour of your time begins here and now. You as a student have special time
concerns and unique perspectives on various aspects of time management. Many of your
activities are scheduled for you as lectures, tutorials and lab times are. You may find
though, a substantial chunk of your time is flexible but must still be allocated to things
like homework, commuting, a part-time job, some recreational time and some social time
with friends. After all is said and done, many of us find ourselves disappointed with our
ability to plan, stay on track and get things done. To address this and other concerns
regarding your time we would like you to consider the following questions: Have you set
your goals? Within this first question we would like you to consider things like: why are
you here? What do you want to learn? And what do you want to do after you graduate?
The second main question is what is your time perspective? Within this question
consider things like do you postpone? If you do, why? Do you do things because they are
easy or because they are necessary? And, how much time are you really using well? A
third main question to consider is what sort of planning is involved? Consider things
like how do you plan? Do you get things done on time? Are they done to your
satisfaction? Do you feel comfortable with the pace of your work, or do you feel rushed?

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The fourth consideration is Have you ever had a time shift? This question entails things
like have you ever been engaged in an activity where time seemed to just fly by, or the
opposite where time just dragged on and on. Or, have you ever found yourself doing one
thing while thinking about how you really should be doing something else? If you have
ever asked yourself any of these four questions you already know how confusing good
time management can really be. Not to worry, we will be working through all four of
these questions throughout the course of the handout starting with "Have you set your
goals?"

Definition:

Time management is a set of principles, practices, skills, tools, and systems that
work together to help you get more value out of your time with the aim of improving
the quality of your life.

In arriving at a definition of time management, it is important to note that time

management is a broad subject that covers many different areas from your day-to-day
actions to your long term goals.

Some of the skills associated with time management include planning, prioritizing, goal
setting, scheduling, and managing your workload.

A good time management system integrates all these different skills using a consistent set
of tools designed to work well with each other.

What is Time Management?

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Time management is the art of arranging, organizing, scheduling, and budgeting one’s
time for the purpose of generating more effective work and productivity.

Time management is important for everyone. While time management books and
seminars often place their focus on business leaders and corporations, time management
is also crucial for students, teachers, factory workers, professionals, and home makers.
Time management is perhaps most essential for the person who owns his or her own
business or who runs a business out of the home. Managing work and home
responsibilities under the same roof takes a special type of time management.

An important aspect of time management is planning ahead. Sometimes, successful time

management involves putting in more time at the outset in order to reorganize one’s life.
Though many time management books and teachings differ in their suggestions, most
agree that the first step in efficient time management is to organize the workspace or
home. Even if one's schedule is well-ordered, but the office and filing system are a
disaster, time will be wasted trying to work efficiently in a disorderly place.

After cleaning, purging, and reorganizing the home or office, the next step in time
management is to look at all the activities one participates in during a week. Every last
detail should be written down, including the time it takes to shower, dress, commute,
attend meetings, make phone calls, clean the house, cook dinner, pick up the children
from school, take them to after-school activities, and eat meals. Also include time for
entertainment or exercise, such as driving to the gym, going for a walk, watching
television, or surfing the Internet.

Lastly, good time management involves keeping a schedule of the tasks and activities that
have been deemed important. Keeping a calendar or daily planner is helpful to stay on
task, but self-discipline is also required.

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 IMPORTANCE OF TIME MANAGEMENT

Time management is a set of principles, practices, skills, tools, and systems that help you
use your time to accomplish what you want.

Why Is Time Management Important?

Here are the top reasons why time management is of great importance to your personal
and career success:

1. Time is limited. Time is a very special resource in that you cannot store it or save it
for later. Everyone gets the exact same amount of time each and every day. If you don't
use your time wisely, you can never get it back.

2. Time is scarce. Most people feel like they have too much to do and not enough time.
Lack of time is blamed for everything from not getting enough exercise, poor finances,
unachieved goals, too much stress, bad relationships, and even an unfulfilled life. Time
management helps you use the time that you do have in better ways.

3. You need time to get what you want out of life. You need time to do almost anything
worthwhile in life. Waiting for more free time is a loosing game that almost never results
in getting time for what you want. You need to learn how to make time for the things that
are important to you. Even if you can only afford to give a small amount of time each
week to your goals, you'd be surprised at how much progress you can make.

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4. You can accomplish more with less effort. When you become more productive using
improved time management skills and tools, you can accomplish more with less effort.
Reducing wasted time and effort gives you even more productive time throughout the
day. Both of these allow you to make time for a wide range of activities that bring more
balance and fulfillment to your life.

5. Too many choices. In this day and age, there are so many ways you can spend your
time that you need some sort of plan to make intelligent choices.

Time management helps you make conscious choices so you can spend more of
your time doing things that are important and valuable to you.

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 PRINCIPLES OF TIME MANAGEMENT

1. The more time you give to work, the more work you will have to do!

2. Being organized is very important: Use your school agenda or a calendar to keep
track of assignments/tests and check it every day!

3. People find it difficult to start working. In order to encourage you to get started, set
a goal and a reward for yourself. Once you start, keep going!

4. Avoid wasting time. It is ok to take a break, but don't get in the habit of spending
more time on your break, and less on your work!

5. Make time management an important goal for you to achieve. Planning what you
have to do every day is a set of habits. They can be good or bad habits, and when you
try to change these habits, it can be hard or uncomfortable for a little while, but the
results worth it!

6. Make a list of things you have to do, and then put them in order of importance.
When you begin work, start at the top of the list!

7. Set your own deadlines, and attempt to stick to them.

8. Concentrate fully on the task at hand (this makes time spent much more efficient)

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 HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR TIME

Time management technique :

Time management technique 1: Assess how you spend your time

as a first step in managing time better; you might want to analyze how you spend your
time now. To do this, divide your day into fifteen-minute segments, and then record what
you are doing every fifteen minutes. Afterward, review this time diary and total the time
spent on each activity throughout the day.

For instance, you might that you spent three hours watching television, one hour
exercising, one hour studying, and two hours shopping. Next, evaluate the use of time.
You might decide you spend too much time watching TV and too little time studying.
Based upon this evaluation, decide on an adjustment, but make it specific. A good way to
make this change is to draw up a contract with yourself that includes a reward for being
successful.

Time management technique 2: Set Goals

The most important thing you can do to manage time is to set goals: daily, weekly,
monthly, yearly and long-range. If you don’t have a clear sense of where you are headed
just yet, you will not be able to plan how to get there. Your use of time should be
organized to maximize the chances of achieving your goals.

Time management technique 3: Learn to prioritize

Once you have defined your goals, you need to prioritize them and your activities. Not all
of your goals will be equally important. Focus on those goals that are of major
importance to you, and work on the other goals secondarily. Likewise, focus on activities
most important to the achievement of your highest goals and on other activities afterward.

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Time management technique 4: If you can't manage, pass on
its okay to admit that you’re not superman or superwoman. We’re only human and we
simply cannot do everything at once, no matter how hard we try. Some people have
attempted to manage too many things at the same time and ended up with work that is
unplanned. Seek the assistance of other people to do the other things for you. Conversely,
do not just accept and say ‘yes’ when people ask you to do things for them when you
know you don’t have the time to do so.

Time management technique 5: Saying ‘no’ is not bad

if you really have to turn someone or something down, don’t hesitate to say ‘no’. Assess
what is really important to you and go with that, instead. Some people feel guilty when
they say ‘no’. You shouldn’t. It is your right and privilege to turn somebody down when
he or she asks a favor from you. Remember, you own your time. Allowing other people
to dictate what you should do with it is harm to yourself.

Time management technique 6: Keep a schedule

Once you’ve prioritized your activities, you can then schedule them into your day. Time
of meetings - When will you go to the library? When will you shop for cooking? Don’t
forget to schedule some relaxation and recreation (leisure), as well.

Time management technique7: Maximize your rewards

in scheduling your activities; remember what some time management experts say: we
get 80% of our rewards on only 20% of our activities and, conversely, get only 20% of
our rewards on 80% of the time we spend. What this tells us is that we need to make sure
we identify and engage in the 20% of the activities that give us 80% of our rewards
before we move to the other activities. Maximize your rewards by organizing your time.

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As you can see from the techniques mentioned above, time, while short and brief, is
something that can be managed even by mere human beings like us. The best way to cope
with it is to know early on what we want to happen to our lives and which directions
we’d like to head, in order for us to more effectively map out a life plan. If we don’t
know what our plans are, then it wouldn’t really make sense to get into time
management because we’ll just end up with one big mess of activities.

Determine what you want first and then seek to manage your time. Remember, every
second is precious, so you need to speed up. It’s for your own sake, anyway.

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 THE TIME MANAGEMENT CYCLE

Time management “systems” often fail because they are born of perfectionism and
unrealistic expectations. For instance, some people don’t initiate a time management
approach until they’re already falling behind in their work; they undertake time
management as a means of catching up. Their initial plans tend to force in everything,
they have to do without appropriate regard for the time required. The unrealistic plans
that emerge from “catch-up time management” amount to little more than an expression
of renewed motivation for change but without the structure to support it. Those was
trying to follow packed schedules often fall seriously behind their intended pace and
dump the plan altogether, resulting in continued time trouble. Some conclude somehow
that these strategies of planning don’t work for them. But, what is important isn’t being
perfect, it is making and using a plan that helps you accomplish your goals.

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One of your best options for time management systems is to begin using a cyclical
system early in the academic year. Usually the system begins with the process of goal
setting to establish a context for managing time. The next phase of the system involves
tracking time and developing awareness for where you spend your time. The third phase
of the cycle is plan making, and this could include making to-do lists, weekly plans,
monthly plans and longer-range plans. The fourth phase of the system is self monitoring
your action. Self monitoring involves paying attention to how well you are working your
plan, how accurately you have planned, how well you have forecasted for various events
and so on. The ideas for self-monitoring come from important research on student
academic self-regulation which emphasizes the importance of adaptation in student
success. The final phase of the cycle is time shifting and adjusting (i.e., changing where
you spend your time to better match your intended use of time) in which you make
corrections to the system before starting the cycle again at goal setting. Taken together,
these phases permit you to initialize a process of gradual, performance-based
improvement in time management skill. Everybody wants the “quick fix”, but the
complexity of changes involved in really getting a grip on your time management process
will take some time to move through. Resist the urge to cast aside strategies that don’t
promise instant results; like it or not, change takes time.

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 GOAL SETTING

What are your goals? Really, what are your goals? It might help to divide your goals into
time frames (immediate goals, short-mid-term goals, long-range goals) but you don’t
absolutely have to do so for the exercise to be useful. And, you don’t have to have firm
answers to those gripping questions about what you want to be or do when you’re done at
university to make this work; your goals are likely to shift and change over time anyway.
All you need to do right now is think of a handful of goals to get started. Write down a
list of goals now before reading further. Take a look at your list of goals. How many of
the tasks you intend to do today contribute to accomplishing the goals you have set for
yourself? Are you actively working on these goals? Are you putting any of them off for a
later time? What would you have to change in your life to make it possible to work on
these goals?

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Sub-dividing Goals into manageable pieces

Once you have a set of goals, it is useful to decompose the goals into manageable steps or
sub- goals. Decomposing your goals makes it possible to tackle them one small step at a
time. Consider for instance the goal of obtaining your degree. This goal can be broken
down into four sub-goals. Each sub- goal is the successful completion of one year of your
program. These sub- goals can be further broken down into individual courses within
each year. The courses can be broken down into tests, exams, term papers and such
within the course, or into the 13 weeks of classes in each term. Each week can be further
subdivided into days, and each day can be thought of in terms of the hours and minutes
you’ll spend in your classes and doing homework for today. While it may seem
challenging to take in the whole scope of that convergent goal, thinking of your goals in
this way helps to reinforce the idea that there is a connected path linking what actions you
take today and the successful completion of your goals. Seeing these connections can
help you monitor your own progress and detect whether you are on track or not. Take
some time now to think through the goals you’ve set and to break them down into their
smaller constituent parts.

Different steps in goal setting:-

1. Personal Goal Setting

2. Locke’s Goal Setting Theory
3. Golden Rules of Goal Setting
4. Backward Goal Setting

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Personal Goal Setting

Find Direction. Live Your Life Your Way.

Goal setting is a powerful process for thinking about your ideal future, and for motivating
yourself to turn this vision of the future into reality.

The process of setting goals helps you choose where you want to go in life. By knowing
precisely what you want to achieve, you know where you have to concentrate your
efforts. You'll also quickly spot the distractions that would otherwise attract you from
your course. More than this, properly-set goals can be incredibly motivating, and as you
get into the habit of setting and achieving goals, you'll find that your self-confidence
builds fast.

Achieving More with Focus

Goal setting techniques are used by top-level athletes, successful business-people and
achievers in all fields. They give you long-term vision and short-term motivation. They
focus your gaining of knowledge and help you to organize your time and your resources
so that you can make the very most of your life.
By setting sharp, clearly defined goals, you can measure and take pride in the
achievement of those goals. You can see forward progress in what might previously have
seemed a long pointless grind. By setting goals, you will also raise your self-confidence,
as you recognize your ability and competence in achieving the goals that you have set.

Starting to Set Personal Goals

Goals are set on a number of different levels: First you create your "big picture" of what
you want to do with your life, and decide what large-scale goals you want to achieve.
Second, you break these down into the smaller and smaller targets that you must hit so
that you reach your lifetime goals. Finally, once you have your plan, you start working to
achieve it.

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We start this process with your Lifetime Goals, and work down to the things you can do
today to start moving towards them.

Your Lifetime Goals

The first step in setting personal goals is to consider what you want to achieve in your
lifetime (or by a time at least, say, 10 years in the future) as setting Lifetime Goals gives
you the overall perspective that shapes all other aspects of your decision making.

To give a broad, balanced coverage of all important areas in your life, try to set goals in
some of these categories (or in categories of your own, where these are important to you):

• Artistic:
Do you want to achieve any artistic(creative) goals? If so, what?

• Attitude:
Is any part of your mindset holding you back? Is there any part of the way that
you behave that upsets you? If so, set a goal to improve your behavior or find a
solution to the problem.

• Career:
What level do you want to reach in your career?

• Education:
Is there any knowledge you want to acquire in particular? What information and
skills will you need to achieve other goals?

• Family:
Do you want to be a parent? If so, how are you going to be a good parent? How
do you want to be seen by a partner or by members of your extended family?

• Financial:
How much do you want to earn by what stage?

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 • Physical:
Are there any athletic goals you want to achieve, or do you want good health deep
into old age? What steps are you going to take to achieve this?

• Pleasure:
How do you want to enjoy yourself? - You should ensure that some of your life is
for you!

• Public Service:
Do you want to make the world a better place? If so, how?

Spend some time brainstorming these, and then select one goal in each category that best
reflects what you want to do. Then consider decoration again so that you have a small
number of really significant goals on which you can focus.

As you do this, make sure that the goals that you have set are ones that you genuinely
want to achieve, not ones that your parents, family, or employers might want (if you have
a partner, you probably want to consider what he or she wants, however make sure you
also remain true to yourself!)

Starting to Achieve Your Lifetime Goals

Once you have set your lifetime goals, set a 25 year plan of smaller goals that you should
complete if you are to reach your lifetime plan. Then set a 5 year plan, 1 year plan, 6
month plan, and 1 month plan of progressively smaller goals that you should reach to
achieve your lifetime goals. Each of these should be based on the previous plan.
Then create a daily to-do list of things that you should do today to work towards your
lifetime goals. At an early stage these goals may be to read books and gather information
on the achievement of your goals. This will help you to improve the quality and realism
of your goal setting.

Finally review your plans, and make sure that they fit the way in which you want to live
your life.

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Staying on Course

Once you have decided your first set of plans, keep the process going by reviewing and
updating your to-do list on a daily basis. Periodically review the longer term plans, and
modify them to reflect your changing priorities and experience.

Goal Setting Tips

The following broad guidelines will help you to set effective goals:

• State each goal as a positive statement: Express your goals positively - 'Execute
this technique well' is a much better goal than 'Don't make this stupid mistake.'

• Be precise: Set a precise goal, putting in dates, times and amounts so that you can
measure achievement. If you do this, you will know exactly when you have
achieved the goal, and can take complete satisfaction from having achieved it.

• Set priorities: When you have several goals, give each a priority. This helps you
to avoid feeling overwhelmed by too many goals, and helps to direct your
attention to the most important ones.

• Write goals down: This crystallizes them and gives them more force.

• Keep operational goals small: Keep the low-level goals you are working towards
small and achievable. If a goal is too large, then it can seem that you are not
making progress towards it. Keeping goals small and incremental gives more
opportunities for reward. Derive today's goals from larger ones.

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 • Set realistic goals: It is important to set goals that you can achieve. All sorts of
people (employers, parents, media, society) can set unrealistic goals for you. They
will often do this in ignorance of your own desires and ambitions. Alternatively
you may set goals that are too high, because you may not appreciate either the
obstacles in the way or understand quite how much skill you need to develop to
achieve a particular level of performance.

Locke's Goal Setting Theory

Understanding SMART Goal Setting

Goal setting is a powerful way of motivating people. The value of goal setting is so well
recognized that entire management systems, like Management by Objectives, have goal
setting basics incorporated within them.

In fact, goal setting theory is generally accepted as among the most valid and useful
motivation theories in industrial and organizational psychology, human resource
management, and organizational behavior.

Many of us have learned - from bosses, seminars, and business articles - to set SMART
goals. It seems natural to assume that by setting a goal that's Specific, Measurable,
Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound, we will be well on our way to accomplishing it.

But is this really the best way of setting goals?

To answer this, we look to Dr Edwin Locke's pioneering research on goal setting and
motivation in the late 1960s. In his 1968 article "Toward a Theory of Task Motivation
and Incentives," he stated that employees were motivated by clear goals and appropriate
feedback. Locke went on to say that working toward a goal provided a major source of
motivation to actually reach the goal - which, in turn, improved performance.

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This information does not seem revolutionary to most of us some 40 years later. This
shows the impact his theory has had on professional and personal performance.

In this article, we look at what Locke had to say about goal setting, and how we can apply
his theory to our own performance goals.

Goal Setting Theory

Locke's research showed that there was a relationship between how difficult and specific
a goal was and people's performance of a task. He found that specific and difficult goals
led to better task performance than indistinct or easy goals.

Telling someone to "Try hard" or "Do your best" is less effective than "Try to get more
than 80% correct" or "Concentrate on beating your best time." Likewise, having a goal
that's too easy is not a motivating force. Hard goals are more motivating than easy goals,
because it's much more of an accomplishment to achieve something that you have to
work for.

A few years after Locke published his article, another researcher, Dr Gary Latham,
studied the effect of goal setting in the workplace. His results supported exactly what
Locke had found, and the inseparable link between goal setting and workplace
performance was formed.

In 1990, Locke and Latham published their seminal work, "A Theory of Goal Setting and
Task Performance." In this book, they reinforced the need to set specific and difficult
goals, and they outlined three other characteristics of successful goal setting.

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Five Principles of Goal Setting

To motivate, goals must take into consideration the degree to which each of the following
exists:

1. Clarity.
2. Challenge.
3. Commitment.
4. Feedback.
5. Task complexity.

Let's look at each of these in detail.

1. Clarity
Clear goals are measurable, definite, and behavioral. When a goal is clear and
specific, with a definite time set for completion, there is less misunderstanding
about what behaviors will be rewarded. You know what's expected, and you can
use the specific result as a source of motivation. When a goal is vague - or when
it's expressed as a general instruction, like "Take initiative" - it has limited
motivational value.

To improve your or your team's performance, set clear goals that use specific and
measurable standards. "Reduce job turnover by 15%" or "Respond to employee
suggestions within 48 hours" are examples of clear goals.

2. Challenge
One of the most important characteristics of goals is the level of challenge. People
are often motivated by achievement, and they'll judge a goal based on the
significance of the anticipated accomplishment. When you know that what you do
will be well received, there's a natural motivation to do a good job.

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 Rewards typically increase for more difficult goals. If you believe you'll be well
compensated or otherwise rewarded for achieving a challenging goal that will
boost your enthusiasm and your drive to get it done.

Setting SMART goals that are relevant links closely to the rewards given for
achieving challenging goals. Relevant goals will further the aims of your
organization, and these are the kinds of goals that most employers will be happy
to reward.

When setting goals, make each goal a challenge. If an assignment is easy and not
viewed as very important - and if you or your employee doesn't expect the
achievement to be significant - then the effort may not be impressive.

3. Commitment
Goals must be understood and agreed upon if they are to be effective. Employees
are more likely to "buy into" a goal if they feel they were part of creating that
goal. The concept of participative management rests on this idea of involving
employees in setting goals and making decisions.

One version of SMART - for use when you are working with someone else to set
their goals - has A and R stand for Agreed and Realistic instead of Attainable and
Relevant. Agreed goals lead to commitment.

This doesn't mean that every goal has to be negotiated with and approved by
employees. It does mean that goals should be consistent and in line with previous
expectations and organizational concerns. As long as the employee believes the
goal is consistent with the goals of the company, and believes the person
assigning the goal is credible, then the commitment should be there.

Interestingly, goal commitment and difficulty often work together. The harder the
goal, the more commitment is required. If you have an easy goal, you don't need a

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 lot of motivation to get it done. When you're working on a difficult assignment,
you will likely encounter challenges that require a deeper source of inspiration
and incentive.

As you use goal setting in your workplace, make an appropriate effort to include
people in their own goal setting. Encourage employees to develop their own
goals, and keep them informed about what's happening elsewhere in the
organization. This way, they can be sure that their goals are consistent with the
overall vision and purpose that the company seeks.

4. Feedback
In addition to, selecting the right type of goal, an effective goal program must also
include feedback. Feedback provides opportunities to clarify expectations, adjust
goal difficulty, and gain recognition. It's important to provide benchmark
opportunities or targets, so individuals can determine for themselves how they're
doing.

These regular progress reports, which measure specific success along the way, are
particularly important where it's going to take a long time to reach a goal. In these
cases, break down the goals into smaller chunks, and link feedback to these
intermediate milestones.

SMART goals are Measurable, and this ensures that clear feedback is possible.

With all your goal setting efforts, make sure that you build in time for providing
formal feedback. Certainly, informal check-ins is important, and they provide a
means of giving regular encouragement and recognition. However, taking the
time to sit down and discuss goal performance is a necessary factor in long-term
performance improvement.

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 5. Task Complexity
The last factor in goal setting theory introduces two more requirements for
success. For goals or assignments that are highly complex, take special care to
ensure that the work doesn't become too vast.

People who work in complicated and demanding roles probably have a high level
of motivation already. However, they can often push themselves too hard if
measures aren't built into the goal expectations to account for the complexity of
the task. It's therefore important to do the following:

• Give the person sufficient time to meet the goal or improve performance.
• Provide enough time for the person to practice or learn what is expected and
required for success.

The whole point of goal setting is to facilitate success. Therefore, you want to make sure
that the conditions surrounding the goals don't frustrate people from accomplishing their
objectives. This reinforces the "Attainable" part of SMART.

Key points:

Goal setting is something most of us recognize as necessary for our success.

By understanding goal setting theory, you can effectively apply the principles to goals
that you or your team members set. Locke and Latham's research emphasizes the
usefulness of SMART goal setting, and their theory continues to influence the way we set
and measure performance today.

Use clear, challenging goals, and commit yourself to achieving them. Provide feedback
on goal performance. Take into consideration the complexity of the task. If you follow
these simple rules, your goal setting process will be much more successful and your
overall performance will improve.

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Golden Rules of Goal Setting

Five Rules to Set Yourself Up for Success

If you want to succeed, you need to set goals. Without goals you lack focus and direction.
Goal setting not only allows you to take control of your life's direction; it also provides
you a benchmark for determining whether you are actually succeeding. To accomplish
your goals, however, you need to know how to set them. You can't simply say, "I want."
and expect it to happen. Goal setting is a process that starts with careful consideration of
what you want to achieve, and ends with a lot of hard work to actually do it. In between
there are some very well defined steps that transcend the specifics of each goal. Knowing
these steps will allow you to formulate goals that you can accomplish.

Here are our Five Golden Rules of Goal Setting:

The Five Golden Rules

Rule #1: Set Goals that Motivate You When you set goals for yourself, it is important
that they motivate you: This means making sure it is something that's important to you
and there is value in achieving it. If you have little interest in the outcome, or it is
irrelevant given the larger picture, then the chances of you putting in the work to make it
happen are slim. Motivation is key to achieving goals.

Set goals that relate to the high priorities in your life. Without this type of focus you can
end up with far too many goals, leaving you too little time to devote to each one. Goal
achievement requires commitment, so to maximize the likelihood of success, you need to
feel a sense of urgency and have an "I must do this" attitude. When you don't have this
"must do" factor, you risk putting off what you need to do to make the goal a reality. This
in turn leaves you feeling disappointed and frustrated with yourself, both of which are de-
motivating. And you can end up in a very destructive "I can't do anything or be successful
at anything" frame of mind.

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Rule #2: Set SMART Goals
You have probably heard of "SMART goals" already. But do you always apply the rule?
The simple fact is that for any goal to be achieved it must be designed to be SMART.
There are many variations on what SMART stands for, but the essence is this - Goals
should be:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time Bound

Set Specific Goals

Your goal must be clear and well defined. Indistinct or Widespread goals are not
achievable because they don't provide sufficient direction. Remember, you need goals to
show you the way. How useful would a map of the India be if there were only state
borders marked on it and you were trying to get from Mumbai to Kolkata? Do you even
know which state you are starting from let alone which one you're headed to? Make it as
easy as you can to get where you want to go by defining precisely where it is you want to
end up.

Set Measurable Goals

Include precise amounts, dates, etc in your goals so you can measure your degree of
success. If your goal is simply defined as "To reduce expenses" how will you know when
you are successful? In one month's time if you have a 1% reduction or in two year's time
when you have a 10% reduction? Without a way to measure your success you miss out on
the celebration that comes with knowing you actually achieved something.

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Set Attainable Goals
Make sure that it's possible to achieve the goals you set. If you set a goal that you have no
hope of achieving you will only demoralize yourself and erode your confidence.

However, resist the urge to set goals that are too easy. Accomplishing a goal that you
didn't have to work very hard for can be a disappointment and can also make you fear
setting future goals that carry a risk of non-achievement. By setting realistic yet
challenging goals you hit the balance you need. These are the types of goals that require
you to "raise the bar" and they bring the greatest personal satisfaction.

Set Relevant Goals

Goals should be relevant to the direction you want your life and career to take. By
keeping goals aligned with this, you'll develop the focus you need to get ahead and do
what you want. Set widely scattered and inconsistent goals, and you'll waste your time -
and your life - away.

Set Time-Bound Goals

Your goals must have a deadline. This again, is so that you know when to celebrate your
success. When you are working on a deadline, your sense of urgency increases and
achievement will come that much quicker.

Rule #3: Set Goals in writing

The physical act of writing down a goal makes it real and tangible. You have no excuse
for forgetting about it. As you write, use the word "will" instead of "would like to" or
"might". For example, "I will reduce my operating expenses by 10% this year." Not, "I
would like to reduce my operating expenses by 10% this year." The first goal statement
has power and you can "see" yourself reducing expenses, the second lacks passion and
gives you an out if you get sidetracked.

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Post your goals in visible places to remind yourself everyday of what it is you intend to
do. Put them on your walls, desk, computer monitor, bathroom mirror or refrigerator as a
constant reminder.

Rule #4: Make an Action Plan

This step is often missed in the process of goal setting. You get so focused on the
outcome that you forget to plan all of the steps that are needed along the way. By writing
out the individual steps, and then crossing each one off as you complete it, you'll realize
that you are making progress towards your ultimate goal. This is especially important if
your goal is big and demanding, or long-term. Read our article on Action Plans for more
on how to do this.

Rule #5: Stick With It!

Remember, goal setting is an ongoing activity not just a means to an end. Build in
reminders to keep you on track and remember to review your goals continuously. Your
end destination may remain quite similar over the long term but the action plan you set
for yourself along the way can change significantly. Make sure the relevance, value, and
necessity remain high.

Key Points

Goal setting is much more than simply saying you want something to happen. Unless you
clearly define exactly what you want and understand why you want it the first place, your
odds of success are considerably reduced. By following the Five Golden Rules of Goal
Setting you can set goals with confidence and enjoy the satisfaction that comes along
with knowing you achieved what you set out to do.

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Backward Goal-Setting

Using Backward Planning to Set Goals

If your goal is to become an account executive within the next five years, where do you
start your planning process? Or if your team needs to redesign the company's
organizational structure, where do you begin?

In planning, most of us would usually start building our plan from start to finish. What do
you have to do first, second, third, and so on? What milestones do you have to reach
before you can continue on with the next step in the plan? By what date does each step
need to be completed?

This is a solid form of Personal Goal Setting that works very well. When combined with
the Golden Rules of Goal Setting, you have a motivating formula that can help you
actively move yourself forward.

A New Approach

However, there's another, simple but lesser-used method of goal setting that can be
equally as powerful. It can show you other ways to achieve the same result, and it can
help you deal with the necessary unknowns of goal setting that can so often cause you to
give up on your plan entirely.

It's called backward planning, backward goal-setting, or backward design, and it's used
quite often in education and training. The idea is to start with your ultimate objective,
your end goal, and then work backward from there to develop your plan. By starting at
the end and looking back, you can mentally prepare yourself for success, map out the
specific milestones you need to reach, and identify where in your plan you have to be
particularly energetic or creative to achieve the desired results.

It's much like a good presentation, when the presenter tells you where he's headed right at
the beginning. Then, as the presentation unfolds, it's easy for you to follow the concepts

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and think critically about what's being said. If you have to figure out the main points as
they come, your energy is often used up by just trying to keep up.

The Backward Planning Process

Here's how it works:

1. Write down your ultimate goal. What specifically do you want to achieve, and by
what date?

Example: "By January 1, 2013, I will be the key accounts director for Crunchy
Chips International."

2. Then ask yourself what milestone you need to accomplish just before that, in
order to achieve your ultimate goal. What specifically do you have to do, and by
when, so that you're in a position to reach your final objective?

Example: "By September 30, 2011, I will successfully complete the executive
training program offered by Crunchy Chips International."

3. Then work backward some more. What do you need to complete before that
second-to-last goal?

Example: "By March 1, 2011, I will submit my application for the executive
training program, outlining my successes as a key accounts manager, and I will be
accepted into the program."

4. Work back again. What do you need to do to make sure the previous goal is
reached?

Example: "By January 1, 2011, I will complete my second year as a key accounts
manager with Crunchy Chips International, and I will earn the prestigious Key
Accounts Manager of the Year award."

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 5. Continue to work back, in the same way, until you identify the very first
milestone that you need to accomplish.

Example: "By January 1, 2010, I will complete my first year as a key accounts
manager with Crunchy Chips International, and I will be rewarded for my
performance by gaining responsibility for clients purchasing over $10 million per
year."

"By January 1, 2009, I will be promoted to key accounts manager with Crunchy
Chips International, and I will have responsibility for clients purchasing over $1
million per quarter."

When you read a backward plan, it doesn't look much different from a traditional forward
plan. However, creating a backward plan is VERY different. You need to force yourself
to think from a completely new perspective, to help you see things that you might miss if
you use a traditional chronological process.

This can also help you avoid spending time on unnecessary or unproductive activities
along the way. Furthermore, it highlights points of tension within the plan, showing
where you'll need to be particularly creative to make the next step successfully.

Key Points

On the surface, backward planning doesn't seem much different from traditional goal-
setting processes. You start with a basic vision, and then you ask yourself what needs to
be done to achieve that vision. You can read your plan from the beginning to the end or
from the end back to the beginning.

Backward planning, however, is more than reversing the direction of your traditional
plan. It's about adopting a different perspective and, perhaps, identifying different
milestones as a result. It's a great supplement to traditional planning, and it gives you a
much fuller appreciation for what it may take to achieve success. After all, the more
alternatives you have, the better your final plan will likely be.

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 TIME AWARENESS AND TIME TRACKING

It will help you manage your time well if you know where your time actually gets spent.
One very helpful way of determining your actual usage of time is to track your time. The
process here is like making a schedule, but it works in reverse. Instead of writing things
in that you are planning to do, time logging is a process of writing down the things that
you have already done. Doing this is sort of a get-to-know-yourself exercise because this
procedure will highlight many of your habits that you might selectively ignore currently.

For instance, some people find that every time they plan to do math homework they end
up watching television. Other people just can’t seem to follow their schedule until the
week before finals. Whatever your time habits, time tracking will help you adjust and
fine-tune your time management practices. Having accurate information about your time
usage patterns can serve as another important point of reference for self- monitoring.

A few ways to track your time follow:

Strategy #1: Time Tracking is fairly straightforward. At the end of every hour jot
yourself a quick note about how you actually spent your time for that hour. The note
needn’t be long; one sentence or less should be sufficient. If how you spent your time
doesn’t match an already planned activity; simply enter a comment as to what you really
did during that time. This way you will be able to review patterns that emerge in your use
of time and make adjustments to improve your productivity.

Strategy #2: Some people find it helpful to modify the planning page to facilitate
tracking time. The modifications are easy enough: make two columns on your paper for
each day of the week. In one column, write down the plan you are trying to follow; in the
second column, make notes on what you actually did with your time. The side-by-side
comparison is very telling and an excellent way to figure our where you’re not using time
in the way you intend.

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Strategy #3: Another effective way to make changes and get results from your time
management strategies is to summarize your time use by time category such as: sleep,
study, and work, travel and so on. Before doing the summary, estimate the amount of
time that you think you spend on the various activities listed on the form below and enter
these in the “expected” row of the summary sheet. Feel free to add any additional
categories that might be helpful. Then log your time for one week on an hour by hour
basis. When the week is over, summarize your time by category for each day, add up the
values for all seven days of the week, and write the totals in the “actual” row of the
summary sheet. Summarizing your time use allows you to understand how much time
you really spend in the various areas of your life.

Take a look at the example form to the accurate. It is almost sure that you will see a
notable difference between the number of hours you expected to use in certain categories
and the actual number of hours you spend. If you find that you spend more time in one
area than you wanted, and less in another, the weekly summary of time use clearly
indicates which activities to reduce to find the extra time you want for that neglected area
of your life. However you choose to understand the differences between your expected
use of time and your actual use of time, your focus should be on trying to detect and
adjust patterns in your own real use of time that spell trouble for you reaching your goals.

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 PLANNING

You have probably used various kinds of planning tools before, including a daily or
weekly planner, a month-at-a-glance planner, and so on. In this section, we introduce four
planning tools and the thinking strategies that go along with each one: a Monthly Planner,
a Weekly Objectives List, a Weekly Planner and a Time Log. It is important to keep in
mind that the purpose of scheduling is not to enslave you to your planner, but rather to
record your decisions about when certain things should happen.

The Monthly Planner

The monthly planner can be used as a time-bound memory aid, tracking major deadlines
and exam dates, appointments, important anniversaries, birthdays, holidays, vacations
and so on. But, you can get more out of the monthly planner if you use it to record
interim deadlines and forecast upcoming busy periods as final deadlines approach. A
properly completed monthly planner will indicate upcoming busy periods, show whether
there is room in the plan for new tasks, and help you assess whether you are on target to
achieve your goals. Let’s say for example that you had an upcoming exam in your
Introductory Microeconomics class. Start by entering the date of the exam so you don’t
forget it. Next, think of the tasks that comprise the goal of doing well in the exam, think
about how long each step of the task should take, and enter a series of interim deadlines
for each step between the start of your preparation for the exam and the exam date itself.
Use these interim deadlines as milestones to indicate the progress of your study. (If
you’re prone to breaking your own interim deadlines, it can help to reinforce these by
making appointments with a peer, an instructor, or a teaching assistant.)

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Weekly Objectives List

If your current approach to time management is governed by to-do lists, then you’ll be
interested in the weekly objectives list. Think of the weekly objectives list as a muscle-
bound to-do list. In essence, the weekly objective list is a to-do list with additional
features to further decompose tasks into smaller units and to record time estimates for the
task. Let’s say for example that one of your goals for the year was to maintain your
honors standing and that you had a series of exams coming up including one for first year
Introductory Microeconomics. You might set an objective to score a B+ or a grade on the
exam and list this on your objectives list. Your next step would then be to consider a
variety of study activities that would prepare you well for the examination. You might
begin by entering your first activity, “complete readings and review lecture notes”, in the
activities column. Once you have entered your activity it is important to assign it a time
estimate, in this case we’ve assigned this activity a three hour block of time. This block
of time reflects an important principle in time estimating; when estimating time you
might want to add time to the amount of time you think it will take you to complete the
task. Refine your estimates from there on the basis of your experience with similar tasks.
This is important because we tend to estimate without considering possible difficulties or
interruptions. Once you have entered the first activity for study, you would continue with
the others you have in mind. The final two columns on the form allow you to track
whether or not you have scheduled and completed the activities you have listed. Your
next step is to carry the listed activities, along with their associated time estimates, to
your weekly planner to be scheduled.

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The Weekly Planner

Take a look at your weekly planner. What do you have written in it? Likely, your list of
lecture times, tutorial times, laboratory times, times for extracurricular activities, and
various other appointments. If this sounds like your schedule then you are probably
under- using another very versatile time management tool because many of the most
important tasks (homework activities which move you toward your goals) are left out of
the picture. The implication of this should be clear: If it isn’t on the schedule it won’t get
done.

Stepping from the weekly objectives list to the weekly planner is easy. Using the time
estimates for the activities on the weekly objectives list as guides find a block of time of
appropriate duration in your schedule. Then write in the activities one at a time in priority
order until you have either scheduled all of your activities or you have run out of time
spaces. A good idea here, if it seems you’ll run out of time spaces, is to start scheduling
the most important activities first. For instance, consider the following activity:
“Complete readings and review notes.” This activity might take 3 hours and could be
placed almost anywhere in the week where you have time and where you’ll likely be able
to work. You might schedule three one-hour blocks, 90 minute blocks or one three hour
block, depending on your preferences. The key here is to associate the specific task to
specific times, avoiding making a schedule where the tasks are too closely scheduled or
where important activities are assigned to unrealistic work times. Construct a plan for
each week, following the rhythm of your courses that meet weekly. To help make
planning a routine activity, pick a regular day each week to schedule. Even with
unexpected occurrences that can impact your schedule, you assist yourself in making
decisions that are governed by your desire to reach your goals. Without using a schedule
you may be governed by your moment-to-moment moods which may lead you to make
time decisions that take you away from your goals. Once your week is planned you will
experience clarity of focus, your tendency to be distracted will be reduced and you will
be certain of your reasons for doing the things you had planned. Committing yourself to a
plan you’ve made, represent a renewal of your motivation for the goals and tends to
increase your time on task.

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How much time is enough?

The time you spend on task has some relationship to the quality of work you end up
producing. A good measure to follow is to perform 2-3 hours of school or college work,
outside class for every hour of class time. Yes, this means for a full-time student with a
15 hour of class per week load the recommendation is to do between 30 and 45 hours of
homework each week. Yes, that’s a big jump, especially if you breezed through high
school or previous years of university on less. But it shouldn’t mean that you completely
forego time for yourself. It is important to have some personal time. Even though you
may work a part-time job (and doing so isn’t necessarily counter-productive to success at
school), you’ll need to take some time for yourself and for recreation each week. A
starting guideline might be something like 10% of your week, or 17 hours. What is more
important than these specific targets is that you spend enough time on school or college
work to ensure that you’re successful and that you spend enough time outside of school
to ensure that you have a healthy balance in your life. Keep in mind that using a planner
in the way we’re describing is a learned skill that will take time and patience to master.
Keep your focus not on making the perfect plan or on executing every plan perfectly, but
on learning from your good and bad experiences and using this knowledge to improve
subsequent plans.

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 TAKING ACTION

Once you have set your goals, figured out where your time is currently spent and decided
on a plan that will help you to reach your goals, the next step is to take action. Now you
must do the tasks that converge on your goals. By producing a plan, you have written
down your decisions about how to spend your time so that you don’t have to get stuck
deciding whether to do tasks that have nothing to do with your goals. As you begin
working on the tasks, keep your focus on doing the best you can to execute what you
have set out for yourself. Stay very clear on the fact that the plan is an ideal and that in
action you will not execute it perfectly. Some things will take longer than you planned.
Some new tasks will emerge. There will be enticing distractions that may take your
attention away from your work, but you can diminish the impact of distractions if you
remember that the tasks listed on your plan lead you to goals you have chosen for
yourself. The main thing is to do the very best you can to follow the plan and monitor
your progress so that you can learn from your good and bad experiences along the way.

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 TIME SHIFTING AND ADJUSTING

Inevitably, you will need to make adjustments to your plans and your time management
habits. As you encounter time troubles, keep in mind that some are predictable, some are
not; some are controllable, some are not. For those that are not controllable, keep your
cool and get back on track as soon as possible. For time troubles that you can control, and
particularly those that occur predictably, deal with them directly and forcefully so that
they don’t prevent you from achieving your goals. Examine the following list of troubles:
the tips and strategies associated with each one can help you shift your time back to your
goals.

Effective use of time:

1. Concentrate on being effective, not on being busy.

2. Avoid red activities (time spent which is not helpful in meeting your objectives).
Analyze the root cause for each of these and avoid, eliminate or minimise this
waste of your time.
3. Don't do the work of others, unless you chose to do so (e.g. to understand the
problems or to show others etc.)
4. Delegate effectively
5. Effective Meetings
6. Be decisive, Evaluate, assess the risks and decide the next course of action.
7. Don't procrastinate; break up tasks so they are achievable.
8. Give realistic promises.
9. Learn to say 'No'.
10. Avoid perfectionism. Seek a quality solution (fit for purpose) which is cost
effective.
11. Consolidate your time. Large size bites are excellent.

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12. Control interruptions / distractions. Find somewhere where you can think and
plan.
13. Orange time (marginal time) should be used wisely. Remember relaxation and
breaks are essential but this time could also be used for thinking and planning.
The choice is yours.
14. Don't spend endless time reordering 'to do lists'. When a task is complete just
cross it out.
15. Look at your aims / responsibilities and identify your key goals (10 max.). Set
performance objectives for each key goal e.g.:
o Quality - right - error free services & goods - fit for purpose.
o Cost - value
 People.
 Machines, facilities & equipment.
 Method.
 Materials.
o Delivery
 When.
 Speed - fast - time between customer asking and receiving.
 Dependability - deliver on time.
o Flexibility - ability to adapt - service, product, mix, volume and delivery
time.

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 QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Have you set your goals?

Why are you here? What do you want to learn? And what do you want to do after you
graduate?

2. What is your time perspective?

Do you postpone? If you do, why? Did you do things because they are easy or because
they are necessary? And, how much time are you really using well?

3. What sort of planning is involved?

How do you plan? Do you get things done on time? Are they done to your satisfaction?
Do you feel comfortable with the pace of your work, or do you feel rushed?

4. Have you ever had a time shift?

Have you ever been engaged in an activity where time seemed to just fly by, or the
opposite where time just dragged on and on? Or, have you ever found yourself doing one
thing while thinking about how you really should be doing something else?

How to organize your time:-

Time Management Techniques 1:- Asses how you spend your time
1. What you do for managing your time in the best manner?
2. How much time you study daily?
3. How much time you watch TV & do other activities likes Gym, going out, etc?
4. Based on this have you ever made any adjustment for better time management?

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Time Management Techniques 2:- Set Goals
1. For managing time how do you set the goals: Daily
2. Do you have any different technique to set the goals?

Time Management Techniques 3:- Learn to prioritize

1. After prioritizing each goal how do you focus on which goal is to be achieved
first?
2. How do you plan the prioritized goal?

Time management Techniques 4:- If you can’t juggle, delegate

1. Have you ever stop to one goal to reach other goal? Or do you u like to do so
many things at one time?
2. Have you assist the people to do other things for you?
3. When others ask you to do things for them do you say ‘yes’ to them as you know
that you don’t have time to do so.

Time Management techniques 5:- Saying ‘no’ is not bad

1. Have you ever hesitated to say ‘no’ to do things for them? By giving importance
to your things.
Time Management Techniques 6:- Keep a schedule
1. After prioritized activities how you schedule them into your day time of meetings-
When will you go to the library? When will you shop for groceries? Don’t forget
to schedule some relaxation and recreation, as well.

Time Management Techniques 7:- Maximize your rewards

1. What are the output of the plans and actions decided by you? 80/20rule.

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Time Management Cycle:-

What are your goals?

(Immediate goals, short-mid-term goals, long-range goals)
How many of the tasks you intend to do today contribute to accomplishing the goals you
have set for yourself?
Are you actively working on these goals?
Are you putting any of them off for a later time?
What would you have to change in your life to make it possible to work on these goals?
At the end of every hour jot yourself a quick note about how you actually spent your time
for that hour.

1. How do you estimate how many hours will take to study each week?
2. How do you meet assignment deadlines?
3. How do you begin working on semester long project early in semester?
4. How do you write a daily “to do” list?
5. How do you prevent social activities from interfering with your study time?
6. How do you have job that requires fewer than 10 hours a week?
7. How do you set specific goals for each study period?
8. How do you begin with your study time with your most difficult assignment?
9. How do you complete most of your studying during your most productive hours
each day?
10. How do you think of begin a full time student as you would a full-time job?

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 TIME MANAGEMENT QUIZ

Here is a quick and useful time management quiz from Penn State University.

Please circle the answer that most closely describes your situation.

1. How often do you take work home?

(a) Every day (b) Three or more days per week (c) Twice a week (d) Once a week or less

2. How many people constantly interrupt you in the course of a day?

(a) Six or more (b) Four to five (c) Two to three (d) One or less

3. How much time do you spend each week in other activities outside your job (e.g.,
hobbies, exercising, social and cultural events, etc.)?
(a) Three hours or less (b) Four to five hours (c) Six to nine hours (d) Ten or more hours

4. How much time do you spend each day “socializing” on the job (e.g., extended coffee
breaks, late luncheons, long visits with other supervisors, etc.)?
(a) Two hours or more (b) Sixty to ninety minutes (c) Fifteen to thirty minutes (d) Less
than fifteen minutes

5. How many separate stacks of work are usually on your desk during the day?
(a) Three stacks or more (b) Two stacks (c) One stack (d) My desk is clear

6. How much of your work do you delegate?

(a) Very little (b) About twenty-five percent (c) Forty to fifty percent (d) More than fifty
percent

You are half way through the time management quiz (that dind't take long did it :-)

7. How often do you approach and discuss things with people on a one-on-one basis in
the course of a day?
(a) None (b) At least once (c) Twice (d) More than two

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8. How much time do you spend with your people in training and develop-ing during the
course of a week?
(a) None (b) Less than an hour (c) One to two hours (d) Three hours or more

9. How often do you procrastinate—put off making decisions in the course of a day?
(a) Fairly often (b) Occasionally (c) Seldom (d) I don’t

10. How many times do you handle a piece of paper in the course of the day before doing
something with it?
(a) Four times or more (b) Three times (c) Twice (d) Only once

11. How often do you permit extensions of your own deadlines?

(a) Fairly often (b) Occasionally (c) Seldom (d) Only when there’s a good reason

12. How do you approach detail work?

(a) Do it all myself—I love it (b) I do most of it (c) Delegate some of it (d) Delegate most
of it

13. How often do you set, communicate, and review department and individual goals
with your subordinates?
(a) Twice a year (b) Quarterly (c) Monthly (d) Weekly

14. How often do you prepare a “to do” list and set priorities?
(a) Monthly (b) Bi-weekly (c) Weekly (d) Daily

15. How much of your work do you do because you “really want” to do it?
(a) About five percent (b) Less than fifty percent (c) About seventy-five percent (d)
Almost all of it

Time management Quiz Scoring

Scoring Instructions and Your “Time Management Effectiveness Quotient”

To scoer the time management quiz give yourself one point for each “a” answer, two

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points for each “b” answer, three points for each “c” answer, and four points for each “d”
answer.

YOUR TIME MANAGEMENT QUIZ POINT TOTAL: ___________________

Evaluate Yourself According to the Following Scale:

Excellent: 55 - 60
Good: 45 - 54
Mediocre: 30 -44 -- Examine your time management to see how you can improve it.
Poor: 29 or below -- Watch out! You are running out of time.

Think about these questions as you evaluate your time management techniques.
Discuss with your co-workers.
1. What time management tips will help you eliminate your “time wasters?”

2. What is misleading about the following “time management” myths?

(a) “He/she has more time than I have.”
(b) “There just isn’t enough time in a day to get things done.”
(c) “Some day the pressures will be off.”

3. How can the following strategies help you improve your time management skill and
reduce stress in the work environment?
(a) Establish credibility: personal integrity instills trust between supervisors and
subordinates.
(b) Be a good listener, give a short answer, and don’t waste time on small talk.
(c) There is no such thing as overwork—tension is created by faulty work habits.
(d) Set your watch ahead by fifteen minutes—get into the habit of allowing sufficient
time to get to work, to have a leisurely breakfast, and to get to appointments and meetings
on time.

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 EXAMPLE OF TIME MANAGEMENT

1. TIME MANAGEMENT FOR STUDENTS

It’s a miserable life for students. Regular weekly exams, recitations,

different types of quizzes, homework and a load of projects cause a lot of stress to all
students.

Life gets busy each and every day. Getting enough of sleep is very crucial. Being a
student also means picnics, cookouts, sports events, hanging out with friends and
sometimes a job. So many things to do, and there is so little time.

One of the most important aspects in the life of an aspiring student is time management.
When a student learns to manage his time, he not only learns to use his time wisely, but
also understands the importance of every second.

Time management will give them proper steps and ideas on how to schedule their time
effectively. Besides that, proper time management can also teach a student to estimate
how much time can be used in a certain activity. In their future lives, it helps them
planning for things and work accordingly.

Most of the time, a student should have an accurate evaluation of their time. By doing
this, the student can be able to keep track of their activities. It is a vital aspect for the
students to have enough time to prepare for all of their subjects and their extra-curricular
activities.

Most of the problems of the students are having enough time in the day to get everything
done. Aside from that, most of them are always running late to go to their classes.

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IMPORTANT TIPS FOR TAKING CONTROL OF THEIR TIME:

To make things more understandable, here are some tips for taking control of their time
and organizing some basic pace in life.

• Plan your tasks. A "to-do" list is an effective method of planning your daily tasks and
deciding their priorities. Putting tasks, responsibilities and goals in writing is very
important. The activity must be ranked from the top priority to the lesser priority.

• Make use of spare time intelligently. Every tick of the clock hand is important. A
minute lost is gone forever. Never waste a single minute doing something unproductive.
For example, while on the bus get some reading done. Alternatively, why not try
reviewing some of your notes while on recess or a free period. Make use of your free
time always, even if a project is not due yet, you can do it ahead if you have idle time,
and you’ll never know when a lot of activities can prevent you from doing so in the
future.

• Don’t be afraid to use the word no- especially to your friends. It is very important to
say no sometimes. For instance, a friend asks you to watch a concert on a school night.
This could be time spent studying. Also, a concert can go on to the tiny hours of the
morning, you will be sleepy and not fit for learning the next day. Always have the right
decision. Always set your long-term and short-term priorities in mind. Remember that
there is always the right time and place for everything.

• Find the precise time for both work and studies. According to some studies, students
can perform well in his studies more efficiently if they figured out their allotted time for
work. For instance, if a student loves math during early morning better than afternoon, he
should work it during that time.

• Sleep well. If you do not take enough rest, you know you will not be able to perform
your planned tasks as per schedule. Having a short rest can also give extra stress to the

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body making the task more difficult. With enough sleep, you can do your daily activities
with a refreshed mind, allowing you to finish them faster saving more time.

• Be the best “task holder master”. It is very important to shape out how much free time
each week has. Giving oneself an allotted time management and activity planning can
settle all time-consuming activities.

• Do not waste time in worrying. Just relax and have a peace of mind. Most of the
students spend their time in worrying & doing nothing. It is not worthy. Instead of
worrying and distressing over something, find a solution and do the action right away.
Never postpone.

• Be optimistic. You need to keep a very positive point of view in whatever you do. Too
much of speculation of problems will give you stress and will degrade your quality of
work.

• Be flexible. No matter how much you plan in advance, there will always be times when
you will need to adjust your calendar as per the needs of the hour. Also, you should
understand that not all planned tasks will be met every time. Be prepared to adjust your
schedules accordingly.

You can be a better scheduled student if you use these tips to your advantage.
Remember, only practicing the time management techniques can make a man and even a
student perfect!

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TIME MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES

As a student, there are some basic Principles of Time Management that you can apply.

1. Identify "Best Time" for Studying: Everyone has high and low periods of
attention and concentration. Are you a "morning person" or a "night person". Use
your power times to study; use the down times for routines such as laundry and
errands.
2. Study Difficult Subjects First: When you are fresh, you can process information
more quickly and save time as a result.
3. Use Distributed Learning and Practice: Study in shorter time blocks with short
breaks between. This keeps you from getting exhausted and "wasting time." This
type of studying is efficient because while you are taking a break, the brain is still
processing the information.
4. Make Sure the Surroundings are favorable to Studying: This will allow you to
reduce distractions which can "waste time." If there are times in the residence
halls or your apartment when you know there will be noise and use that time for
mindless tasks.
5. Make Room for Entertainment and Relaxation: College is more than studying.
You need to have a social life, yet, you need to have a balance in your life.
6. Make Sure you Have Time to Sleep and Eat Properly: Sleep is often an activity
(or lack of activity) that students use as their time management "bank." When
they need a few extra hours for studying or socializing, they withdraw a few hours
of sleep. Doing this makes the time they spend studying less effective because
they will need a couple hours of clock time to get an hour of productive time. This
is not a good way to manage yourself in relation to time.

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Advantages of Time Management
• gain time
• motivates and initiates
• reduces avoidance
• promotes review
• eliminates cramming
• reduces anxiety

Keys to Successful Time Management

• Self knowledge and goals: In order to manage your time successfully, having an
awareness of what your goals are will assist you in prioritizing your activities.
• Developing and maintaining a personal, flexible schedule: Time management
provides you with the opportunity to create a schedule that works for you, not for
others. This personal attention gives you the flexibility to include the things that
are most important to you.

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11 Time Management Tips

Do you feel the need to be more organized and /or more productive? Do you spend your
day in a passion of activity and then wonder why you haven't accomplished much?

Time management skills are especially important for small business people, who often
find themselves performing many different jobs during the course of a single day. These
time management tips will help you increase your productivity and stay cool and
collected.

1) Realize that time management is a myth(legend).

No matter how organized we are, there are always only 24 hours in a day. Time doesn't
change. All we can actually manage is ourselves and what we do with the time that we
have.

2) Find out where you're wasting time.

Many of us are prey to time-wasters that appropriate time we could be using much more
productively.

What are your time-bandits? Do you spend too much time 'Net surfing, reading email, or
making personal calls? "Tracking Daily Activities" explains how to track your activities
so you can form a accurate picture of what you actually do.

3) Create time management goals.

Remember, the focus of time management is actually changing your behaviors, not
changing time. A good place to start is by eliminating your personal time-wasters. For
one week, for example, set a goal that you're not going to take personal phone calls while
you're working. See "Set Specific Goals" for help with goal setting.

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4) Implement a time management plan.

Think of this as an extension of time management tip # 3. The objective is to change your
behaviors over time to achieve whatever general goal you've set for yourself, such as
increasing your productivity or decreasing your stress. So you need to not only set your
specific goals, but track them over time to see whether or not you're accomplishing them.

5) Use time management tools.

Whether it's a Day-Timer or a software program, the first step to physically managing
your time is to know where it's going now and planning how you're going to spend your
time in the future. A software program such as Outlook, for instance, lets you schedule
events easily and can be set to remind you of events in advance, making your time
management easier.

6) Prioritize Ruthlessly.

You should start each day with a time management session prioritizing the tasks for that
day and setting your performance benchmark. If you have 20 tasks for a given day, how
many of them do you truly need to accomplish? For more on daily planning and
prioritizing daily tasks, see "Start The Day Right".

7) Learn to delegate and/or outsource.

No matter how small your business is, there's no need for you to be a one-person show.

For effective time management, you need to let other people carry some of the load.
"Determining Your Personal ROI" explains two ways to pinpoint which tasks you'd be
better off delegating or outsourcing, while "Decide To Delegate" provides tips for
actually getting on with the job of delegating.

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8) Establish routines and stick to them as much as possible.

While crises will arise, you'll be much more productive if you can follow routines most
of the time.

9) Get in the habit of setting time limits for tasks.

For instance, reading and answering email can consume your whole day if you let it.
Instead, set a limit of one hour a day for this task and stick to it.

10) Be sure your systems are organized.

Are you wasting a lot of time looking for files on your computer? Take the time to
organize a file management system. Is your filing system slowing you down? Redo it, so
it's organized to the point that you can quickly lay your hands on what you need.

11) Don't waste time waiting.

From client meetings to dentist appointments, it's impossible to avoid waiting for
someone or something. But you don't need to just sit there and play with your thumbs.
Always take something to do with you, such as a report you need to read, a checkbook
that needs to be balanced, or just a blank pad of paper that you can use to plan your next
marketing campaign. Technology makes it easy to work wherever you are; your cell
phone will help you stay connected.

You can be in control and accomplish what you want to accomplish - once you've come
to grips with the time management myth and taken control of your time.

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 CASE-STUDIES

 ANAND UPADYAY
STUDENT OF TYBMS, UPG COLLEGE
FROM RAJKOT.

As per Anand he is here in hostel for his higher studies. He has been come from Rajkot
for studies from separately from parents. He is now studying in BMS final year, after the
graduation he want to do MBA in abroad.

1
1. He doesn’t want to do any time managing he goes according to his daily schedule
2 .He studies daily depending upon he has how much time to study but in exam time he
studies more.
3. They don’t have TVs in hostel he is also not interested in that so much. They have
available Table Tennis, Carom and all indoor games that he plays while free time.
4. According to him he doesn’t require any adjustment for better time management.

2 setting goals
1. He doesn’t set any goal for his studies. He studies as per the subject, how much subject
is difficult as per that he give the time to studies.
2. He don’t have any different techniques

3
1. Normally he doesn’t sets the goals but sometimes in studies he do prioritize his studies
according to his studies for his subjects. Which subject is more important to him. After
that he gives importance to that subject to achieve hit first.

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2 .He plan according to the subject how much time to studies for that subject according to
that he studies.

4
1 .Normally its happens sometimes but rarely. He do his work and studies on time in
hostel so that he has not faced such problem
2 .Sometime he assists his roommates. But he didn’t require to assists any one for his
studies
3. He has also help others in their studies without saying no to them

5
1 .He has never come across to say anyone to say no for helping other by giving
importance to his things

6
1. Normally he do as per his daily schedule of college to hostel. How much time he has
after Morning College. He decides according to that.

7
1. For studies he gives full time for his studies when he feels important and efforts and he
never come across that he studies a lot and he gates less marks. He gates always how he
much he has studies.

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  ABHISHEK SHAH
FROM KARNATAKA
STUDENT OF LAST YEAR OF EYE-CARE OPTOMETRY,
LOTUS COLLEGE OF OPTOMETRY, JUHU

He is here for his studies for eye-care optometry. That was not available in his town,
that’s why he came to Mumbai for that studies. He wants to graduate in this field. He
wants to become a doctor for specially eye-care.
He is very time perspective. He gives importance to his time for every minute he has.
According to him he satisfied while he studies and what time he gates for studies. He
plans night what to do in next day according to that he write down on his book and he
does that each work on time. He always feel comfortable for his work because of his time
management what he has, he never come across to be feel rush.

1
1. For managing better time he always does planning what to do next day what to do at
right time on right work and write down on his book and manages according to that.
2. He gives daily 3to4 hours for studies
3. He is not interested in TV and also other activities he gives all importance to his career
and his time without wasting.

2
1. He studies on daily basis by giving time to studies. He always manages his time for all
his work and studies in hostel.
2. He doesn’t have any other techniques for reaching his goals. He does according to him

3
1 .He prioritizes his goals. He gives importance to his main long term goals that he has
2. According to that he plan his schedule for his daily study work

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4
1 .He doesn’t ever require stopping one goal to reach other goal because of his time
management that he have.
2.He never requires assisting any people to do things for him. He does all his work by
himself.

5
He has never ever said to No to anyone to help them in studies. But while he don’t have
time for other to help them he gives importance to his studies.

6
He always keeps scheduling his daily time for other day. And work according to that,
never forget to do so

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  ANKIT MISHRA
FYBAF STUDENT
N.L.COLLEGE MALAD
He is studying BAF in NL College in Malad. He wants to graduate & also doing CA
studies.
1
1. He doesn’t do anything for managing time. He does on the spot time management.
He don’t plan in advance
2. He don’t get so much time for studies.
3. He also doesn’t watch TV. But he goes out with his roommates in hostel, plays.

2
1 .He don’t sets the goals for studies, he do accordingly when he feels that he want to
study for it like at exam time.

3
1. He not so much sets the goals for studies but sometime when he feels that he want to
study while exam time then he prioritizes his goals accordingly.
2. He don’t plan to prioritize but he gives more importance to what he feels is very
important work to do the first

4
1. Its happens with him some times while in studies. At that time he gives more
importance to what he feels is more important work
2. He has no assist any one till now to do his work.

5
1. His daily schedule is very busy. So he make schedule for study or for other works, he
does according to when he gets the time
6 Yes its happens with him one time that he has studied very hard but he gets very less
marks.

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  PRADEEP M SHAH
SYJC STUDENT, SCIENCE
MITHIBAI COLLEGE
FROM BORDI, DAHANU

He is here in this hostel for better study. There were hostels near his town also but his dad
& he decided to stay in Mumbai for better study. He wants to do graduation in science
after that he wants to do engineering.

1
1. He normally doesn’t do anything for managing time. He goes according to his daily
college & classes’ schedule. He studies 2 to 3 hours daily.
2. The other activities are to play indoor games with hostel friends while he is free.

2
1. Not goal oriented person. He does as per what he feels important

3
1. He makes prioritize in his studies for his subjects accordingly for studying
2. He gives more importance to subject he feels that most important to study.

4
1. Its happens with him many time in studies that he is stop doing one thing & goes for
other
2. Ya he has assist sometime to other for his studies
3. Others also ask him to do their work he also done their work
5
Not got in position to say no to anyone to do their work
6
Its happens with him in both that 80% study & 20% marks and 80%marks when
20%studies.

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[67]
 RECOMMENDATION

After performing a project on Time Management, one thing I understood &

would like to recommend to everybody who reads this project is that ‘In every
task/project/function in life Time Management plays an important role because if Time
Management is not there nothing is there.’

From different case studies which are performed one thing is clear that a Time
Management chart/plan should be made by everyone from a student to an corporate
person. Different recommendation s which I would like to give are:-

1. First understand what TIME is.

2. Take a task/project & plan for it according to time.
3. Follow Time Management Cycle.
4. Set your own small goals which are achievable.
5. Plan the goals & complete them in time.
6. When all the small goals are achieved then your final goal is achieved.

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 CONCLUSION

Repeating the Time Management Cycle

We began this article by introducing the idea of the time management cycle.
Accordingly, we end this article where we began by reminding you that the time
management cycle is meant to be an integrative process. As you go through the cycle
multiple times, you'll find that your goals solidify, your awareness of your time use
sharpens, and your ability to make a workable plan improves. As you take action on your
plans in successive cycles of time management, you will gain academic confidence from
knowing that you are progressing towards your goals. As you face the day to day realities
of student life, you will need to remain flexible and willing to learn from your
experiences and to adjust your plans as they unfold. Remember that the goal is always to
build on what you have learned from before. Time management is not only a school skill;
indeed, time management and self-management are life skills that will figure largely in
your future success.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books:

1. Time of your life - Januz Lauren Robert & Jones

2. Time Management for Executives - Saroyam William

Sites:-

• www.wikipedia.com
• www.google.com

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