“The baby is all smiles since ignorance is bliss!
But when ‘it’ goes then you will surely feel something amiss!
It is everyone’s property not yours or mine!
Tis not money or gold! But your precious time!”
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R Covey is like the go to reference book for many self help gurus and motivators!
There is a table in the book which is both the secret of success and a key to time management!
read on!
As you grow older and your life becomes a ‘schedule’ you would finally realise that the most important commodity in the world is something everyone has but in limited quantity!
This does not differentiate between gender or race or even your bank balance!
If you have it then you can do everything and can get anything if you try!
But if you do not have it or have less of it then even if you are the richest person in the world, you cannot do anything!
As the sage introduces this wheel in the amazing serial Mahabharat which is floating in the sky! He calls himself; SAMAY!
Yes! Time!
We all know time and tide wait for none, but remember that the ‘tide’ can still come back as another tide! But time once gone is lost forever!
Which is why managing your time is one of the most important things in the world! You cannot play with time!
In the seven habits, Stephen tells about this table! This tries to make you more prepared to handle your task.
Covey talks about what is important versus what is urgent.
Imagine this table has four quadrants;
Priority should be given in the following order:
Quadrant I. Urgent and important – important deadlines and crises; this is the work which HAS TO BE DONE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!
Quadrant II. Not urgent but important– long-term development; this work must feature in your future PLAN!
Quadrant III. Urgent but not important – distractions with deadlines; This work can be done by anyone else so it is better to DELEGATE!
Finally Quadrant IV. Not urgent and not important constitute work which are simply frivolous distractions! These must be ELIMINATED!
The order is important, says Covey: after completing items in quadrant I, people should spend the majority of their time on II, but many people spend too much time in III and IV. The calls to delegate and eliminate are reminders of their relative priority!
Now similar to this distribution; the guides to time management also have a table based on what is called the “Eisenhower Method” or “Eisenhower Principle”. This utilizes the principles of importance and urgency to organize priorities and workload!
This method stems from a quote attributed to Dwight D. Eisenhower: “I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent!
Though this was his quote, the original was by a colleague of Eisenhower who has been uncredited or unrecognised for now!
However using this same principle time management is developed by evaluation of tasks! The table is similar to the one described by Stephen and the boxes are called “Eisenhower Box” or “Eisenhower Decision Matrix”!
The classification and handling is similar and goes like this;
Important/Urgent quadrant tasks are done immediately and personally like crises and deadlines
Important/Not Urgent quadrant tasks get an end date and are done personally like relationships, planning and recreation.
Unimportant/Urgent quadrant tasks are delegated like interruptions, meetings and activities. and finally
Unimportant/Not Urgent quadrant tasks are dropped like time wasters! These can include stuff you can say NO to! Even if it is your own Boss’s marriage! Remember that he or she will get married if you are there or not!
Time management would have been an apt skill for birthday celebrity Tiruchirapalli Srinivasan Rangarajan, professionally credited by his pseudonym Vaali since he had written over 15000 songs!
Now night TIME is to sleep!
Shubh ratri!
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