Lessons Learned in Time Management

Lessons Learned in Time Management

Kishore C.S. (Feb 2000)

I have been using Time Management Book for maintaining personal goals, Daily Tasks for more than a year now. I have analysed my To-do list and the following are my observations. I have been doing this for more than 6 months now and the following results have been consistent.

Only 65-70% of planned activities were completed during each month
20% of planned activities are transferred atleast once.
10-12% of activities are abandoned
On an average I take up 4-5 activities per day

I have observed the above results consistently for past six months and the following are the lessons I have learned

I have plenty of time on hand. If an activity takes average of 30 min, I have a workload of 2-3 hrs per day besides the daily routine tasks. There is lot of time that can be utilized effectively
10% of activiites are 'not necessary' but I plan them because I think should I can do it. But not achieving them does not an impact at all in achieving my goals.
20% of activities are postponed because I do not set realistic targets or I do not do enough preparation to complete the activity.

Suggestion: Start Recording your activities which can give you an insight to your time management. As I stated in the Time Management Article as you start understanding where your efforts are going waste you will be able to focus on your life goals, priorities and achieve them. If this system has helped me, it can help everyone.

I am giving the data for two months which can help in understand the trend.

Time Management Analysis Jan 2000

Date	Completed	Transferred	Abandoned	Total
1	1		1	2
2	2			2
3	4	2		6
4	1			1
5	1			1
6	2	1		3
7	4	1	5	10
8	2	2		4
9	1		2	3
10	7		1	8
11	6	9	1	16
12	15	1		16
13	7	3	2	12
14	4	5	1	10
15				0
16	1			1
17	4	7	1	12
18	7	1		8
19	6	1	5	12
20	1			1
21	4			4
22				0
23				0
24	1	1		2
25				0
26	6	1		7
27	6			6
28	7	1		8
29	6	2		8
30	1			1
31	4			4
total				168
Avg- /day				5.419355
Percentage	111	38	19	168
	66%	23%	11%

Data for Month: Dec 1999

Date	Completed	Transferred	Abandoned	Total
1	5	4	1	10
2	8	1	1	10
3				0
4				0
5				0
6	4			4
7	8	2		10
8	2			2
9	1	1		2
10	3	2	1	6
11	5	1		6
12	1		1	2
13	6		3	9
14	2			2
15	3	2		5
16	2	2	1	5
17	1			1
18	3	1		4
19	3			3
20	2	1		3
21	2	1		3
22	2	1		3
23	2	1		3
24	1		1	2
25			1	1
26				0
27				0
28	1		2	3
29	3	2		5
30	3	3		6
31	6	1	1	8
total	79	26	13	118
Avg- /day				3.933333
Percentage	67%	22%	11%