Many factors influence our ability to effectively manage time and reach our goals. A quick test on Mind Tools can show you where you can do better. Of course, the ability to prioritize and schedule is fundamental, but the most interesting part is dealing with the unexpected: interruptions.
How can you navigate through phone calls, emails, requests from colleagues, even problems with your car, all at once and without any warning? “Expect the unexpected” is no satisfactory answer: you have to manage it.
Like a firefighter, we should be available, aware of priorities and capable of understanding others’ needs.
Image: Flickr – Heather Paul (CC BY-ND 2.0)
I’m not always succeeding in time-management, you know…
There are times in which I simply left things out because these deserved me doing it in a proper manner. A thing which require more hours per day. Scheduling simply can’t do miracles when you’re fighting on multiple fronts (work, family, study).
… But as I’m growing, I do realize how truthful is that “if somethings deserves to be done, it deserves to be done badly” (which means with ‘profound effort’ as well). Chesterton was geniously right, according to my experience: do things with passion and don’t bother for your ineptitude!
…I wish I could always remind these words!