Time Management

Paradigms in Time Management

Let us look at certain underlying paradigms in the third generation as this generation represents the “ideal” for majority of people and the ultimate goals desired by the first two generations.

These paradigms are like maps. They are not the territory; they describe the territory. And if the map is wrong it’s going to be very difficult for us to get where we want to go. We can work on our behaviour; we can work on our attitude but its not going to solve the problem as the main problem is that we have got the wrong map.

Control: The primary paradigm of the third generation is one of control – plan it, schedule it, manage it. Majority of people have this great ambition to be in “control” of their own lives. But are they?

The fact is that nobody is in control; it’s the principles that govern. We are sure, you will say, “but we can control our choices”. But can you control the consequences of those choices?

To think we are in control is an illusion. It puts us in the position of trying to manage consequences. In addition, we can’t control other people. Can we? And because the basic paradigm is one of control, time management essentially ignores the reality that most of our time is spent living and working with other people who can not be controlled.

Efficiency: This is one of the most important paradigms, which has ruled the concept of time management so far. To define efficiency we would say “ getting more done in less time”.

Its great, isn’t it? More work gets done, waste is eliminated. We streamline ourselves, and we work faster. Increased productivity is the ULTIMATE goal, we strive, we fight, we struggle, we profess, we expect.

Don’t you think that the underlying assumption here that “faster “and “more” is better? But is it necessarily true?

In addition do you think you can be “efficient” with people? For instance, your spouse wants to talk to you about some emotional grievance. Can you afford to say, “Well, tell me fast. I’ve got only ten minutes scheduled for this.”

While you can be efficient with things you can’t be efficient – effectively – with people.

Time Management

Values: What we value decides what our choices and actions will be. But we value many different things – love, security, money, status. But just because we value something, will it create quality-of-life results?

When what we value is against the natural laws and principles how can we expect to be successful and have quality life. We cannot be a law unto ourselves.

Independent achievement: The traditional time management focuses on achieving, accomplishing, getting what you want and not letting anything get in your way.

We tend to treat other people just as instruments or resources through which we can get more done faster. Or we tend to treat people as obstacles or interruptions.

Instead of treating relationships as transactional, if we can create transformational relationships, wouldn’t we be able to exchange our mutual understandings, insights and most importantly exciting new learnings.

Chronos: This is the method of traditional time management approaches. This Greek word meaning ‘chronological time’ depicts the importance of every second of our lives. The clock essentially dominates our lives.

But there is another approach – another paradigm – we can look into, Kairos – an “appropriate time” or “ quality time” – paradigm. What is essentially being said here is that time is something to be experienced. How much value you get out of the time you put into anything is much more important than the amount of time you have spent.

Benefits of Time Management

 Higher Productivity and Satisfaction both On The Job and in Your Personal Life

 More Creative Way of Working as The Mind is More focused

 Improved delegation helps to free your time besides being a powerful developer and motivation of your subordinates

 You can devote more time to important things such as planning, subordinate development, quality improvements. These in turn, free more of your time from crisis, mistakes and fire fighting.

 A feeling of self-mastery grows on you as you implement actions moving you towards important goals.

 You begin to conserve more energy as things get more organized

 You achieve lower stress, higher poise and greater well-being