Effective Time Management

Time is one of our most precious resources.

Each of us is only given a finite amount of it and how we choose to use that time makes all the difference.

Consider these questions:

Do you know where your time is being spent?

Do you know where you are maximising your time and where it is simply being wasted?

are you spending more time on the things that take you closer to your goals?

Do you prioritise your activities in order of importance or impact?

Do you focus on one thing at a time instead of trying to do many things at once?

People who feel like they're stuck are not fully aware of where their time is going or going into. They don't prioritise their activities and tend to spend most of their time on things that don't bring about any positive change.

The passage towards their goals is often derailed by distractions. And they try to cram as many tasks as possible into a period of time, often ending up with mediocre or even below-average results.

The first step towards taking control of your time is understanding what it is exactly you are spending it on. Keep a record of how much of your time each day is spent doing what.

You might be surprised at just how much of your life is being wasted on activities that essentially don't benefit you at all.

Gradually scratch those things off your schedule and replace them with what I call "actuators" - activities that get you ahead in terms of your self-development.

Next, identify the activities that give you the greatest mileage and spend more time on them. For example, would shifting your gym training to before you go to the office make you more alert and efficient?

Would it give you more time later to tackle unforeseen tasks and finish your work properly?

What about focusing on clients who demand better quality work but also pay better, rather than accepting every job that comes along?

Always prioritise your tasks and highlight the top or top two jobs that absolutely must be done by the end of the day. This way, even when contingencies crop up (as they often do), you will be sure that you got the most important things covered.

As much as possible, focus on one task at a time and strive to give it your best. Too much emphasis is put on multi-tasking these days and it's highly over-rated.

If you can do several things at a time but only produce average results, you're simply a robot in a factory line.

It's the ones who can do one thing but excel in it who are most valuable.

And finally, even if the Internet seems like the only thing you will need these days, it can be one of the biggest time-wasters.

Things like email, instant messaging and social networking can easily take up a huge chunk of your day if you don't limit the time you spend on them.

So give yourself a quota. One or tow hours a day and that's it.

There is more to life than Facebook.

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Eugine Loh, 938Live, MediaCorp Pte Ltd

The Four Quarters of Effective Time-Management

It seems there's always more and more to do, but we're not getting more time to do it. We each have our own way of managing this limited time, but many of these methods can be very stressful.

The problem is that these tight schedules often advance our corporate of financial goals but starve us of emotional and spiritual nourishment. This model of time-management is not sustainable as it's skewed towards certain needs and not others.

The key then to an effective time-management model is balance. If you divide your life into four quarters, they would roughly fall into these broad categories:

First, your basic needs - this quarter contains all the essential things your physical body needs in order to function efficiently. This includes things like wholesome foods, quality sleep, enough water and exercise and so on.

The next quarter comprises our creative faculties. This mainly includes our store of knowledge, talents and skills, but can consist of anything creative or inspirational like new ideas, empowering attitudes and self-improvement practices. This quarter also includes work and projects that help develop our skills.

The third quarter is concerned primarily with intellectual thought. It is different from the creative quarter because it doesn't include any action. This is pure thinking - things like introspection, evaluation of the people and things around you, planning, problem-solving, analyzing, learning and decision-making. This quarter is also heavily involved with the metaphysical or the philosophical realms of your being - what's our purpose? What gives our lives meaning? This quarter is what gives passion and intent to our activities.

The final quarter involves our relationships - with our partners, our kin, our friends, our colleagues and associates. The activities we engage in that involve or are related to them - the time we spend with them, the love and care we show them, the conversations we have with them, the emotional rewards that we get from quality relationships.

Spread your time equally among these four quarters and you are well on your way to achieving the success and happiness you want.

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Eugine Loh, 938Live, MediaCorp Pte Ltd

Making Tough Jobs Easier

On our path to becoming happier and more successful people, there are bound to be things we hate to do, but have to.

Things like sticking to fitness routine, going for extra classes, help to do certain favours, going through mountains of paperwork, painting your room or doing the accounts. All important for making us healthier , more informed, more well-connected, more efficient and so on, but all the same, not very pleasant for some of us.

So what do most of us do when confronted by these tasks? Well, we either procrastinate or simply avoid doing them. Then what happens? Or what doesn't happen, I should say. Positive change cannot occur. Our goals remain in limbo.

But some of us, when faced with seemingly difficult or unpleasant tasks, grit out teeth, pull up our socks, roll up our sleeves and do them anyway. These are the ones who become successful. These are the people who get what they want.

So how can we make difficult task easier or at least less painful to do?

Here are some tricks you could try:

First, call up a friend before and after the task. This gives you added support and a sense of accountability to that friend to keep your word.

Next, plan a big reward after the task. Whether it's a weekend resort getaway, or having friends over for a big game night, this will give you something to look forward to while you are completing your task.

Next, delegate. Sometimes a project can seem particularly arduous because you have so many other things you have to do concurrently. It could be something as simple as picking up kids from school or it could be making blind calls to prospective clients just to see who might be interested in your service. Think about what you can possibly hand over to someone else; a colleague, a subordinate, a helpful family member perhaps. You could even pay someone to help you such as a freelancer to do the accounts during income tax season. Prioritise and see which tasks are essential for your success and which ones you could "farm out" to someone else. If not on a regular basis, then maybe just or the time being.

And finally, while working on the so-called "unpleasant" task, keep your eyes and eyes open. You can find something to enjoy in any job, if not entirely pleasurable, then at least entertaining or informative. Focus on what you can actually take away from the task, how it helps you become a better person and closer to your bigger goals, and the task won't seem so terrible. You might even change your opinion of it altogether and truly appreciate what it's doing for you! Hey, you know you have to do it, so why not make it as fun and rewarding as you can?

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Eugine Loh, 938Live, MediaCorp Pte Ltd

The Power to Walk Away

How do you deal with potentially explosive situations? Where tempers are beginning to flare, tensions are steadily escalating, and sufficient buttons have been pushed?

What happens with many people is that they remain in the situation, either hoping to talk things over calmly or to make their point emphatically clear. But this can only work if the other party is willing to collaborate. But sometimes, the other party can be willfully difficult. They can be persons who get off on pushing your hot buttons.

What happens then? A likely scenario is that like a fish to the bait, you continue to engage in the conversation, the other party continues to gall you, and *snap!*, the last straw breaks your back. At this point, when self-control is lost, you may utter threats, make scathing remarks, or throw potshots that you immediately regret.

In social setting, you may end up looking rash and petty. In a business or corporate setting, you may appear to be antagonistic and hot-tempered. In a personal context, you may end up really hurting a loved one. In the long term, angry outbursts will sour any relationship.

If you find yourself quite unintentionally getting yourself into potentially-explosive situations, how can you avoid actually exploding?

Well, you can walk away.

A seemingly simple thing to do, but something that can be extremely difficult to do in practice, especially when you feel you've been grossly misunderstood. You'd want to stake it out and explain yourself until the other person gets it, right?

That's what keeps you there. That's makes you reiterate your arguments again and again until they begin to sound meaningless. In these instances, you're at the losing end; it's simply more sensible to walk away.

Do you have the power to walk away from potentially-explosive situations? Are you able to postpone defending yourself to another more appropriate time? Can you conserve your cool and avoid saying or doing something you'll regret later?

Because when you care too much about winning in such situations, you lose. You're the one who feels the pressure, you're the one who seems antagonistic and defensive. It will be hard initially, but practice walking away and you'll understand just how powerful it can be in defusing explosive situations and even persuade others to see things your way.

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Eugine Loh, 938Live, MediaCorp Pte Ltd

Responding Actively

Each day, we are presented with a myriad of choices as to how we interact with the people and events around us. Some of us choose to actively control our lives. Others simply allow life to happen to them.

When we react passively to external forces, we are surrendering the one thing that truly belongs to all of us - the power to control our own lives. These 'reactors", if you will, are often at the mercy of any given person or situation. Because they only react to what life throws at them, they are often dodging bullets, fire-fighting and treading water desperately just to stay afloat. They do not live their lives with passionate intent. They are merely getting by each day. They do not anticipate outcomes, fail to plan, don't learn from their mistakes, and are so condemned to lead mediocre, often unhappy lives.

A reactionary person typically lives his life with a listless attitude - he has a habit of procrastinating and then scrambling to meet the deadline at the eleventh hour. He puts in minimum effort at work, seeing it as "just a job", doesn't like learning new things, and doesn't care what's happening around the world. He doesn't plan his schedule, forgets important tasks, and is usually sick at the thought of helping others at his own inconvenience. He is haunted by worry, because he feels he has no control over what happens to him. He often finds himself in uncomfortable or compromising situations because he never learns from his mistakes, choosing instead of blame other people or events. His favourite motto is "That's life... these things happen... I can't help it...", and so conveniently absolves himself of any responsibility of improving his life.

However, when we choose to response actively to life, we accept responsibility for what happens to us. We are intensely keen on learning whatever we can, in whatever situation. We analyse circumstances, learn from our mistakes and plan how we can do better next time. We anticipate outcomes and make necessary preparations. We're always on the lookout for ways to improve our lives or lives of our loved ones.

This shift in attitude towards active response empowers us with choice and purpose. Because we take charge of our lives, we know how we can make things better. No time is spent brooding, lamenting and regretting. We can always see a better future on the horizon.

Everyday we are presented with choices - whether we react passively or respond actively determines whether we live lives of great fear and mediocrity or lives of great job and success.

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Eugine Loh, 938Live, MediaCorp Pte Ltd

End Procrastination

Don't under-estimate the power of putting things off.

Procrastination is a timebomb. It's a snowball that will eventually turn into an avalanche.

It all seems fairly harmless - "I'll start my exercise routine tomorrow", "I'll work on that project next week", "I'll get my health insurance next month", "I'll back-up my data later". But it soon becomes a habit, a lazy attitude towards improving your life.

Before you know it, you've become unfit and unhealthy, with several big deadlines looming, you're saddled with an illness which requires expensive treatment, and your computer with all your important work has crashed.

Make no mistake, procrastination is disease that will eat into your life, dampening your ambition and desire for success.

End procrastination today with these simple steps...

First of all, the all-too-obvious but most crucial tip - do it now! In order to break the habit of procrastination, replace it with an attitude of urgency. Practising working on whatever comes your way; prioritise your tasks of course, but keep ticking off your To-Do checklist one by one. Make steady progress. I promise you the sense of achievement and freedom that comes from completing your tasks will be so addictive, you won't be able to stop.

Try it today - whatever comes your way, a project, an email, an errand, a customer request, consider whether it's important or not, then work on them, one by one. You'll become more efficient in no time, not to mention you'll be relieved at the amount of work you got done. All this efficiency I'm sure will not go unnoticed by your supervisors and colleagues!

When attempting to end procrastination, it also helps to break down the bigger tasks into smaller, more manageable jobs. Don't let big projects overwhelm you; take it one step at a time. As long as you're making steady progress, you shouldn't be worried.

And ask for help! You know sometimes we make the mistake of assuming we have to do everything ourselves. Your reasons may be to save money, to be self-reliant, to make sure everything goes your way and so on, but contracting some work out could actually make more sense in the long term. Or get friends or family members to help out!

End procrastination today!

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Eugine Loh, 938Live, MediaCorp Pte Ltd