Serial IV - Managing the Ephemeral Time

This month, we bring to you a new serial - "Managing the Ephemeral Time." We introduce this serial with the article, "Time Management," by Mr. Mukul Saxena, CTO - NIS-Sparta, (Ex-VP - Knowledge Solutions Business, NIIT). The article “Time Management” begins with the paradoxical question, "What comes first, time to be organized or organized to have time?" It then reviews continuous improvement and selective work delegation as tools that can be used to create time.

Managing the Ephemeral Time - Episode III - July '06
(Other Episodes: Episode I - May '06 | Episode II - June '06)  | Episode III - Jul '06 )

With this issue we conclude the serial, "Managing the Ephemeral Time." I hope the serial has helped each one of us in some or the other way. Here are some more links, with some more tips. A small tip that I would like to offer here is: Don't try to take all the tips at a time. When we try to take a lot upon ourselves, we often give up; but when we take things up one by one, we are able to carry them off rather well. I guess the answer lies in our ability to learn and automate. After we've learned something well, our mind tries to free the space for new learning, by automating what we have learned. The same is true for these tips. Select one that you feel would be the easiest to follow, perfect it...then move to another.

With this prologue (a rather longish one) I present some more good links.

1. Though the article "Making Time" at http://www.sba.gov/managing/growth/makingtime.html
   speaks to the businesswomen, I think most of the tips given here could help all of us.
2. Another link that attracted me with its simplicity is http://www.rio.maricopa.edu/distance_learning/tutorials/study/time.shtml. This link addresses learners but the tips given here, once again, apply to all of us. I am really keen on "Learn to say NO" tip. We can really make a lot of time, if we learn to say No to things that we have no emotional or logical reason to do.
3. Some professional advice on time management based on the ideas of Frederick W. Taylor comes to you through the article, "Managing your time." Click http://www.pediatricservices.com/prof/prof-12.htm to read this nugget full of some new innovative ideas that can help you organize your life.

All the best! I hope this serial helped you transform some wasteful moments into quality time.

Managing the Ephemeral Time - Episode II - June '06
(Other Episodes: Episode I - May '06 | Episode II - June '06)  | Episode III - Jul '06 )

Welcome to the second episode of this serial. Though this serial is more generic than the usual Wavelength fare (that pertains to ID and eLearning,) yet it concerns an issue that impacts instructional designers and eLearning professionals very forcefully. We often find ourselves spending time on activities that we do not enjoy at all, and then stretching the remaining time to do things that we love!

1. "HELPFUL HINTS FOR MANAGING TIME BETTER" at http://www.selfhelpsolutions.homestead.com/time1.html is a simple article written by Thomas D. Yarnell, Ph.D. Clinical Psychologist. This article underlines the concept that Mr. Mukul Saxena presented in his article "Time Management" published in the May edition of Wavelength. "We waste time when we spend it doing something less important than something else we could be doing." - Thomas D. Yarnell. Dr. Yarnell provides some guidelines that could help us manage time. The one that I have already implemented is - maintain a separate list of activities that can be done in less than 10 minutes. I am sure you will find this article extremely useful.
   
   
2. "Time Management" at http://www.accd.edu/sac/history/keller/ACCDitg/SSTM.htm is another article that reviews the time management problem by shifting the perspective to talk about "not" managing time, but managing "ourselves" in relation to time. If you feel that the main factor that deters you from managing time effectively is procrastination, I request you to also check out "Procrastination" at http://www.accd.edu/sac/history/keller/ACCDitg/SSPC.htm.
   

Managing the Ephemeral Time - Episode I - May '06
(Other Episodes: Episode I - May '06 | Episode II - June '06)  | Episode III - Jul '06 )

1. Also Check out http://www.alistapart.com/articles/pickle/ for the article "Time Management: The Pickle Jar Theory" by Jeremy Wright. In this refreshingly simple and apt article, the author uses the metaphor of rocks (important tasks), pebbles (happy tasks), and water (unwanted tasks), in a pickle jar (our 24 hour day) to explain time-management.
   
   
2. For those who've just begun to experience the side effects of time-mismanagement, I recommend the article "Managing Time" at http://www.brookes.ac.uk/student/services/health/time.html. This article provides some simple checklists to help you curtail wastage of your time. It also lists the stumbling blocks that most of us face when we begin time-management.