We all have goals in life. Both, on the personal and professional front. And many of us make it a point to add some more to this list at the start of every year! But although we set goals, do we really manage to fulfil all of them? Or do some of them just remain as distant elusive dreams that we just can’t seem to get a hold on. Happens, right? Any idea why? Well there could be multiple reasons. And one of them could be not attending that time management training program that keeps popping up in you mail!
Yes, time is an extremely important factor when it comes to goals. And that’s the reason why I thought of talking to you about it today.
There are two perspectives of time that we need to understand when it comes to goal setting.
1. The Deadline
This is the ‘T’ in ‘SMART,’ the acronym we use for understanding how an effective goal should be. ‘T’ stands for Timebound, in other words, the deadline for the goal.
Just imagine having a professional goal of completing a course, say an MBA, from a top University in the country. You are, as usual, busy with office work and are not getting a chance to even open the books you have purchased for studying for the entrance exams that you need to pass. So, what happens? That MBA degree stays a dream and keeps getting postponed for the next year, when you get promoted and are hopefully in a position to delegate more work and make time to study!
This was my story by the way, which I’m sure many of you will relate with! So, what do you need to do to fulfil this goal? Set a deadline. Make it a point to decide which year you are going to give the exam in and commit to sticking to it no matter what. Which brings me to the second time perspective.
2. Managing Time
Create a plan for how you are going to make time to study. This could be waking up early in the morning or burning the midnight lamp. It could also mean analysing the activities you do every day and deciding alternate slots for completing them. You could also delegate some tasks at home for some time or at office. Some tasks you will realise can actually go off your daily to-do list as they are a waste of time and you can easily use up that time to do something more productive.
And by the way, if you need some help understanding how to prioritise your tasks, you can always attend a good time management training program. They will explain to you how to plan and prioritise your day better, and what you can do with each of your tasks. Time Management programs also give you some good insights into your time management style and equip you with tools to manage it better.
Once you can start fit in more tasks that are beneficial for you for completing your goals in your daily schedule, you will realise you start getting closer to fulfilling your goal and get re-energised in the effort every day!