WINNING WITH TIME

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Hello my dear readers.

Today's post is a wonderful article which I got from the Facebook Timeline of David Adeoye. Although it was written about a month ago, it caught my attention because the things he discussed can be applied to our lives at any given point in time. I believe you my readers can learn one or two things from it. Enjoy it...

  For many individuals with an interest in specific knowledge pursuits (academic or professional educational), I am pleased to share with you a process and approach that I have tested and found to be effective in handling mentally tasking initiatives despite other demands on ones time (including work and commuting).
It was the late management sage, Peter F. Drucker (1909-2005), that said in one of his books that "the limits of any process are set by the scarcest resource". He continued that "in the enterprise called knowledge work, this scarcest resource is time."


The principle applies across a wide range of activities. Whether the objective is to acquire new knowledge or develop a new skill, pass an examination or earn a doctorate degree, write a thesis, complete a short essay or even prepare lesson notes, the time commitment remains not only an indispensable but the most critical input. When time commitment is zero, then results achieved is zero.

As the quantum of time committed increases, the quality (and sometimes the quantity) of the result improves as well, even if not in a linear fashion. Other factors such as background knowledge, a person's efficiency in the use of time, working or learning conditions are also important considerations. Yet none of this factors will ever become a substitute for commitment of ample time.

While the concept of time is well known, it's measurement or application does require some thought. For the purpose of knowledge work, time is best measured not in months or weeks or days but primarily in hours. Hence it's more meaningful to say, I plan to invest 120 hours in writing my next book or I need to commit 250 hours towards passing my next exam.

Then the time commitment can be spread over longer horizons. Let's use an example: a person plans to take an exam in early June and decides in late December to invest 150 hours over the next five months. This translates to an average of 30 hours per month or one hour per day. Depending on the work load and a few other factors, this 'time budget' may or may not be adequate.

So where and how do you start if you must win (achieve your objectives) using the one resource that is equally available to everyone -time? 

The first place to start is planning. Begin with an evaluation of the volume and distribution of your work-load. If it's an examination, how many subjects do you have to take? What is the size of the material? How familiar are you with each of the subjects? Then you should ask the important question: given what I already know and how I study, what is the minimum number of hours that I must invest in studying, practicing, and reviewing this material if I must achieve a score of 75% in this course? Repeat this process for each of your subject and sum the answers you get. If you have the following (Course A: 36 hours, B:39 hours, C: 21 hours), then you need to carve out of your days and invest 96 hours.

Now I do not suggest you will not achieve your objectives if you invest less than 96 hours. Rather, I imply that based on this example, if you invest 96 hours, you are nearly guaranteed a good grade provided your hours do go into the right activities in good proportion.

On two different occasions, I have invested about just about 80% of my study time budget and passed my exams even while working (though as a matter of personal policy, I do not study at work). I start out at least four or five months ahead, decide on the time budget and execute with discipline, and sometimes painful sacrifice of otherwise legitimate things. I remember my car shocks dancing 'skelewu' on the road to Unilag library as I drive through Makoko to beat the Yaba traffic after close of work. I'll study till 9:30 or putting in just 2 hours or less sometimes. There are other tales but this is sufficient to illustrate the point. At the end I invested not less than 150 hours between August 1 and November 19.

After the initial planning comes the execution phase. Results do not answer to elaborate plans or intentions. They answer to quality investments of time and effort. Any area of your work programme that is suffering very likely receives far less than ample investment of your time.

Depending on the knowledge work, gathering materials (making photocopies, sorting your notes, etc) will be necessary but does NOT qualify as investment or belong in execution. For an exam, execution is sitting down to study, reviewing what you have studied and getting hands-on practice and application. Those are the things that produce mastery.

The last phase is communication. Make sure you don't miss your examination (I nearly missed mine in November last year). Manage your time well and again, where possible, allocate your time across questions. There are usually no spill over of marks from one question to another. And don't just write what you know, address the question that is asked.

For other aspects of knowledge work, the application may vary but the principle remains unchanged: break the work that needs to be done into executable parts and invest ample time in execution: learning, thinking, drafting, revising, editing and finally communication.

Finally, don't just mentally track your time (it's hardly effective). Get a physical or electronic tool to monitor how much time you have invested and how much more time you still need to invest.
If you find this helpful and/or you think it might help others, please feel free to share.

Have very pleasant weekend and a most successful year ahead.

By: David Adeoye
      Twitter: @fritova