The Time savers
Everything in this world has
something to balance its
existence. If there is white, there is
black; if there is darkness there
is light, if there are time wasters,
there are time savers. So now let
us focus our attention towards those
time savers because they are
our best friends when we talk about Time
Management. Again, as in the case of time killers, I
am just listing out a
few general examples over here. These
are by no means the only
time savers in the world. The Top Ten Time Savers
- Telephones and cell phones
- Computers
- Elevators
- Fax Machines
- The Internet
- Coffee Machines
- Bulletin Boards
- Copy Machines
- Efficient Filing Systems
- Good help
Let’s take a quick look at all these.
Telephones - Surprise! Surprise! I had included
telephones under the list of time killers but telephones are in fact one
of the best time savers that man has invented. Just imagine the
amount of time you get to save by just making a telephone call!
Suppose you are to have a
business lunch with an important client.
Obviously you have to reserve a table in your favorite
restaurant. Now, imagine you have to go there in person
to make the reservation. The task would easily take away at least two or three
hours of your time when you take into
consideration the travel time,
parking, etc. On the other hand,
this is something you can easily do
over the telephone. So telephones are certainly one of the
best time savers in this world. But of course, it all depends on
how you use the telephone.
Computers -
I don’t think that enough can be said
about the time saving roles of the computer. But then I don’t think
that I have to say much. I suppose every one will agree that
computers are indeed timesaving machines.
Elevators -
Next we come to elevators and elevators
too we know save a lot of time that we would other wise have to
spend plodding up flights and flights of steps. Elevators save not
just time but energy as well. But one
annoying thing about elevators is
that sometimes the
elevator takes for ever to reach or floor.
If you just have to go two or three
floors up or down in such cases it is always better to take the
stairs instead of waiting ten or fifteen minutes for the elevator to come
to your floor. It’s better for your
health too.
Fax machines -
Like telephones, fax machines too save a
lot of time by enabling us to send important documents across
continents if needed and that too within a few seconds.
The Internet - It goes without saying that the internet
has revolutionized our concept of time itself. With facilities
like email, scanners, voicemail and
video conferencing, even the fax machine
is becoming outdated. Coffee
Brewers - Yes, coffee brewers. The
old percolators used to take such a long
time to make coffee. Now you can have a
steaming cup in as little as three
minutes. Bulletin Boards - Bulletin Boards are very time
effective way of reaching out to a large number of
people. Instead of conducting one of those long meetings in which
every one gets a chance to go on and
on, it is best to convey messages with
the help of bulletin boards which can be
displayed at a place accessible to all. Oh yes, then comes the question of
how to make sure that the message is read by all those concerned. Simple, include space on the notice
where the concerned people can put down their initials as
proof that they have read the message.
Copy Machines - Often we tend to underestimate the
importance of copy machines. Those
machines just sit there and make copies of what is fed into them all day
long. It does seem like a job which does not require any brains. And
that is why we do not give these machines any credit. But once
these machines fail, we understand their worth. Of course we can
take multiple prints using a printer, but cost wise and time wise a
copy machine is much better. It is really faster than a
printer and it costs nothing to make copies.
Efficient Filing Systems - Being able to find an
important document or file should not be a matter of luck. There should be
a proper place to keep the files. A
file
cabinet is best. And the files should be kept in a proper order with easy to
read and intelligible name tags and
labels.
The same thing applies to the files you
have on your computer, you should name the files
properly and not use abbreviation that could stand for
anything. People tend to try and save time by using abbreviations which
sound quite ridiculous once they forget what it really stands
for. Good Help - Good help is
an asset to any situation. If your
helper is as dependable as a screen
saver, then half the battle is won. The
advantage of having good help is that you
can delegate a lot of things to them. It is not always
necessary that you do everything by yourself. You should be
able to delegate a lot of things, but first of course you have to
be sure that the people you are delegating to do something are good
enough. Once you are able to share your work
load with someone, you will have at least one hand free,
and I am sure you will be able to put that hand to some good use.
You can probably find other time savers
to help you in your daily activities.
Answering machines, dishwashers,
recorders, this list could go on for a
long while. Identify the things in your
life that you need the most help with
and then get the equipment or people that will
help you save time. |
