There is a grey area people usually face, thinking of
time management as one-dimensional notion when, in fact, it is 4D. In this
article I will try and shed light on some concepts regarding time management.
Time management – seems easy to interpret as the name
speaks for itself. But after giving it second thought it is safe to say the
notion is discrepant. We cannot manage the time literally as it is constant
value whose flow is beyond our control. Although, what we can really do is to
manage ourselves. As it is known, the time in the day is limited to 24 hours
for all of us, including successful, prosperous and content people. The only
difference is that these people took conscious control over their time. The
point is that time management is not a just a tool but a lifestyle, and in
order for it to impact one’s life it should be balancing every sphere of it. What
are these spheres?
Life balance model
Important ideas on this topic belong to German psychotherapist Nossrat Peseschkian, who in his intercultural studies constantly returned to
the problem of balancing personal and professional life in these four dimensions. The
task of a holistic management of time and one's life is not only to find time
for all important spheres of life (work, family, health, self-realization), but
also to bring these four spheres into equilibrium and maintain it.
Suppose that all four spheres of life are 100% in
total. Now, imagine your current life situation:
- How
much of your active time (= "time awake", as about one third is
"sleep time" which is not taken into account), do you devote your
energy and priorities to the "achievements and work" area?
- How
long does it take you to interact with loved ones which goes to the time spent
on "contacts and personal relationships"?
- How
much interest do you give in the sphere of "body and health"?
- How
much time is spent for bringing the meaning to your future and existence as the
whole?
Quickly divide the total amount - 100% - into four
spheres of life. The longer you fiddle with the calculations, the less trust
the result deserves.What does your current time balance look like?
"Achievements and work", as a rule, account for 50, 60 or 70% or
sometimes even more. Questions about the meaning of oneself and life are usually
assigned with 5 to 15% (if assigned at all).
In his research on psychosomatics Nossrat Peseschkian
stresses the importance of devoting enough time and attention to all four life
spheres in order to reach the sense of life fulfillment as well as to prevent
any physical and mental health problems when managing work/personal domain.
Too focused on work life without
building personal relationships? As
a result, no one to share the joy of your
achievements with.
Do
not care about your health ? A steep turn of life will bring bad health and
psychosomatic illnesses getting on the wat to happy and content work and
personal life.
This looks clear in theory but is certainly to be
chaotic when applied. Managing time is not easy, it is quite complicated in
fact, and will probably bring you bitter feelings of not getting what you
expected, first as you try and find your balance of these four spheres. Good
news is that eventually you will find yourself taking more and more control
over your own life while getting conscious about finiteness of the time you
possess. Keep trying and be determined. As there is no universal way to
successful, mindful lifestyle you need to figure your own. However, today there
are numbers of tools which can help you with time management and which you can
try out, combine or even give them your own new meaning. Our application, Personal Analytics, is one of them. The choice is always yours as well as the
following result.