Personal Reflections on Time Management

Looking at yesteryears, one can easily relate to the fact that ‘Time is crucial’. Not that, we have learned it all this way but somehow, the realization of its importance and the possible disasters, as a result of its mismanagement has evolved very slowly. However, now that its in place, people make every smart move to make the most of their time. Be it on the personal, social or even the professional front! Smart technologies, gadgets and online tools have helped man realise the significance of each minute that passes by and how to effectively optimise every bit of it to bank upon. Sounds a li’l too serious?

How about the quote that says ‘ A stitch in time, saves nine’. It holds equally true till date except for the numbers and metrics, used to assess. With intensifying competition, dynamic markets and evolving social and lifestyle trends, people are trying to get their hands on technologies that could save them time and allow enough, to be put to some good use.

Consider, smart gadgets like Notebooks, Palmtops, digital diaries, bluetooth devices or even PDAs. It’s all in place just because the modern man is always on the run and wants to make the best possible utilization of his/her time, 24×7. Smart gadgets have transformed the Generation Y to tech savvy, smart and gizmo geeks. They are always on the look for tools, technolgies, gadgets that could help them stay tuned and always ahead, of their competitors. While this gives an impression of how, time has taken control and evaded human psyche, let us see the reflections of ‘Effective Time Management’ on personal and social set up.

To tread into realities, look around and you will see a boom in social networking communities, professional networks, forums, opinion boards, blogs, information portals and still there are so many more, mushrooming with each passing day. It hardly takes any time for people to get on and get started with such virtual spaces, as they offer effective time management and parallel knowldge storage and management tools. Don’t you think, its much faster and relatively easier to log on to your favoriet blog, network or forum and post questions taht you help with. And in no time, your Inbox is flooded with responses from your social, virtual and professional contacts over the web. And guess what, you had relatively a fraction of the total time invested, otherwise. Isn’t that cool?

Look further and there is this whole new world of desktop, web and mobile applications. Applications that serve as reminders, task schedulers, trip manager, direction planner, location finder, friend finder, solution provider, automated applications, networking applications, shopping tools, automated bidders, album manager, quick messengers, voice based, text based, web based and more social and web applications. It’s really interesting to note that the usage of suh applications has been growing at an exponential rate. Every time, there are applications, their improved versions and upgrades are available almost at the same pace. Seems like, ‘Time Management’ is the buzzword! Could it ever have been better to record and retrieve information without having to fetch a piece of pen and paper or shop smart, without a virtual web shopping list planner?

The answer is ‘No’ and will always be. Men are smart but they need to get smarter, by being able to multi-task with easy and free access to smart web, desktop or mobile applications. If you even wondered what keeps this going, this is all because there is a need to monetize on time, there is an evolving need for social gratification, a need that urges you to stay competitive and ahead of others. he ingredients that serve as a bridge between these aspirations and their realization are virtual communities that offer simple ways to express, approach, shout out, seek help, learn, network and enrich personal information, in the process. Imagine, had it been possible if places like social networks and communities didnt exist…?

How would you have expressed the need, got yourself heard without physical presence, received support and contributed to the origin of these smart applications, tools, gadgets and gizmos at a frequency that matches with that of a need evolved or existed?

The best reflections of ‘Time management’ on personal or professional forefronts would only be widely realized, if smart web based applications fulfill the needs of effective management while still offering ease of access, simple interface, utility, value, great user experience, freedom of expression, sharing and collaboration.