Time Management - Some Philosophical and Practical Considerations

In the postmodern and connected life we "manage"prioritize work tasks, but at how to spend our time in
our time. While world religions can't agree whether timefirst place so we can plan our lives.
is linear, circular or stops altogether at one point, itSteven Covey also describes this time management
seems to be a rather pretentious endeavor tomatrix in the "the 7 habits of highly effective people" in
establish rules for time management. Also for thehabit 3 "Put First Things First".
faithless time remains an enigma and sometimesUrgent and important - fighting daily fires. This is where
difficult to bear. The German philosopher Friedrichmost people spend much of their time, doing so is a
Nietzsche once said that intelligence is the capability toguarantee to remain in the rat race. Try to minimize
be alone, and we might as well say - the capability toyour time in this quadrant and if possible, delegate.
be alone when time passes by.Not urgent and important - strategic thinking, big picture
We can foster our philosophical understanding of timemode. This is where you see the forest and not only
by using it efficiently in our daily lives dedicated tothe tree. This is where you want to spend quality time,
making money and thus gaining freedom from financialmaximize!
pressures. The single most reason for not realizing ourUrgent and not important - urgent to someone else, not
longings in life lies in financial restrictions, hence moneyimportant to you. This is the daily situation of unhappily
is an enabler for independence. When we assumeemployed people. Minimize!
independence from the usual walks of the life of theNot urgent and not important - this is where you waste
white collar worker's 9-6-day in the office, weyour time. Like e.g. gossiping on the phone, watching
experience enhanced ease of time. We will growtelevision, surfing the Internet without purpose. Try to
more silent in our minds, and in silence there are truthminimize!
and power for an eventually happier life.Even if we plan our time and spend most of our time
Let's have a look at daily practices for timein strategic thinking mode, we are sometimes
management and more financial success:overwhelmed by our daily lives. To gain clarity again
If you organize your working time with reference toand physical strength we should retreat once in a
the Eisenhower method, you learn to distinguish thewhile. Eventually peace of mind and happiness will
important from the urgent and to act accordingly. Askcome along with developing your own inherent time
yourself about every issue how it fits into the belowmaking you a fully intrinsically motivated person.
mental diagram:Augustine of Hippo once said "There is only one word
Important and urgent - get done with it right away.written on the eternal watch - now!" - this tells us not
Important but not urgent - make an entry into yourto procrastinate. This is also where intuitions come into
calendar.play to make wise decision, as in the complex world
Not important but urgent - try to delegate as much aswe live in we do not - and in fact should not - always
possible and reduce involvement.have the time to gather all the information we feel is
Not important and not urgent - trash it.required to take an informed decision. If we learn to
The Eisenhower method makes sense if we workuse our intuitions we learn to be close to ourselves.
receiving from and reacting to the environment, i.e. ifFinally, we actively need to give our friends, families,
we are working dependently. This method helps toleisure and pleasure the same priority as we give to
prioritize work tasks. In order to become financially freeour work.
we have to go one step further and look at how weApplying the simple methods describe above will not
should plan and spend effectively.only help us become more effective professionals, but
Let's have a look at the "time quadrant". So, oncealso bring us closer to time. Development, it was once
more we have the dimensions urgent and important,said, is the increase of consciousness.
but this time we do not look at how they help us