The race against time

Producing quality work within a stipulated time calls for motivation, swiftness and a practical approach.

The night before the submission date, you find yourself struggling hard to keep awake through the night, trying to put your assignment in shape, hoping frenziedly for an extension and cursing yourself for landing in this mess. Does this sound familiar? If yes, then perhaps, it is time you took stock of your time management skills.

All your keenness and efforts to turn out good work would come to naught if you fail to meet the deadline. The result: loss of marks and a sense of inadequacy. While in college, one gets away with a reprimand or a few marks less; in work situations, much more is at stake.

Get over inertia

Procrastination, the most common deterrent to time management, should be feared like the plague. Once this enters the psyche of an individual, it is difficult to shed it. Starting early is indispensable to the successful completion of one’s work within a given timeframe. Almost always, things go wrong at the last minute, and your ability to manage the glitches gets diminished by a flustered state of mind. You are left with no contingency time to set things right. Pressure mounts up at the end, and there is both physical and mental stress. The sense of guilt over not having utilised your time adds to the misery.

“Building motivation is the way to counter procrastination. It is important to value what you do and be passionate about it in order to work hard at it and avoid delays,” says Mitesh Khatri, leadership trainer and author. So, how does one deal with mental blocks that don’t allow one to get to the heart of the task? “The numero uno principle of time management is to be in the right state of mind. Sweating over a task even when one is not quite feeling up to it leads to more wastage of time. The best way to deal with this is to take a break and engage in some positive energising activities such as listening to motivational songs in order to regain the flow,” explains Khatri.

Practical approach

It is important to estimate exactly how much time it would take to complete a piece of work. “Often students fail to take into account the demands of the task ahead and tend to put things off for another time. Understanding the length of the project and then planning accordingly is necessary. Create a timetable for academic activities and then diligently stick to it,” says Mithun Pillai, Assistant Professor and course co-ordinator, Department of Mass Media, SIES (Nerul) College of Arts, Science and Commerce. Bringing about regularity in one’s work pattern is essential. Sporadic bursts of productivity may not help as much as consistent use of time.

The completion of any assignment or project, especially one that requires some creativity or analytical thinking on the part of the student, happens in stages. Starting with the ideation stage, it goes through a process of information gathering to analysing and ends with bringing the project to a presentable form. Getting stuck at one stage can be disastrous. A student, for instance, may keep waiting for the perfect brainwave and lose out on precious time. Also, digressions can delay the process further. Determining the focus of the task and not wading in unknown waters for too long helps save a lot of time.

Finally, wrap up when it’s time to do so. Even when there is a feeling that the work can be improved, clinging to it can make you miss your deadline. Most experts agree that when it comes to perfection versus punctuality, the latter wins hands down. Punctuality brings reliability and is valued most in any organisation. Like the winner of a marathon, it’s important to gather pace in the final laps. “For finishing well, bring about agility in your methods. Besides, it does good to remember that growth should be the ultimate aim and not perfection,” says Khatri.

College projects and assignments can be seen as opportunities not only for skill development in a particular area but also as grounds for conditioning oneself to racing against time while not compromising on quality. This could help one ready oneself for the demands of the industry.