Optimal Time management Part II

Now I am posting second and detailed part of my Optimal time management blog. I hope it will help.

Time-Task Duality (Divine Perspective)

Time has two dimensions inner or personal and outer or universal.
At personal level time is creative impulse of self-expression and linked with some memorable immaterial activities, while at universal level time is outcome of lunar/solar/celestial phenomena and linked with memorable material activities.
The creative urge of Omnipotent linked with memorable immaterial activities is Absolute Time, a solely divine attribute. The Absolute Time created its numerous counterparts, i.e., multiple relative times.
The matter-oriented time is relative or serial time, while the urge-oriented time is Absolute Time.
Man is vice-regent of Allah, the very basis of human life-pattern is existential- pattern of God. Allah accomplishes any task accommodating the time, both absolute and relative.
A divine-oriented approach towards time-task duality makes the mankind time-efficient and leads, ultimately, towards effective life-pattern.


Priority Setting

A priority setting should be based on two elements - importance and urgency – A task is composition of various mixtures of these elements. We can set priority list as follows:
Important & urgent (top priority)
Important & less urgent (second priority)
Less important & urgent (third priority)
Less important & less urgent (last priority)
The important activities are supportive for goal materialization, while urgent activities demand quick fixing. The urgent activities do not fulfill, normally, our goals, they fulfill, generally, the goals of others.
Wisdom is needed to define importance and urgency.


General Guidelines

The general guidelines for effective priority-setting are:
Pick the future possibilities against the past glories.
Focus on the opportunity rather than on problems.
Choose your own direction rather than climb on the bandwagon.
Aim high and better.


Prime Time

Parkinson’s Law states that work expands to fill the available time. That is, more time is spent on a specific job without considering the time duration of a job.
Time efficiency is spoiled by ignoring time-task duality.
In prime time evaluation, we assess and integrate the job and prime time – prime time is the time at which the person can produce best performance in his work..
It is important to note that coordination between work schedule and prime time enhances the productivity of an individual about 15 to 20 percent.
The assessment of prime time for staff and setting their activities to prime time will make them more efficient and productive. As a result, the whole system will produce


Prime Motive - Performance

An organization is created to materialize certain goals & objectives.
Any result-oriented effort towards multiple goals & objectives is effective, generally, for organizational development, so that, the prime motive behind countless efforts must be performance.
Moreover, for highest performance, it is important to utilize strengths not weaknesses.
The performance–oriented efforts are distorted due to countless reasons.
The Major time wasters in a system are Lack of Proper Delegation System, Overstaffed or Understaffed Environ, Non-incentive Reward Structure, Malfunctions in Information, Excessive Meetings or Large Size of Meeting Staff or Boundless Agenda of Meetings, & Miscommunication.


Developing Time Management Skills

Develop a logbook, formal or informal, to ascertain WHERE the time is going on?
Deciding the activity plan for important/urgent activities to assess WHAT tasks are worthy to tackle?
Evaluating Prime time to judge HOW much time is needed for different set of activities?
Finalizing the work-plan to know WHEN to execute an activity?
A work-plan is prepared on several bases, it is daily or weekly or monthly or yearly. It is noteworthy that the more time we spend on work planning; the less total time is required for the whole task.
Time-efficiency will improve with these practices, consequentially, the optimal time management expertise will be developed in someone’s life.

I hope it will be of help to you. Please! Give me your feedback at smcse.mit@gmail.com

Thanks.

Ilyas

Time Management

Hi,

I am back with a new blog. This time its about time management. This is common man's problem. This blog is divided into two parts. I will discuss various aspect of time management in this part.

Optimal Time Management

Optimal Time Management is setting and following a schedule of life activities in order to optimize the usage of limited available time 

Time-Task Duality

The time-task duality directs the individuals how tasks are linked, directly and indirectly, with multiple time durations.
The ultimate goal during some activity is to attain maximum return from each and every unit of time-spent.


Optimal Time Management-Key Issues

The key issues related to optimal time management, especially related to an effective manager, are:

1) Nomenclature of Life Activities;
2) Time-Task Duality (Divine Perspective);
3) Priority Setting;
4) Prime Time Selection;
5) Prime Motive - Performance;&
6) Developing Time Management Skills.

Life Activities-Interactive Specification

Life is temporally evolved and spatially settled phenomenon of cosmic economy.
Mankind is epitome of multiple life upshots.
An individual spends his/her time on various activities. We may group these activities into three categories – personal, social, and economical.


Life Activities-Temporal Specification

A classic time scheduling has three levels, weekly, monthly, and yearly.
A person complete some works on weekly basis, while some tasks are accomplished on monthly basis, and still some responsibilities are fulfilled on yearly basis.

Temporal intelligence guides someone towards wise specification of time-scheduling.

Stay tuned for second part. It's very important. I will discuss about priority setting and different management skills that can help to optimize time.

Managerial Courage Part II

          Developing Courage

          Human life is purposive phenomenon.

• Human purposes are countless.
• A purposeful life breeds multiple goals and objectives. Goals are ultimate targets of purposeful life; while objectives are steps necessary for specific goals. Goals make someone effective, while objectives make efficient. Goals are a few while objective are many.

• Courage is developed by conviction towards specific goals and objectives. 
  In addition, it is essential to live with competitive attitude in life otherwise courage will not be developed rather it may die.
  
  Courage & Entrepreneurship – Self Resistance

• The vital and essential characteristic of an entrepreneur is innovation. 
• 
  Innovation is to create/introduce something new during some entrepreneurial struggle. However, a novel or pioneering act may be a mutational change or may lead towards some failure. That is why; there is great pressure on entrepreneur from inside and outside.
  The inside/self pressure is managed by developing some personality traits such as positive mindset, determination, courage and confidence, while the outside/institutional pressure is managed through some effective institutional techniques.
  
  Courage & Entrepreneurship – Abandonment
  
  An important aspect of entrepreneurial / managerial courage is to retrieve back from wrong decisions. Let things are not going well and estimation has failed. There is need for abandonment to avoid wasted efforts. Abandonment is needed to save time, money, and efforts. It is not against managerial courage, rather it an act of moral courage.
  
  Human Courage (Divine Perspective)
  
  The very basis of human courage is Divine Courage.
  Human courage is outcome of faith/trust on the Supremacy and Omnipotence of Allah.
  Human beings are indispensably linked with each other and fortify or weaken one another. A humanistic or altruistic tendency is natural aspect of collective life that solidifies the human personality due to reciprocal phenomenon of interactive life. Consequently, human acts done for the betterment of humanity solidify the doers while inhuman acts weaken the doers.
  
  Egoistic Standpoint Vs Courage
  
  An act that does not qualify altruistic/divine basis is egoist not courageous. The Satan’s attitude towards Adam’s supremacy was egoist not courageous.
  Allah is Creator and Sustainer of everything. He is Omnipotent with no competitor. His commandments and actions are based on best attributes, free from any injustice. He demands worship from His creation because He fully qualify for such demands while the Satan was demanding a position, not suitable for him.
  The Satanic stand is not courage but an act of ego worship or egoistic standpoint.
  
  Entrepreneurship - a high profile responsibility
  
  Entrepreneurial struggle is, essentially, a value based struggle towards some ideals, both individual as well as institutional.
  It is material driven, humanistic based, and divine oriented.
  It provides sustenance to individuals, magnificence to society, and gives collective shape to Divine Ideals.
  Entrepreneurial struggle follows, strictly, the natural-patterns set and designed by Divine Scheme of Creation for His creatures.
  In nutshell, it is an act of vice–regency of God on some collective issues of life, a high profile responsibility.
  

This sums up My blog for Managerial Courage. I hope you liked it. Stay tuned for more blogs to come.

• 
  

Managerial Courage

Welcome again to my new blog. This time topic is about "Courage"

"To overcome evil with good is good, to resist evil by evil is evil. (Al-Hadith) "

What is Courage?

It is state of mind that motivates/activates us for insurmountable tasks/challenges.

Aspects of Courage

Courage has two aspects, moral & physical.

Moral courage is required when challenge or task is immaterial, e.g., to speak truth while lying can bring benefits or truth may bring problems.

On the other hand, physical courage is needed to control physical desires or to do some physical activity that may cause physical pains or may bring some physical threat, e.g., regular exercise, balance eating habit, struggle against some evil element of society, and joining of armed/police force for state enemies / criminals.


Cosmic Design & Courage

Life is effort-return phenomenon.

• The Omnipotent Creator is designer of Effort-Return phenomena.
• The aim of cosmic design is to trial human conduct, morally as well as physically.
• Allah created the universe with full of bounties, both tangibles as well as intangibles. However, these treasures of Mercy or natural gifts are concealed behind some physical and moral hurdles. A person can get these natural gifts through some concerted and courageous efforts.
  
• The physical courage is needed to unearth the tangible benefits and moral courage is required for intangible benefits. 
  
• It is noteworthy that physical and moral courage are co-existent and interlinked.

This sums up First part of this blog. I will discuss about Aspects of Courage in next blog. Stay tuned.

Positive Vs Negative Mindset

Lo! Allah changeth not the condition of a folk until they (first) change that which is in their hearts. (13:11)

Effort – Return Phenomenon (A Survey)

A survey indicated that 75% of business are failed in their initial 3 to 5 years and the major reason of business failures, about 90%, are executives. They are not genuinely prepared for the task in hand. 

Mindset – Behavior Duality

A person’s behavior is predominantly the outcome of his/her mindset. It affects the actions of a person and outcomes of efforts. Having a negative mindset or even a neutral will distort the actions and undermine the efforts.

How it works? Answer is simple, when a person has a negative mindset then he radiates negativity. It causes people to avoid / dislike / misinterpret him. Moreover, when a person is negative, he tends to see only obstacles. And when someone only sees obstacles or problems, he tends to feel stress. When a person is feeling lots of stress, he can’t be creative.

Effects of Mindset

A negative mindset undermines creativity, dynamism, and productivity. In contrast, a positive mindset allows someone to deal with threats/challenges with creativity, dynamism, and resourcefulness.

Mindset

A mindset refers to a framework of intentions, perceptions, and emotions held by a person so established that predetermines a person’s response to and interpretation of situations / persons.

Mindset is combination of intentions, perceptions and emotions. It has three powers for execution, i.e., will power, intellect power, and emotional power. These powers are essential ingredients of our mind. Equilibrium is necessary for the stability of mind pyramid; however, equilibrium may be wise or positive and unwise or negative
The positive or negative mindset is indicated when a person delivers a statement about or respond with some predictable exactness / exaggeration.

NEGATIVITY TRAPS

There are seven major negativity traps or vicious circles of mental framework that make up a negative mindset. We may call them doubtful, volatile, unjust, jealous, proud, fearful, and grief mindsets. The solution to avoid the vicious traps is to develop a mental framework with positive intentions, positive perceptions, and positive emotions. 

Positive intentions are developed with strong faith on Unity of Allah and unity of mankind.
Positive perceptions are established with knowledge.
Positive emotions are ultimate outcome of best manners/adab.
Lastly, a positive mental framework is finalized under the guidance of individual and collective wisdom.

Doubtful Mindset

A person faces a new situation/person and takes it with doubts without any scientific basis; it is indication of negative mindset. The other examples of doubtful mindset are – doubt about personal strengths, expect failures, and doubt on ground realities. 

Volatile Mindset

A person faces a novel situation/person and loose mental stability and responds with volatile attitude; it is indication of negative mindset. The other examples of volatile mindset are – lethargic response, impatient behavior, whimsical decision making. 

Unjust Mindset

A person faces an unfavorable situation/person and loose self control and responds with anger/leniency; it is indication of negative mindset. The other examples of unjust mindset are – under or over estimations of abilities, excessive criticism on mistakes, and mild response on blunders. 

Jealous Mindset

A person faces a surprised situation/person and feels envy but responds with jealousy, it is indication of negative mindset. The other examples of jealous mindset are – happy response on someone’s miseries, sad feelings on someone’s success, & defamation of opponent. 

Proud Mindset

A person faces a disliked situation/person and responds proudly without any scientific basis, it is indication of negative mindset. The other examples of proud mindset are – perfectionist approach, slavery of habits, and dictatorial in decision making. 

Fearful Mindset

A person faces an unexpected situation/person and considers it a threat without any scientific basis; it is indication of negative mindset. The other examples of fearful mindset are - fear of future, fear of criticism, and fear of failure. 

Grief Mindset
A person faces a new situation/person and feels frustration and respond with grief sentiments; it is indication of negative mindset. The other examples of grief mindset are – overwhelmingly critical behavior, pessimism, and disbelief on real success
.

Mind Anatomy

Nature equipped us with two types of mind, i.e., left and right. The left side is logical, analytical, and critical. On the other hand, the right side is intuitive, creative and synthetic. The left side is problem seeker while the right side is problem solver. Both sides have their own importance and significance.

In addition, we have two levels of mind - conscious and subconscious. The subconscious mind is filled with energy and power to do insurmountable tasks but is led by our conscious mind. Conscious mind makes selection from continuous stream of thoughts (negative & positive) and develop a working pattern or belief system for subconscious mind. It is a continuous process of selection and execution remain active in everyone’s life.

Self Suggestions

To avoid the negativity traps, self suggestion is the best tested technique. The words and phrases of self-suggestion should be real, constructive, energetic and dynamic. By continuous repetition we can make a positive image of self. A person can make his own list; however, we mention a few:

Allah acts justly and kindly,
Anything fruitful for humanity will must realize sooner or later,
Any right effort with right intent and methods will must produce good results,
There is no real / permanent threat only opportunities,
Any misery has blessing in disguise,
Success is not pursued, it is attracted,
Gratitude brings benefits,
Patience is best and fruitful strategy in difficulties, and.
Courtesy costs nothing but buys everything.

Positive Vs Negative Self Suggestions

Any positive suggestion is reacted by negative suggestion. A war is started in mind about these self suggestions with negative suggestions. The process remains active until a belief is not finalized. A belief may be negative or false and positive or true. A negative belief about something/someone, e.g., life is aimless, no real relationship is possible, the hells are always the others, success is impossible, miseries are permanent, benefits are short-lived, and difficulties are long lasting. A negative belief produces or breeds new negative beliefs and a negative belief system is developed. A negative belief system plays havoc with an individual or system or society. 

Solution to Negative Self Suggestions

There are two tested weapons for negative suggestions – Knowledge and Wisdom. Knowledge is a weapon used at conceptual level to counter negative suggestions/beliefs, while, the wisdom is applied at practical level. A suggestion based on knowledge and wisdom would be free from negativity traps. It is noteworthy that a rational person can make errors but not systematic errors. We learn from past errors / other’s errors and adjust our beliefs and actions accordingly.

Concluding Remarks

Positive thinking/mindset must be accompanied by actions such as planning, preparation and practice. 

Positive thinking/mindset must demand positive associations. Positive associations lead to creativity, cooperation, solutions, and bigger dreams. It’s often said that the books you read and the people you associate will determine where you’ll be in next three to five years.
The complete positive or negative mindset is a special phenomenon. In real life, we come across with partial positive or negative mindset. A person may be positive at some situations or negative at some other situations.

Solution to Multiple Life Hurdles

                   Solution (Internal Hurdles)

•    Any threat from self can be managed through personality development. These threats/hurdles can be grouped into two categories - theoretical and practical.
•    The solution to these problems is to develop positive mindset and wise working approach; the ultimate outcome of positive mindset and wisdom is fruitful results, i.e., success over internal hurdles.
•     The two major internal hurdles of an entrepreneur are – fear and grief. Fear pressurizes for inactivity and grief leads us towards some wrong activity. Fear is outcome of some expected future loses; while the grief is established due to some past failures.

Solution (External Hurdles)

•     In interpersonal links, we have to adapt two distinctive approaches- cooperation and competition.
•     In competition, we are aggressive but just in our interactive behavior. On the other hand, during cooperation we are firm but follow win-win strategy in social interactions.
•     Cooperation is best if it brings synergic benefits, and competition is better if it makes someone dynamic.
•     Whatever may be the interactive strategy we should consider the other person as a human and not a devil or angel.

Solution (Institutional Hurdles)

•     For Institutional hurdles, we must follow some institutional channels.
•     A civilized society has some institutions to tackle institutional hurdles, e.g., industry associations, business chambers, and judiciary. These channels are very effective to manage these bottlenecks. Any short-cut or rent-seeking will be converted into some bigger problem in future course of time.

Super Natural Hurdles

•     There exist, still, another type of hurdles that hamper or slows down our efforts. These are intangibles hurdles. The initiator and architect of these hurdles is DEVIL/SATAN. 
•     For supernatural hurdles, we have to utilize some unique strategic tools, neither available in managerial books nor taught in management centers. Islam has given the solution and imposed certain duties and obligations on his followers to counter these threats and challenges. Zikr (Remembrance of Allah), recitation of Darud Sharif, and charity to needy peoples of society are best and tested tools to counteract any hurdle or challenge posed by the immaterial evil forces.

This concludes this series. Stay tuned to my blog for new series.

Hurdles Vs Limitation and Detractor

Hurdle Vs Limitation 

Hurdle is an obstacle that can be overcome through struggle, sooner or later, while a limitation is some constraint imposed by nature and cannot be overcome through granted human powers. Aging, body structure, biological demand for food, water, sleep, heredity effects, natural laws are few examples of limitations.
Limitations are designed and imposed on us to fulfill Divine Scheme of creation and provide level playing field to all individuals or nation belongs to any region or lineage or color. On the other hand, hurdles are illusory, temporary, discouraging, and man-made.
Any misconception between limitation and hurdle may lead us towards deterministic mindset or wrong belief.

Hurdle Vs Detractor 

Detractors are problems that crop up unexpectedly and snatch our concentration. These may be mechanical, e.g., a problem in some equipment, power breakdowns, and trouble in vehicle, or these detractors may be social, e.g., unwanted visitors/males/phones.
The root cause of these detractors is improper maintenance of equipments, un-cleanliness, and time mismanagement.
They appear as urgent and disturb important tasks and planned movement.

(Dont worry and stay tuned to my blog. I will discuss Solutions in my final blog of this series. Thanks)

Internal / Self Hurdles

These hurdles come from our mindset and personal behavior. These are major source of any problem.
They arise due to some fallacy in our perceptual intelligence or false sensation in our emotional intelligence or wrong activity in our intentional intelligence.

Examples (Internal Hurdles)

A minor procrastination / laziness by manager will cause comparatively major delay in his works by his workers; the concerned worker will show more lethargic and careless attitude to his tasks.
Similarly, a small mistake in timely guidance to some staff member may cause large wastages in resource utilization. A delay in 2 hours in timely guidance may demand 20 hours additional guidance by the manager.

Examples (External Hurdles)

The major threat, in business life, comes from people who have strong lust for wealth. They utilize exploitative measures to gain material benefits. Their major maneuverings are:
To develop a monopoly in market,
To introduce rent–seeking or corruption,&
To make cartels.
Any cooperation with the lusty people will make one’s life full of losses/miseries. A competitive or resilient approach is indispensable to manage these lusty creatures.


Examples (Institutional Hurdles)

In economic effort, an entrepreneur faces certain governmental rules & regulation - he pays taxes, he accommodates labor laws, he follows environmental policy, etc. There may be some outdated and ill-devised institutional rules & regulations, but the challenge to the authority of these rules must follow some acceptable modus operandi to dissolve.


In my next post I will discuss as Hurdle Vs Limitations

Ultimate Effect of Hurdles

•An appropriate response to hurdles make us effective and efficient in our socio-economic life.

Hurdle Groups

We may categorize multiple hurdles into three groups:
Internal / Self Hurdles,
External / Interactive Hurdles, &
Institutional Hurdles.


Stay tuned for Examples of hurdles in my next post.

Types of Life Hurdles

Life Hurdles

Life is incessant stream of multifaceted events filled with hurdles, limitations, detractors, threats, and challenges.

These events appear, now and then, to make us active or passive, static or dynamic, good or bad, happy or sad, wise or dull.

An individual face multiple hurdles during his life time.

Hurdles may be minor or major, small or great, transitory or unending, short-term or long-term, masked or unmasked, what may be the type; they need special attention and concentrated efforts for solution.