Time Management for a balanced Work and Life

The "Time management" is the key aspect to be effective at managing your life, when I said life it includes everything that is part and parcel of your life and not just work. That's where the confusion is, no matter which field of work you are in Time management is taken for granted as the management of activities at work and not the management of time as an Individual.  In its holistic sense it is about you being an individual and how you have slotted and planned your time considering "You", "Your Family" and "Work" should be categorised as Time Management.

We have tried using various tools and techniques, went to extensive training course and discussed with friends and colleagues so often. But yet not have achieved a comprehensive understanding of time management. The question that pop to my mind is "Have we achieved a balanced Work and Life" with the time management concepts so far taught and learned.

When we discuss with someone about time management as a topic, the response received relates to management of time for the work related activities. This is the case with 90% of the people (though this can be challenged, it was my experience), when it comes to time management the priority is on work related activities only and less stress is given on the other part which is your life outside the work schedule.

The misconception is the earlier you come to work and the late you leave define you as an efficient person. Isn't there and old age adage "Working smarter, not harder". Does long working hours gives you the efficiency or will it make you more stress and fatigue thus diminishing the output that you could produce. There were various research done on this topic and the inclination is towards individuals who occupy multiple life roles tends to experience better mental health outcomes. Haven't you notice that grumpy person, croaking at others for no reason, some aspect of that could be due to long working hours and unbalanced life.

Without going much deeper into the aspect of portraying the importance of different role that you should play in life and thus allocating the appropriate time, I would say please pay some attention towards the intricacy of the impact it has on your life. I mean long term.

Thanks for reading this blog item, please drop some comments, your opinion is important.

True leadership

A quick snippet from my thoughts while I was reading “The Little Book of Leadership"…

I recently became member of the group at theleadershiphub and got hold of the free eBook ”The Little Book of Leadership" which is snapshot from the book by Phil Dourado "The 60 Second Leader".
Some of the virtues of leadership mentioned were
•    Courage
•    Good temper
•    Temperance
•    Friendliness
•    Liberality
•    Truthfulness
•    Magnificence
•    Wittiness
•    Pride
•    Justice

Does this mean that someone who has these attributes is a leader or the assumption is leaders only exist at the top? True leaders could exist without having the top position in an organisation and thus the misconception should be shed as "Having the top position makes you a Leader". It will be great combination to have someone at the top following the principles of leadership and thus creating more leaders within the organisation who will thrive by the principles.

 Is "True Leader" is becoming a rare species in the leadership jungle? Based on my experience Yes and No, because I have seen both the species.

As mentioned by Ralph Nader “The job of a leader today is not to create followers. It’s to create more leaders.” My understanding of that is true or rather great leaders will always stand out, remembered for the contribution towards leadership and will set examples to be followed and will create more great leaders. The other who may call them leaders but yet haven't understood what leadership is will perish. When I say perish it means they will be executing the role they are in without the effectiveness of being a leader.

Please provide your views and experience in understanding what leadership is and how you may have experienced it….