The art of managing time does not come easy and needs to be learnt over time. It takes years of commitment and specific effort to be able to hone the time management skills even after acquiring them. There are many areas of time management that various people need to learn. Some need to understand the importance of prioritizing work and the manner in which they should go about doing that whereas some need to be able to handle multiple tasks at the same time. There are others that need to improve skills pertaining to the proper classification of their tasks into the right urgency-importance quadrant and those that need to understand that time management does not mean neglecting personal tasks that one needs to complete.
But there are some areas which seem to need improvement by a large number of people. One such area is the ability to concentrate and focus on the job at hand. If you want to deliver good results in whatever you do, one thing that is essential to have (other than the capability to the job, of course), is to be able to obliterate all other distracting thoughts that may lead your mind to wander and rivet your thoughts.
This may go against the common phrase that you may have heard often about multi-tasking but there is logic and a science behind why concentration produces the best quality and the fastest results. It has probably been told to you in seminars in corporate life and business schools that being able to multitask is essential for success at workplace and this ability ensures that you can handle multiple assignments at the same time. The fact of the matter is that though you may have multiple tasks on hand at one time, it is different from concentrating on the job that you are doing. Once you have taken up a task and started doing it, you need to ensure that all your thoughts, efforts and your whole self are focused towards completing it.
One technique which works extremely well to help you in increasing your overall concentration levels is to sit at your desk and do practically nothing for a few minutes or in other words meditate. Your mind needs to be completely devoid of any thought for that period. Just 10 minutes of meditation before handling each task would be sufficient.
When you meditate thus before you start working on a task, your stress levels decreases and a great deal of clarity arises. When your mind is clear you’ll be able to complete the task at hand faster and efficiently. When you begin to appreciate the benefit of meditating before undertaking each task, you’ll want to start with 30 minutes of meditation before planning your day itself, so your entire day is organized with absolute clarity and no confusion.
Vishal P. Rao share his insights and tips on holistic living at Relishing Life.
