Chapter 9

Time savers

Everything in this world has something to balance its existence. If there is white, there is black; if there is darkness there is light, if there are time wasters, there are time savers. So now let us focus our attention towards those time savers because they are our best friends when we talk about Time Management.

Again, as in the case of time killers, I am just listing out a few general examples over here. These are by no means the only time savers in the world.

Here we have
The Top Ten Time Savers
 Telephones
 Computers
 Elevators
 Fax Machines
 The Internet
 Coffee Machines
 Bulletin or Notice Boards
 Photo Copiers
 Efficient Filing Systems
 Good Secretaries and Junior Staff

Let’s take a quick look at all these.

 Telephones.
Surprise! Surprise! I had included telephones under the list of time killers but telephones are in fact one of the best time savers that man has invented. Just imagine the amount of time you get to save by just making a telephone call!
Suppose you are to have a business lunch (sometimes called a working lunch) with an important client. Obviously you have to reserve a table in your favorite restaurant. Now, imagine you have to go there in person and get things done directly. The task would easily take away at least two or three hours of your time when you take into account the journey, the traffic and all that. On the other hand, this is something you can easily do over the telephone while you are comfortably seated in your office.

So telephones are certainly one of the best time savers in this world. But of course, it all depends on how you use the telephone.

 Computers
I don’t think that enough can be said about the time saving roles of the computer. But then I don’t think that I have to say much. I suppose every one will agree that computers are indeed time-saving machines.

 Elevators
Next we come to elevators and elevators too we know save a lot of time that we would other wise have to spend plodding up flights and flights of steps. Elevators save not just time but energy as well. But one annoying thing about elevators is that sometimes even f we punch the button repeatedly, the elevator takes for ever to reach or floor.
Now, if you just have to go two or three floors up or down in such cases it is always better to take the stairs instead of waiting ten or fifteen minutes for the elevator to come to your floor. It’s better for your health too, top climb a few stairs every day.

 Fax machines
Like telephones, fax machines too save a lot of time by enabling us to send important documents across continents if needed and that too within a few seconds.

 The internet
It goes without saying that the internet has revolutionized our concept of time itself. With facilities like email, scanners, voicemail and video conferencing, even the fax machine has become outdated. Talk about fast…

 Coffee machines.
I did it on purpose. When people see that a coffee machine has been included among the list of time savers, they tend to screw up their noses and raise their eyebrows. But would you believe that earlier, before coffee machines had made their presence felt in offices, people used to take coffee breaks that lasted up to half an hour?

 Bulletin or Notice Boards
Bulletin and Notice Boards are very time effective way of reaching out to a large number of people. Instead of conducting one of those long meetings in which every one gets a chance to go on and on, it’s is bets to convey messages with the help of notice boards and bulletins which can be displayed at a place accessible to all. Oh yes, then comes the question of how to make sure that the message is read by all those concerned.
Simple, include space on the notice where the concerned people can put down their initials as proof that they have read the message.

 Photocopiers
Often we tend to underestimate the importance of photocopiers in an office. Those machines just sit there and take copies of what is fed into them all day long. It does seem like a job which does not require any brains. And that is why we do not give these machines any credit. But once these machines fail, we understand their worth. Of course we can take multiple prints using a printer, but cost wise and time wise a photocopier is much better. It is really faster than a printer and it costs nothing to take copies.

 Efficient Filing Systems
This had already been dealt with under office organization, but I just want to add that a good system of filing definitely saves a lot of time. Being able to find an important document or file should not be a matter of luck. There should be a proper place to keep the files something which people call a cabinet. And the files should be kept in a proper order with easy to read and intelligible name tags and labels. And in the files, the documents should not be filed in a haphazard order but should have an order that makes it easy to locate a paper.

The same thing applies to the files you have on your computer, you should name the files properly and not use abbreviation that could stand for anything. People tend to try and save time by using abbreviations which sound quite ridiculous once they forget what it really stands for.

 Good Secretaries and Junior Staff
Good secretaries are always an asset to an office. If your secretary is as dependable as a screen saver, then half the battle is won. But on the other hand if your secretary is as feather brained as a hen, then heaven help you! The advantage of having good secretaries and junior staff is that you can delegate a lot of things to them.

I told you earlier that it is not always necessary that you do everything by yourself. You should be able to delegate a lot of things, but first of course you have to be sure that the people you are delegating to do something are good enough.

Once you are able to share your work load with someone, you will have at least one hand free, and I am sure you will be able to put that hand to some good use.

Now, over here I have just highlighted ten time savers. It would be a good idea for you to look around and identify things that could save your time. Answering machines for one save a lot of time. If you really are too busy to attend your calls, let the machine do the talking for you.

In this context I think it would be appropriate to talk about one thing that most people often go wrong with in their quest to save time, and that is trying to do two things at the same time. But that takes us to our next chapter.

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