Prakash Rao
Prakash V. Rao is a coach and trainer in his unique time management program, Bank Your Time. To determine how he can empower your schedule or your business, please reach him at: prakash@bankyourtime.com.
 
 
About seven years ago, one of my co-workers expressed his frustration with time management programs. He was a manager on the technology side of a financial institution. As much as he planned his day with meetings and tasks, all his plans went out of the window as soon as an issue hit his inbox. Since he could not predict how long it would take him to resolve an issue, his day was largely unpredictable.
 
Later, I met a policeman in India who had solved the “unpredictable day” problem that production support staff, EMS and emergency room doctors and nurses, and first responders face. This policeman very successfully separated his personal and professional lives. In his personal life, he was highly organized and planned everything down to the last detail. In his professional life, he used a “rolling window of time” to plan only as far as he could be sure of, leaving everything else fluid. I added the concept of interruption management – the ability to recover seamlessly from interruptions and to handle nested levels of interruptions – to develop a useful option for people whose schedules are very fluid.

I have often heard the statement, “If a system works for a number of people and does not work for you, it is not the system but it is you that does not work!” I disagree. One size cannot fit everyone. Statisticians may try to fit us into a huge normal frequency distribution curve, but even as we can define a median or average person, every individual has something that sets him or her apart from that median profile. Is there an average Joe or Jane? Is there an “average” time management system?

Since a single, universal system cannot work for everyone, the best alternative to a time management panacea is a toolkit with features or tactics that can be mixed and matched to suit individual needs. What should such a toolkit include?

1. A time management program needs the flexibility to include only tactics that are appropriat. It should not be an “all or nothing” program. “Different strokes for different folks”, as the saying goes, all within a common umbrella: The universal need for time management.

2. To succeed a time management program requires a spectrum of options for achieving each objective. For example, I know some people who swear by their Franklin-Covey planner, and others who work from little yellow sticky notes. Some put their faith in the PDAs and others put everything online. There is no wrong way, no wrong answer.

3. We need to have ways to track the effectiveness of the individual’s time managing process. This gives us the confidence that the system is working and allows us to set objectives and goals to move us to greater achievements.

In addition to these features, an individual must be motivated to use the system. The benefits of using a system can be transformative and greatly empowering. This helps justify the effort that goes into adopting the system. Most of all, the user must have fun while using the system.
Last but not least there is no need to do this without consulting others, we can benefit from the support of several people to encourage and assist us in meeting the challenge of time management. Imagine what we could do if we managed our time more effectively. So let’s get on with developing a system that takes us closer to success.

Prakash V. Rao is a coach and trainer in his unique time management program, Bank Your Time. With two Masters’ degrees, MS in Computer Engineering from Boston University and MBA in Finance from NYU, Rao has more than 20 years’ experience in the corporate world. After comparing his own approach to work with how his peers and colleagues worked, Rao realized the need for a comprehensive, metrics-driven, fun time management system. For the past 5 years, he has spread the knowledge of this system far and wide.
 
 
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