As a student, time and
deadlines had paramount importance only when exams and presentations used to be
around the corner. I remember the times when I used to struggle to complete the
never-ending theory papers within the stipulated time. While writing those
papers, the attention used to be divided into time and quality of content. I
used to heave a sigh of relief whenever I managed to complete the paper by
‘fighting against all odds’. Preparation for the presentations too used to
start at the eleventh hour and the graph of panic levels used to rise.
As I mentioned in one
of my previous articles, situations do not change, only the face of the
situations change. I have been experiencing the challenges against time since
turning into a working professional. This holds especially true when you are
working in finance department and month end (which always seems to be
approaching sooner than usual) alarm bell starts ringing. Being a novice with
the financial tools used at work, the time required for understanding them and
then implementing them in work is a Herculean task at the initial stages of
learning.
After spending a few
months in the organization, absorbing its culture and acclimatizing with the
job tasks, I was assigned with a new set of responsibilities. That was, I would
say, my breakthrough in understanding to complete the tasks on time. When the
deadlines are nearby, even the emails in the inbox have exclamatory marks in
the subject line, denoting the urgency in finishing the work on time. That is
when the wheels have to get churning faster than normal. When I am in such a
situation, I feel like the hare in the ‘Hare and Tortoise’ story, whereby I try
to finish tasks as quickly as possible and then expect to relax for a while.
Alas, Time (month end tasks) is such a tortoise that comes steadily but not
slowly! And then I try to change the course of the story and try to win despite
playing a hare.
Ideally in our 45 hours
of work in a week, it can be said that tasks can be completed on time provided
we plan them, to avoid panic. Or as Fredrick Taylor had suggested ‘time and
motion study’ can really be implemented to increase business efficiency. If
that would have been always possible, maybe the words ‘ad hoc’ or ‘impromptu’
would not have existed. In such a case it’s difficult to answer the question
‘How much time will it take?’ when you yourself are not sure of it and are
about to do it for the very first time! It is like asking the ‘exact estimate’!
But giving assurances and promises is
something we Indians are really good at and we don’t like displeasing anyone by
raising their eyebrows. Therefore, to avoid looking like a fool or to avoid
wrath of any sort, some people blurt any number that comes to their mind.
The story does not end
here. After all the planning is done, you are set to finish the tasks on time
and work towards it like a dedicated professional. On your way to
accomplishment there lie various challenges in form of time consuming processes
on your system and background files to be prepared which take most of the time.
That I would say, is a test of patience. It is as though a dish taking not much
time to cook, but its preparation involving painstaking efforts. In both the
cases, be it cooking or the job task in which you pour your heart and soul in,
the outcome is decisive. You are either praised or are suggested areas of
improvement. Trainings too should form a part of routine activities to improve
efficiency and also because they contribute significantly towards improving a
person’s learning and experience curve.
Whenever we talk about
completing things on time, the stories of people waiting back after the working
hours are generally applauded. No one usually questions if that task really
needed a person to wait back. No one really gives it a thought as to what that
person does in the actual office hours. In German work culture working hours mean working hours without gossips or other frivolous
activities. In such a work culture it is immaterial if your colleagues give you a perplexed
look when you leave sharp on time.
Battling all the
deadlines and having a sense of satisfaction that you did well in your work,
there wait a loving bunch of people at your home who support you in all your
trysts: Family. To ensure their happiness should therefore be on the top of
your priority lists. And to spend quality time with our families out of the
busy five-day week, we long for weekends. We must thank Henry Ford for
inventing weekends in the early 1900s. Though he saw weekends as an opportunity
to sell cars to his employees viewing them also as customers, he would not have
known then, that these weekends only would provide solace to many indefatigable
working individuals. Of course, there are many human machines as well who don’t
mind working even on weekends. They are either passionate or megalomaniacs.
As I said that time
sprints and waits for no one, weekends too sprint at a lightning or should I
say frightening speed, and there comes Monday again. The cycle begins anew once
again. Task lists are planned and prepared, accountability of time has to be
proved and life simply goes on, forever waiting for weekends or planning for
vacations or other passions to be pursued!
