📘 Part 3: Time management

This episode's vocabulary

Oil rig (noun) - a large structure with equipment for removing oil from under the ground, especially from under the ocean.

High-flying (adj.) - extremely successful.

Retainer (noun) - an amount of money that you pay to someone so as to be sure that that person can work for you when you need them to.

To perceive (verb) - to come to an opinion about something, or have a belief about something.

To-do list (noun) - a list of the tasks that you have to do, or things that you want to do.

To prioritise (verb) - to decide which of a group of things are the most important so that you can deal with them first.

On behalf of someone (idiom) - done for another person’s benefit or support, or because you are representing the interests of that person.

To keep track (of someone/something) - to continue to be informed or know about someone or something.

To expend (verb) - to use or spend time, effort, or money.

Side effect (noun) - an unexpected result of a situation.

Hangover (noun) - a feeling of illness after drinking too much alcohol.

Hungover (adj.) - feeling sick with a bad pain in the head and often wanting to vomit after having drunk too much alcohol.

Industrious (adj.) - an industrious person works hard.

Happy-go-lucky (adj.) - A happy-go-lucky person does not plan much and accepts what happens without becoming worried.

Personable (adj.) - having a pleasant appearance and character.

Time sink (noun) - a task that takes a long time or wastes someone's time.

-

Questions and Answers

M: What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a stressful job?

R: Generally, the higher the risk and stress, the higher the pay or the additional benefits. For example, people who work on oil rigs are paid in proportion to the amount of danger they put themselves in. And high-flying lawyers are on call 24 seven, and they're paid nice retainers for that. Other than the pay and the job security, since no one wants to do them, I really don't perceive any other plus sites, now that I think about it.

M: And do people with stressful jobs usually manage their time well?

R: Well, they'd have to. I mean, I don't think they have another choice, to be honest with you.

M: How do highly effective people manage their time?

R: Not very well, evidently. In more detail, there's always some sort of schedule with to-do lists on which different tasks are prioritised. Many of them also have secretaries and PAs to help out with that sort of thing, especially with big events. Sometimes they even do their, well the PAs and secretaries that is, they do their chores on behalf of their employers. I mean, if you had someone like that working for you, it's easy to see how they free up time for their bosses to fit in more work.

M: What can people do to manage their time effectively?

R: Other than what I mentioned already? I suppose you could have a calendar on your email or just your wall. I wear a watch to keep track of the time. Which is similar to managing it. And of course, you can always get more done if you drink a lot of caffeine.

M: What do people do to save time?

R: I don't think you can save time, actually. I just think you can use it more effectively because it's going to be spent or expended regardless of what you do. Although I think what they do is they try to avoid wasting time, which is a bit different.

M: And this is another question how can we avoid wasting time?

R: Well, by prioritising, so you understand what's important and what's not. So, for example, you don't spend too much time, like doing things with negative side effects. So if you know that drinking too much alcohol is going to give you a hangover and you won't be very effective the next day, then you'll drink less, and that avoids you wasting time being hungover in bed so that you could be spending doing something like reading or spending time with your children. And if you don't have either of those, then you could spend it on work or some other leisure time activity.

M: And is it important to manage your time effectively?

R: That depends on the kind of person you are. I mean, if you're a particularly industrious person or ambitious and you want to go places, then you do have to manage your time effectively. If you're happy-go-lucky and don't really care about that kind of thing, then you don't need to. I don't think one is better than the other, since you'll need both type of, both types of person to get by in the world. But I think most people consider it to be important, at least partially so, in order to be effective.

M: Do you think deadlines are necessary?

R: Again, that will depend on the kind of person you are. Some people would just get the task and they do it straight away and other people need more time to think and put together materials. And some projects are more complicated than others. So it's all very context-specific and context-dependent.

M: Should parents help children to manage their time?

R: If that's what's relevant to the culture that they're in then yes, but if it's not, then no. It so much depends on how people see the purpose of life and what a good life looks like. So some people are quite happy to just let things happen and not plan, whereas other people are extremely ambitious and have great designs for their children and high expectations. So then they would want to help them manage their time more effectively.

M: Would you agree that today success mainly depends on being able to manage time effectively?

R: That's part of it in certain situations. Although to be honest, being successful probably relies more on being creative and kind, or at least being able to be personable and establish connections with the right people. Because managing your time effectively is you as one person. However, people that are successful manage lots of other projects involving multiple different people. So really having good social skills and being creative with it are of equal, if not greater importance than time management in this day and age.

M: Do you think technology can help us to manage our time effectively?

R: Well, it can with the right training. I mean, you need to know how to set an alarm function or set an event on a calendar. But technology is not just used for that. It's used for entertainment purposes. And that can be a huge time sink as well. So all of this is contingent entirely on what you're doing with the technology.

M: Thank you, Rory, for your answers! Hopefully, we haven't wasted your time!

R: Ho-ho-ho. Hopefully, it was an effective use of time!

-