Importance of Time Management

This morning 080600Jan20 Alpha battery and the rest of the brigade were doing a Personnel Asset Inventory because that was what task that was asked of the command teams. AR 600-8-6, Chapter 5 tells you the instructions for conducting PAI, the objective of a PAI is to maintain timely error-free strength reporting for the brigade. These task are usually conducted under these circumstances those include a Change of Command: (The key in determining if an activity other than a company or BN should conduct a PAI is whether or not a unit is assigned a unique UIC), If possible, the departing Commander and the new Commander will jointly conduct the PAI.

The Commander that is leaving will not be allowed to leave until their unit personnel strength has been reconciled and all assigned and attached personnel must be accounted for Total Army Personnel Database, if the Commander is lost due to death, extended hospitalization (60 days or more), operational relief, or a similar reason, a PAI will be completed by the acting Commander or new Commander within 15 days after assuming command, fourteen calendar days prior to a unit move to a different duty station; a unit inactivation, discontinuance or a change in organizational structure.

So the situation on why I am writing this paper is because I missed the hit time for the PAI that was conducted that morning. I was late because of poor time management; I did not set my alarm the night prior even though my first line supervisor told me through text what objectives needed to be completed in the morning. Still I didn’t set my alarm and instead I woke up to my first line supervisor calling me to let me know that I was already late and that I needed to get over to the battery as soon as possible for the PAI and to hurry as the battery ruck would be conducted right after accountability. I hurried to get on post as soon as possible and luckily, I made it to the ruck formation to conduct the ruck with the rest of the battery. After PT was conducted I was instructed by my first sergeant to be at his office in the morning with my first line supervisor and we talked about why I was late and he told me more about himself and what he expects from me including me writing this thousand word essay.

The First Sergeant also instructed me on what topics I should feature in my essay especially on what PAI is and gave me pointers on a good format I should use to explain why I was late, how I was going to fix the problem and describing what time management is and what is the importance of time management. The way I planned on fixing this issue so that it doesn’t happen again was to find a way to manage my alarms in the morning. With the guidance of my first line supervisor they were able to teach me how to make all the alarms on my phone go off every day that I needed them to go off by showing me how to manage my alarms in my alarm app on my phone that way I don’t have to worry about setting alarms because they are now already preset to go off at the same times every day of the work week. I was also tasked with explaining what time management is and how it can be utilized to make your life easier.

Time Management is managing time effectively so that time is allocated to the activity your trying to get done. Effective time management lets individuals assign certain time slots to task based on their importance. Time Management refers to making the most usefulness of your time because your time can be limited. Effective planning is when you Plan your day well in advance. Prepare a To Do List for a task and write down the important task that need to be done in a single day against the time that should be allocated to each task. High Priority task should be on top of your priority list followed by task which do not need much of your time at the moment.

Complete pending tasks one by one. Do not start new task unless you have finished your previous task. Mark the ones you have already completed. Make you finish your tasks within a organized time frame. By understanding effective planning, you are able to wisely come up with a plan to help get task done throughout the day in a on timely fashion. Setting deadlines for yourself and striving hard to complete tasks ahead of the deadlines is also important as well. Do not wait for your superiors to ask you all the time when you have to get task done. Learn to take ownership of your work. The only person who can set the deadlines to meet it in the best timely fashion is you.

Ask yourself how much time needs to be devoted to a certain task and for how many days will it take to finish the task at hand. Use a planner to jot down the important dates against the set deadlines. When you set deadlines it also makes planning easier because now you know the time block in which you have to complete a task.

If you know the time block task have to get done that lets you effectively plan how time should be spent on each objective and lets you know the order of which task need to be completed based of what is most important at the time to what things are not so important. These are the skills that I have learned by doing my research on time management and how I can use this to become a better solider and leader. I learned today that no matter what you always have to take accountability of your actions because only you are responsible for what you do.

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