Time Log Assessments:
One can not begin to change how they manage their time without first knowing where their time is spent. For those that are very busy and would like to be more effective, this is essential. Years ago some time management consultants came came to a health agency where I was working and had us record everything we did in our work day at fifteen minute time periods for a week. Using a coding system we charted how much time we spent on the telephone, with clients, filling out required paperwork, socializing, and so on. At the time I remember thinking what a pain it was to document how I spent my work hours. As a result of this effort, however we were able to see how much time was being spent on specific areas and how inefficiecent we really were.
With students I normally have them identify how they spend their out of class time from the time they wake until they go to sleep. Using what ever blocks of time are useful to them (e.g., 30 minutes, free time from the first class to lunch) I require them to record how they normally spend their time during the week and weekend. The more details provided, the better one can identify trends and develop insights as to where their time goes.
Goal Setting:
All of the experts seem to agree that this is the most important step to time or life management. A favorite quote of mine states, "If you don't know where you're going any road will take you there and it doesn't matter how long it takes". Successful individuals are always aware of their goals and direct their time to the achievement of those goals. Lets explore how to define one's goals.
Step one: Write down -- What do you want to accomplish during your life? Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? Consider more than your professional preparation -- your personal relationships, your recreational time, your relaxation time. Think of it as though you were much older looking back at your life. What might you regret at a later time? When surveyed most elderly people do not indicate that they wished they had spent more time at work, or wished they had worked harder. They usually say things like they wish they had loved more, that they had spent more time with people that were important to them and that they had let those folks know how important they were to them.
In the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey invites people to attend a funeral in their mind. At that funeral are all the friends and family you know. The reason they are there is because it is your funeral. What are these people saying about you and the type of person you were? What would you want them to say? How do you want to be remembered? This process is designed to help you identify what is really important in your life.
Another question to ask is, what would you do if you only had one year to live? How would you spend your time then? How would it be different from how you currently spend your time? Ben Franklin once said, "there are only two things we are certain of in life. One is that you will die and the other is that you will pay taxes until you do". The thing is, we are never certain of when we will die. Many people spend their whole lives putting off doing things that are important to them because they feel there will always be time in the future. They become stressed when they learn that the future they envisioned never happened. If you are spending time doing things that are not really important to you then this conflict creates an underlying stress that requires a situational intervention or some social engineering.
Step two: When you have outlined what you want to accomplish and achieve in your lifetime, think about where you would like to be five years from now? Where would you like to be living? Where would you be working? Will you be married, in grad school, living in another state? How will you spend your recreational time or your social time? There should be some consistency between your long term goals and your five year goals.
Step three: When you have written down your five year goals you can precede to the next step. Where do you want to be one year form now. What do you want to have achieved during this time. What will you be proud of. How about by the end of this school year? Can you see where we are going with this? What goals do you have a reasonable chance of accomplishing in the next year, month? What do you want to accomplish in the next month, week, by the end of today? Again make sure there is some congruence between lifetime and daily goals.
At the conclusion of this process compare how you should be spending your time with your time log assessment? Are they in synch? Where do you need to make changes? I have met some college students who spend the majority of their time partying and socializing. There is nothing wrong with this, if this is related to your long term goals. Only you can decide what is important to you. I even met one young lady that admitted the only reason she was in college was to meet someone to marry. That is fine, unfortunately some individuals have not thought out what they want so their time remains unfocused.
Prioritizing Schemes:
The next process emphasized in time management programming involves prioritizing time blocks and planning. Some people are very good at making to do lists. Unfortunately by the time everything is written down they are stressed out by the process if trying to accomplish everything on their list. Making a list is not enough and sometimes becomes counter productive in reducing stress. Time is like money. If someone gives you ten dollars you could go the movies, buy a book, purchase some food, but it in the bank or you could do lots of other things with that money, but you couldn't do all these things. It is the same way with time, we can not do everything, so we must decide how we will spend it. The text outlines some techniques of prioritizing, below is one that I use with students.
Begin by making lots of written lists. If you are a student make a list of all the tasks that must be completed for all your classes at the beginning of the semester. If you are in business this can be done on a quarterly basis. You may also need monthly and weekly lists. The first day of each month should be used for planning. Sunday evenings are good days to write down all the things you need to do during the week. Most importantly make sure you make out your daily list. Once the list is created then the prioritizing can begin.
One way of doing this is to label all the activates on your list as either A, B, or C events. Some use the labels Top, Middle and Bottom Drawer events. An A event is defined as something that must be done and can't be put off because it is either urgent or directly related to your long term goals. A B event is also important but not as urgent, it is something that needs to be done but it will be okay if it does not get done today. C events are not important, our lives will not change if these are not completed. The important concept of this labeling scheme is how it is put into use. Many busy people waste time doing C events. C events are attractive in that they don't take a lot of commitment or emotional involvement. They are usually mindless tasks like filing or cleaning. They also eat up a lot of time and energy. The way this system works is to discipline yourself to begin working on A events. When an A event is completed, draw a line through it with a bright marker to provide an emotional lift and a sense of accomplishment. Then move to your next A event, when all the As are completed then you can go to a B event. Do not work on any Cs until all the As and Bs are done.
Tomorrow the Bs and Cs you did not get to will still be there. They may even increase in urgency and importance, e.g., the laundry that was a C event on Monday may become an A event by Friday if you have nothing to wear. Again the point of this exercise is that many of us can be very busy at doing C events which do nothing to move you to the realization of our long term goals identified above. Being a good time manager does not mean you are doing more, it means you are being more effective at doing the things that need to get done. As Covey puts it, "What one thing could you do in your personal and professional life that, if you did on a regular basis, would make a tremendous difference in your life?". Research indicates, we get 80% of our rewards on 20% of our activities. Focus energy where the emphasis is needed.
Some times large projects are difficult to complete in one day. If that is the case then break it into smaller compartments that are doable in one day. For example if you have a major paper to write for a class that is very important to your future, you will not be able to complete it in one day. Your task for the first day maybe to go to the library and search for resources that will help you write your paper. The next day may be devoted to putting together an outline for the paper. The third day may involve typing in some references. The next you begin your introduction, or your conclusion, as long as you are chipping away at the project little by little each day instead of putting it off until you will not be able to spend the time you need to do a good job.
Eliminate Time Wasting Activities:
In addition to making to do lists, people should also make "not to do lists". Many of us can usually think of some way that we waste time. For some it is TV, for others it is talking on the telephone for hours, for others it may be video games. TV is one time waster that many people can relate to. We tell ourselves that we will sit down and watch just one program and then four hours later we still haven't moved. We become hypnotized by the idiot tube. Can you imagine looking back over your life when you are much older and saying, "Gee if only I hadn't missed that one episode of Sienfeld my whole life would have been different". Well guess what, it probably won't happen. For me it's the Internet. I could spend endless hours surfing around doing nothing productive. We need to just say no to time wasters.
Don't forget to schedule time for having fun and relaxation. These should also be part of your program and for many people are related to your lifelong goals. Personally play is very important to me. I don't want to be thinking about work when I am recreating. If I work hard it leaves more time to play. On Saturday afternoon I don't want to feel guilty about work I need to do if I am playing with my kids. The kids are more important.
This process requires work. If you are not very good at managing your time then you need to begin by changing how you do things no matter how painful that may be. Often people will say I don't have time to do this. These are the people most in need to go through the planing process. One hour spent in effective planning saves three to four hours of execution.
Other suggestions include. Do quality work the first time. If you don't have time to do a good job, you won't have time to do it over again.
Be flexible: Always allow some time for the unexpected. One unanticipated
problem can cause others
in an overly rigid schedule.
Mail and the circular file for mail. Read it only once and don't open junk mail.
Creative time management: Listening to taped lectures during long drives, At meetings, in airports, hair salons, when ever you may need to wait, always have a pad of paper with you so that you can write notes, letters, articles, etc.
Recommended books:
Stephen Covey, First Things First and the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
Allan Lakein, How to get control of your time and life
Rob Moskowitz, Organizing your work and your life
Related Web Sites:
The Science of Time Management