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Time Management and Self-Organisation

Overview

Applicability

•     Understanding Time Management and its place as a subset of effective Self Organisation
•     Improvement of delegation, planning and prioritisation as key skills in Time Management and increased productivity
•     A working understanding of a range of classic and contemporary Time Management Skills

•     Improve personal organisation and control over work
  
  
•     Be able to choose between urgent and important activities
  
  
•     Use Time Management resources effectively
  
  
•     Build confidence in self organisation and when influencing others
  
  
•     Reduce stress levels and get better results.              

Tune into WII-FM

     Motivation

     Understanding

     Skills

      Techniques

       Tools

•   Motivation – If you are not motivated (no Wii-FM signal) then you can try all the Techniques but you won’t be able to maintain the effort required. It’s a bit like going to the gym or cutting down on alcohol or stopping smoking.
  
  
•   Skills – These include areas we will cover on this programme; they include planning, delegation, assertiveness and so on.
  
  
•   Methods – These include such areas as focussing on the right things at the right time, prioritising effectively, being proactive rather than waiting for others.
  
  
•   Tools – Most Time Management courses will take you through the most commonly used tools and this one is no different in that regard. Tools include the use of diaries, telephones, meetings, email.

Perspectives of time

Time Management Questions: True or False?

1. Most people are fully aware what their main time and life management issues are.
   
   
2. Time Management techniques work well both in the workplace and at home
   
   
3. It is always the best policy to wait until you have collected and analysed all relevant information before making a decision
   
   
4. A job worth doing is a job worth doing to perfection
   
   
5. In the large proportion of jobs, people use their time in repetitive patterns that can be effectively analysed
   
   
6. Frequent interruptions make planning your day hopeless
   
   
7. Working hard is no substitute for good Time Management
   
   
8. Delegating tasks to other people will always save you time
   
   
9. Most of the important results you achieve stem from a small number of activities
   
   
10. Time Management tools will result in you using your time more constructively
    
    
11. Having goals helps you prioritise activities
    
    
12. People often fall back into old habits
    
    
13. Writing to-do lists is a great way of saving time
    
    
14. Time Management techniques take away the fun and spontaneity from life

Objective Setting

T.A.R.G.E.T.

•      Goal Setting – Sadly all the Time Management in the world is wasted if you are not working on the right things. It helps to know that once you have climbed to the top of the ladder that the ladder is up against the right wall.

URGENT versus IMPORTANT

1. Interruptions
2. Procrastination
3. Change of priorities
4. Poor planning
5. Waiting for answers

Interruptions

1. Unnecessary interruptions. This is when someone has interrupted you on the phone or in person assuming that you are the right person and that this is the right time. If this is not the case, put them right quickly and effectively. This is an unnecessary intrusion.
2. Necessary interruptions. These are warranted, true interruptions for which you have the answer or responsibility. Take care of the interruption effectively and immediately; except if it is not the right time (see below).
3. Untimely interruptions. These are interruptions that you should reschedule to a more appropriate time.

Procrastination

1. Conscious – where we are aware of what you are doing
2. Unconscious – where you are almost totally unaware of your actions

•      Set a deadline. This helps by creating a sense of urgency.
•      Do the worst bit first. This allows you to look forward to the more enjoyable parts of the task and to end your allotted time on a high.
•      Make a fun exercise out of the task. This will turn the drudgery part into something more acceptable.
•      Create a reward.  This will give you an incentive to keep going and get the job done.

Change of Priorities

•      Talk to your manager (or Customer!) to see if there’s anything that can flatten out the demand.
•      Leave the job as this will not serve you well in the long term
•      Go with the flow. Find ways to tell yourself that there is excitement in your role which you welcome and go with for short periods.

Poor planning

Waiting for Answers

1. Call the person you are waiting on and explain that your priorities have changed. Ask for a number and name so that you can follow up your call.
2. Follow up on all leads and stress what you want at each point. Ask how you can help at each stage.
3. If you are sent ‘up the line’ so that you are outranked, enlist the help of someone more senior or more influential than you are.

•      I don’t have time to plan
  This is cited as the most common reason why people do not plan. A study was written up for a book called ‘The Time Trap’ revealed that 72% of people don’t plan their days. When asked why they said “I don’t plan my day because I don’t have time”
  What they really mean is that planning their day is not as important as say watching TV or reading the newspaper or having a lie in.
  In the absence of planning, these people have to be content with letting life happen to them rather than being in control by shaping or directing the events around them.
  If you don’t have a plan, the best you can hope for is to be reactive.

•      I already know what I have to do, so why bother to plan it?
  The will always be routine tasks that need to be done and these items take up a necessary part of the day. However there are other things which are consistent with your values and life plan which need to be planned. Otherwise they will surface from time to time and you will find you are dealing with them at an inappropriate time.
  You need to plan for these vital future events.

•      Planning does not work for me; my life/job is just full of interruptions.
  People will recognise the issues of being ambushed as soon as you step into the kitchen or living room or office. However, there are methods for dealing with (or reprioritising) interruptions so that you are in control of them. If your role or life is structured around interruptions, you need time management even more to make sure that you structure your time very well between the interruptions.

•      I feel tied down once I start planning my days.
  Nobody likes to feel that their day is routine or follows a predictable pattern. Equally very few people are inspired by having g long list of tasks outstanding when ever they look at their To-Do list. However, the trick here is not to avoid planning but to make sure that you are in charge of the system. Ensure that your list or system includes fun elements or chill-time when you can enjoy the freedom that planning provides. Your planning system is a Tool which should be used as a tool like the telephone or email. If you begin to let the tool use you - for example having to read email every time the PC goes ‘ping’ - then the tool has taken over! You should view your plan as a passport to greater freedom and not the other way around.
  
  
•      I don’t know how to plan
  Most people have some idea of planning; some view of how to use a To-Do list but not the whole thing. This means that they will plan or use their time sporadically and have varied results. By taking this course and reading these notes you are making the effort to consciously apply the learning and that is what will pay big dividends.
  
  

Stop-Do Lists

•      I never lend my car to anyone for any reason
•      I do not lend money. I am not a bank
•      We don’t schedule outside social events on Friday nights. That is our family night.
•      I don’t discuss charitable contributions over the phone. Send me something in writing

•      I don’t give endorsements for books of fiction
•      I don’t lend my books to other people. They rarely come back and I need them for my livelihood.
•      I don’t schedule more than 5 talks in a month.
•      I don’t co-author books with first time authors. The learning curve is too expensive.
•      I don’t do individual counselling or coaching. Groups create greater leverage.

To-Do Lists

•      Can the job be ‘put down’ and ‘picked up’ again later on? If not, then you will need to plan a time when the whole thing can be achieved in one go. This may mean rescheduling some everyday items.
•      Can the job be done at any time or does it rely on the availability and /or co-operation of other resources (people, machinery, parts etc)?
•      Can the job be done with interruptions or do you need to safeguard some private time to complete it?