Managing self respecting time & keeping commitments

Managing SelfRespecting Time & Keeping Commitments

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Managing Our Lives……..Managing Our Time

TIME – Most of Us Live By The Clock

No Magic Answer

• Time is passing us by; once it has gone it can never be replaced

• The older one gets, the quicker it seems to be passing

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Time Wasters

The Time Crunch

Shop Till You Drop

Turning It Up A Notch

The One Minute Manager

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We all Have The Same Amount Of Time

168 = Hours Per Week

86,400 = Seconds Per Day.

Society Is Fast Paced

Telephone

Cellular Phones

Voice Mail

Pagers

Electronic Mail

Satellite and Video Communications

Our Problem With TIME Goes Deeper Than Clocks

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Personal Clock

Our Personalities

• Type A: Driven Personalities

• Type B: We’re More Laid Back and Relaxed.

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Time Is The One Commodity

• …past, present, & future, we can’t get enough of, and money cannot buy.

1. What do I really mean when I say “I don’t have enough time!”???

2. How does time move faster for you as we mature?

3. If you could improve your time management skills, what would you like to do?

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What Is Time (Self) Management?

Basic Principles Of Time Management

• Most people respond that time management is about planners, techniques or time management tools.

• But these are the tools to self (or life) management.

• The first step is to realize that time is about life – it's about choices.

• Time management is really about self management. How you manage yourself in relation to time.

• Effective use of time is more than managing your calendar.

• You have a finite amount of time in which to choose your activities - don't you want to choose activities that are of the highest priority for you.

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Managing Self – Managing Time

Basic Principles Of Time Management

Managing Work Activities

Taking Action:

✔ For the right reason: making sure that what you do is

linked to your job or an objective – Job Clarification

✔ At the right time: because it is a priority – Priority Setting

✔ In the right way: by getting yourself organised – Planning,

Organizing and Delegating

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Managing Work Activities

Job Clarification

Priority Setting

Planning, Organizing

Delegation

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Job Clarification

TAKING ACTION FOR THE RIGHT REASON

Have you a clear understanding about your job and what is

expected of you? If not how do you know what you should be spending your time doing?

Job Clarification helps in a shared understanding about

what the individual’s job is

what they are expected to achieve

where/how it relates to other jobs

Job clarification can help improve your use of time by:

• Concentrating on objectives and priorities

• Avoiding duplication and overlap of efforts

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Question Time

• Life is about priorities: ASK and discuss the following three questions.

• What are some of the time – trade offs you face?

• What are some of the most difficult time conflicts you experience?

• How do you resolve time conflicts? And what works for you?

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Priority Setting

TAKING ACTION AT THE RIGHT TIME-

Decisions to make

• The order in which jobs should be handled

• How much time should be allocated to each

Common mistakes

• Not distinguishing between urgent and important tasks

• Doing things you like doing - fire-fighting not fire prevention

Urgent jobs

• Don’t always have the highest pay-off

• Often get priority over important jobs

• Are often unplanned

Important jobs

• Are the ones that help you achieve your overall purpose (job clarification)

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Priority Setting - Prioritize With The Pareto Principle

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PARETO (80/20 RULE)

This means:

• 20% of what you do produces 80% of your results

• 80% of your time is spent in being only 20% effective

• Apply Pareto to the activities in job clarification.

• Concentrate on high pay-off activities.

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Prioritize – In Keeping With SMART Goals

What kind of life goals are important to you at this stage in your life?

How will you accomplish your goals if you don’t set aside time to work on them?

After you establish your SMART goals ask yourself

Are my goals aligned with the 80/20 rule? If not, ask yourself:

Are these someone else's goals?

Do I need to add more goals/objectives?

Am I doing what is important?

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Priority Setting - Dealing With The Unexpected

Unexpected events, happening throughout the day, will affect what you plan to do

Every time you get a job to do ask:

• Where does it fit into the matrix below?

• What’s the effect on what you planned to do?

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Priority Setting - How To Set Priorities

• Use job clarification to agree priorities and objectives

• Work backwards from deadline dates, identifying key stages to be achieved

• Plan to convert these into action, each with their own timescale

• Plans identify what needs to be done, by whom and when

• Don’t over-plan as things will change

• Planning as you go along; however, don’t ignore the many planning methods, from simple lists to diary and computer systems

• Do not forget that plans can always be changed; however

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If You Fail To Plan

Then Plan To Fail

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Planning And Organizing

Plan Annually, Think Quarterly, Schedule Weekly, But Act Daily

Identify What Is Important – Think Quarterly

• A quarterly check in is your compass to ensure you are headed in the right direction

• One can track one's progress against your major goals

Schedule Your Work – Weekly Planning

• Give you sufficient lead-in time for major tasks

• An overall picture, in case you need to change what you do

Act Daily

• Planning your week and then acting daily is a habit of success for many people.

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Planning And Organizing – Estimating Time

This is probably the hardest activity to get right. Why?

We do not always know how long an activity will take until we get into it

Because of interruptions

People, on whom we are relying, let us down

Times are dictated by others, e.g.: customers, bosses

So try:

• Being realistic in your estimate (what does experience tell you?)

• Taking account of what’s happening elsewhere

• Being pedantic with your planning; and asking what could go wrong

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Tip- Never Underestimate How Long Things Will Take

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Planning Tools – Personal Time Log

How do you find out how long jobs take or where your time has gone?

Try keeping a time log, i.e.: a record of what you have been doing during a given time.

At regular intervals, say 15 minutes, throughout a day, jot down all that you are doing - both work and non-work activities.

Use this to analyse who or what interrupted you, how much of the day you were in control, and how much you achieved against your plan.

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Planning Tools - Time Log

• The purpose of the time log is to help us OBJECTIVELY look at the difference between what we SAY we spend our time on and what we ACTUALLY do.

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Planning Tools – Work Time Log

Time logs can help identify:

• How realistically you estimate time

• Whether you allow others to steal time from you

• Where the distractions come from

• Those times in the day when you were productive and when you were ‘pottering’

• Just how long it takes to complete jobs

• Furthermore, the very act of logging what you do usually makes you more aware of time.

Use time logs to identify where you need to make changes to what you do and how you operate

• Don’t try to conceal from yourself those times when you were unproductive, i.e.: having a break

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Get into the habit of using them; they can be very revealing.

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Planning And Organizing – Diary Systems

Provide practical benefits, such as:

A record

• of what you plan to do, and

• what has been achieved

A source of information and reference

• A way of keeping control over your activities and life!

• A prompt for those with poor memories

Forms of Diary Systems

• Pocket Diaries with record of dates

• Hand held electronic organizers

• Formal time management systems

• Software packages for planning and analyzing your time

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Planning And Organizing - A 'To Do' List

The main tool to help you set goals and priorities

Making a To Do List• Write one item per line. • Put a date on the pad of paper.• Keep your list at the top of your desk or carry it with you.• Keep it electronically – Excel, Outlook• When you finish an item on the list CROSS IT (tick it) on your time log.• When you finish about half of the items, transfer to a NEW list. • Make a new list each day.• Get into the habit of doing a ‘To Do’ list for the following day before you leave work (you’ve

prepared yourself mentally).

To Do List Management• Be realistic - you can only do so much in a day• Review your list throughout the day. Ask ‘Why me? Could someone else do it?’

Work on key tasks every day - focus on pay-off instead of urgency

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Planning Tools – A 'To Do' List - Simple ABC Method

A 'To Do' List should be :  

• Waiting for you when you start your day.

• Consist of specific tasks to be accomplished .

• Each task should consist of one action

• Large tasks should be broken down into small tasks

• Execution should be on a priority basis

Prioritize Your To Do List - Simple ABC Method –

A. Must Do B. Should Do C. Could Do

A= the item MUST be done today—it is very important.

B= this item is necessary, but my future or company’s future doesn’t depend upon doing it right away.

C= I don’t really care if this gets done & nobody else cares.

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Key : Eliminate unnecessary things you don’t want to do or don’t have time to do. Do the important things first

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Delegation - If not NOW When? If Not ME Who?

Why delegate?

• To give you more time to do important activities

• To develop and motivate others

• Because others may be more skilled than you

What stops you?

• Unable or unwilling to let go

• Don’t want to; like to give the impression of being overworked

• Fear; others will make mistakes and show you up

• Enjoy doing the job; love to get your hands ‘dirty’

• It takes time; it’s often easier to do it yourself

For successful delegation you should be clear about

• Specific tasks or actions delegated

• Give clear instructions to avoid future inconvenience and wasted time.

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Managing Self - Taking Control Of Your DayDealing With The Unexpected – Schedule And Gain Time

Time management involves taking more control over your day (and, indeed, your life).

However, in your working day many things are out of your control, such as:

• Demands of customers

• Meetings called by others

• People going on holiday

• Accidents

• Emergencies

• Breakdowns

• Sickness, Weather, Traffic

Schedule And Gain Time

Block Your Time For Important And Unexpected Tasks

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Managing Self – Taking ControlSelf Understanding Of Your Key Productive Time

When Is Your Prime Time?

• Know when you work best

• Schedule your day around your natural productivity cycles

• Do your top priorities when you are most focused and alert

1. At what times of day do I feel most productive, full of energy, and creative?

2. At what times am I very mentally alert?

3. At what times do I start to get tired? When are certain tasks difficult to do?

4. When do I feel burned out and tired?

5. When do I exercise, pursue my hobby, relax?

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What is your Key Productive Time?What is your Key Productive Time?

Tip : Block Your Time Based On Organizational And Personal Factors

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Managing Self – Taking ControlDepends On Your Job And On You

The amount of time you can control is often dependent on:

Your Job

• If you are there to provide a service to customers, then your day will be full of interruptions

You

• If you want to be everyone’s friend, then you will give time away to those who seek it

If you’re serious about wanting to take control over your life:

• Complete a time log exercise

• Learn to say ‘no’

• Start to handle interruptions

• Avoid procrastination

• Learn to manage stress

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Managing Self – Taking ControlLearn To Say No

Learn To Say No – Handling Monkeys

Taking the monkey means that you are taking on a problem

You are also preventing others from taking initiative and dealing

with it themselves

1. Deal with issues as they happen (say ‘yes’, you can help or ‘no’, you cannot).

2. Do not allow them to become too many to handle.

3. Deal with them face-to-face only or by phone (avoid memos or e-mail).

4. Deal with them by appointment only; ‘Come and see me at ...’

5. Assign a time; ‘Try, and if you get a problem come back and see me’.

Never say ‘Leave it with me’.

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Managing Self – Avoid Procrastination

Are you in the habit of putting jobs off? These could be:

The boring or routine tasks that no longer challenge you

The difficult phone call or decision that needs to be made

A new job or project where you’re unsure where to start

Facing up to the individual who is making life difficult for you

You know these jobs have to be done. Ask yourself what you are avoiding doing at the moment.

• Why do we procrastinate?

• Why is it difficult to deal with?

• Why is it incompatible with today’s society?

• What effective methods do you use to do an unpleasant task?

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Procrastination Is Self Defeating

The longer we put off something the faster we slide into hopelessness

Phase 1: Thinking We Can Do It

Phase 2: Anxiety

Phase 3: Foreboding

Phase 4: Guilt and Fear

Phase 5: Frenetic Activity

Phase 6: Uneasiness

Phase 7: Secretiveness

Phase 8: Superstition

Phase 9: Hopelessness

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Overcoming The Perils Of Procrastination

Common Causes

• Task is unpleasant or overwhelming

• Not prioritizing the tasks at hand

• Fear of failure – wanting to be perfect

• Waiting for the 'right" time or mood

Solution

Break task into manageable pieces

Do creative tasks when most energetic

Develop personal rewards for completion

Remember that problems are easier to handle when small

It's ok not to be perfect, good enough can be good enough

Acknowledge feelings…....and do it anyway

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Avoid The Stress Mess

Cope With Stress: 

unexpected situations will cause interruptions

unforeseen problems may come up

situations may demand your immediate attention.

emergencies will present itself

you may feel your plan is going haywire

• Have A Stress Coping Strategy To Avoid Fire-fighting

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Keeping Your Commitments

• All commitments are important

• Be careful what you agree to

• Manage your commitments

• Renegotiate when you are unable to keep your commitment

• Manage by agreement

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Self Management Is The #1 Competency Of Successful People

• Time Management

• Making and Keeping Commitments

• Individual Responsibility and Accountability

• Professional Coaching and Mentoring

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Good Time Management Will Give You…..

• Increased productivity

• Greater control over situations

• Ability to take proactive action

• A balanced life

• More leisure time in your hands to do the things you love

• Contentment and happiness.

In Conclusion

• No secrets to Time (Self) Management

• Proven techniques can work for us if we use them

• Bad habits prevent us from being effective

• We cannot control everything in our lives but we can control our approach to Time

• What is new is Today? Today is a new day with new challenges and opportunities

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How will you put your time to use today?

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Leading People. Leading Organizations.

Thank you

®

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