Time Management

Questions to Help You Manage Your Time: What has to be done? What has to be done? How much of it has to be done? How much of it has to be done? How fast does it has to be done? How fast does it has to be done? How much does it cost to do? How much does it cost to do?

How the Average American will Spend his/her Life 7 years in the bathroom 7 years in the bathroom 6 years eating 6 years eating 5 years waiting in line 5 years waiting in line 3 years in meetings 3 years in meetings 2 years playing telephone tag 2 years playing telephone tag 8 months opening junk mail 8 months opening junk mail 6 months sitting at red lights 6 months sitting at red lights

Leisure Time- based upon a two year Gallup Poll 3-4 times as many hours per year shopping as do Western Europeans

Question: CAN YOU REALLY MANAGE YOUR TIME, OR DOES TIME MANAGE YOU?

What To Do?? Your 10 am doctor’s appointment turns into a 10:45 appointment Your 10 am doctor’s appointment turns into a 10:45 appointment Your dinner is interrupted by the telemarketer Your dinner is interrupted by the telemarketer Your 3 year old decides as you are leaving the house for daycare, that he has to “go potty” Your 3 year old decides as you are leaving the house for daycare, that he has to “go potty” You are running 15 minutes late for work and you remember that you forgot to fill the car with gas last evening You are running 15 minutes late for work and you remember that you forgot to fill the car with gas last evening Your flight has been delayed Your flight has been delayed

Time Management TIP Concentrate you efforts and energy on those elements of time management you can control. Focus on the possible.

Do you suffer from speed sickness??? Do you have an endless to do list and feel stressed out because the tasks never seem to get done?

Working Under Pressure Rushing through life suppresses the immune system. Continually driving in the fast lane until it becomes a way of life, can lead to hypertension, heart disease, drug dependency, and/or stroke.

Definition of Time: Time is nothing more (or less) than a way of measuring out your life. * Remember, you can only live in the present moment.

Exercise: List 8 items you spend time on during the day

Manage the Moment  Decide, don’t drift  Review your options  Practice Instant Response

Review Your Options You always have a choice and you always have to pay the price for your choice. The existence of that choice becomes clear when something happens that overshadows the importance of the day’s work and the consequences of not doing it.

Practice Instant Response Extreme emergencies give you a great gift- the ability to focus clearly. Smaller choices may provide greater difficulty, especially when the consequences seem to be nearly equal and nearly equally bad.

Practice Instant Response 1. Read the situation 2. Reflect on the choices 3. Respond with a decisive action Banish second guessing from your mind, as it wastes your time and energy. The only mistake you can make is not making a decision.

Create a Healthy To-Do List Don’t put too much on it Don’t put too much on it Put some air in it. Overestimate the time you will spend in a meeting, ect. Put some air in it. Overestimate the time you will spend in a meeting, ect. List possibilities List possibilities Don’t carve your list in stone. Keep it flexible. Don’t carve your list in stone. Keep it flexible. Order creatively. Do the most important takes first Order creatively. Do the most important takes first

Create a Healthy To-Do List Break larger tasks into smaller ones Break larger tasks into smaller ones Schedule breaks, time-out time Schedule breaks, time-out time Schedule for long-range as well as short range goals Schedule for long-range as well as short range goals Be ready to abandon the list Be ready to abandon the list You don’t have to make a list at all You don’t have to make a list at all

Achieving your Goals  Work out on treadmill 30 minutes 3x per week.  Ride exercise bike 30 minutes 3x per week.  Do light weight aerobic exercising 30 minutes 3x per week. After identifying your goal, break it into steps. Example: Exercise Regularly

Achieving your Goals Now add this to your planner. If you have decided to add this exercise program to your daily schedule, you also need to decide what you will not be doing to free up that time. You are not getting a free extra 30 minutes, you are giving up something else, like TV or computer time, or sleep.

4 Categories of Life’s Activities Urgent & important – Relates to your core values and needs immediate attention. Urgent & important – Relates to your core values and needs immediate attention. Important but not urgent. No sense of immediacy. Important but not urgent. No sense of immediacy. Urgent but not important. Doesn’t touch core values Urgent but not important. Doesn’t touch core values Neither important nor urgent. All the other stuff Neither important nor urgent. All the other stuff

Is the task really important or merely urgent???? You have to decide every day whether or not react to a situation. You can become the task master, or you can let situations master you.

Is the task really important or merely urgent? Something is important to you if it touches your core values, the basic motivations that guide your life. Something is urgent if it demands your attention right now. To effectively manage your time, your need to learn the difference.

Achieving your Goals It takes about three weeks for you to become accustomed to breaking your old pattern and becoming comfortable with a new routine.

Urgent and Important Call from day care – your child is running a fever Call from day care – your child is running a fever Big presentation to make in two hours Big presentation to make in two hours Car swerves in front of you Car swerves in front of you

Important but Not Urgent Regular exercise Regular exercise Long-range financial planning Long-range financial planning Quality time with family Quality time with family

Urgent but Not Important A coworker needs to discuss an issue with you A coworker needs to discuss an issue with you Department meeting started 4 minutes ago Department meeting started 4 minutes ago icon is blinking icon is blinking

Neither Important Nor Urgent Working a crossword puzzle Working a crossword puzzle Catching up on office gossip Catching up on office gossip Reading the baseball box scores Reading the baseball box scores

Unless you take a conscious control of you decision making you will respond to the urgent, even if it is not important, and shun the important, unless it also carries a sense of urgency.

80/20 Principle Pareto principle states that 80% of the result will come form 20% of the effort. As applied to time management, 80% of your satisfaction will come from relatively few of the things you do.