1 TIME MANAGEMENT Rob B Briner

2 OUTLINE Common time management problems What is time management? Time management skill 1: Awareness of time use Time management skill 2: Planning Time management skill 3: Monitoring (implementing and evaluation)

3 COMMON TIME MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS High workload Planning too optimistically Deadline pressure Procrastination Deadlines not met Others?

4 WHAT IS TIME MANAGEMENT? Implementation Efficiency Means Concentration on Chosen Outcomes Preparation Planning Which Activities? How Much Time? When? Evaluation Planned Outcomes? Duration? Control

5 TIME MANAGEMENT SKILL 1: AWARENESS OF TIME USE What is and is not part of doing a PhD? Can you be clear? Keep a diary for a day All activities 5 minutes intervals What can be improved? What do you want to change? Identify time wasters and decrease Identify time savers and increase

6 AWARENSSS OF RHYTHMS Seasonal, monthly, weekly and daily rhythms Partly biological and partly social Morning or evening person? Do you need to take the rhythm into account? For example, post-lunch dip?

7 WHAT IS YOUR DAILY ENERGY CYCLE? 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00 24:00

8 TIME MANAGEMENT SKILL 2: PLANNING To do lists Brainstorming Goals or tasks? Be specifc and small and managable but not trivial Prioritize tasks (e.g. ends, means / abc / importance) Keep it real Prioritizing – how? Anchored planning: according to schedules Contingency planning: plan A, if fails, plan B Always should have something you can do Slack: something may occur that disturbes the planning – will there be enough time to deal with any problems?

9 URGENCY AND IMPORTANCE The more important at task, the less likely it is urgent, and the more urgent a task the less likely it is important.

10 PRIORITIZING Look at everything in your to do list Organize into A: essential B: important C: optional Need to make tasks clear and explcit so you can do this Dont forget other tasks and commitments outside PhD – include Take time seriously – a finite resource constantly running out

11 TIME MANAGEMENT SKILL 3: MONITORING (IMPLEMENTING AND EVALUATION) Controling distracitons Quiet hour moments Handling time wasters Appointments: time limit, structured Meetings: agenda and leadership Organized files and desk (?) Scheduling tools, software, reminders

12 CONCLUSIONS Awareness important Time Your goals, tasks, objectives Your behaviour in relation to use of time Your behaviour in relation to goals Reducing time-wasters and increasing time-savers Individual differences and personality