Time Management Strategies

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Time Management Strategies
"We must use time wisely and forever realize that
the time is always ripe to do right." -Nelson
Mendela

• Lucy Capuano Brewer, MA
• Psy 02 Personal Growth
• and Social Awareness

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The Zen of Time Usage

• When You Wash The Dishes,
• Wash the Dishes.

• What does this quote mean?
• How is it related to effective use of time?
• Being in the Here and Now

Living in the moment Living in the moment is
about just being. Being fully present in every
situation, body, mind, and soul, so that you
experience everything you do totally and
absolutely. In those moments when you engage
yourself completely, nothing in the future exists
- and nothing in the past is holding you back.
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Time Management

• Time is Finite-You Already have all the time that
  will be allotted to you.
• Birth--------------------------DEATH
• What you do with that time
• is up to you!

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Time Management

• Time is a difficult concept to define
• Time management is event control
• Planning is the key to control
• The only time you can exercise any control over
  is right now!

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• In College you will be asked to do many jobs,
  often by different instructors or supervisors who
  do not know the other work that you are doing.
• It is up to you to organize all your tasks so you
  can complete them by the deadlines given to you.
• You may also like to have some time to "have a
  life."

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In College
PLANNING IS THE KEY TO CONTROL
No one plans to FAIL They just fail to PLAN
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The Time Management Matrix
Urgent Not Urgent
Not Important Important
Not Important Important
Adapted from Steven Coveys- 7 Habits of Highly
Effective People
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The Time Management Matrix
Urgent Not Urgent
Not Important Important
Not Important Important
Adapted from Steven Coveys- 7 Habits of Highly
Effective People
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Time ManagementWhats Worked For Me

• Use an Organizer
• To Do Lists
• Rewards!
• The 3 Ds
• Use in between Times

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Whats Worked For Me1. Use an Organizer

• Get an organizer and use it.
• Schedule everything!
• Include classes, study time, projects, tests,
  work and play.

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Whats Worked For Me2. To Do Lists

• Make a daily to do lists.
• Include priorities (a,b,c,1,2,3)
• Anything not done today is the first on the list
  tomorrow.

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Whats Worked For Me3. Rewards!

• Reward things I need to get done with things I
  love.
• Example 10 minutes of TV, phone, etc. after 50
  minutes of studying.
• Example after two hours of studying 30 minutes
  of exercise.

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Whats Worked for Me4. The 3 Ds

• Anytime you get a new task, immediately do one of
  the three Ds with it.
• Do it now!
• Dump It!
• Delegate it! (get someone else to do it)

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Whats Worked For Me5. Use in between Times

• Time opportunities are everywhere use them.
• Have materials (Blackberry, flashcards, notes,
  etc.) ready.

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Artifacts for Staying on Track

• 10 Minutes a day for planning.
• Flexible Scheduling
• Automated Schedulers - Netscape Calendar,
  Microsoft Schedule, Outlook, Palm Pilot
• Pad of Paper - Running to-do list, place for
  unloading.
• A Watch

• Build in flexible schedules.
• Dont optimize to the minute.
• Allow for error.
• Running to-do lists are useful for getting
  distracting thoughts out of your head

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Developing The Habit

• Takes Discipline and Practice to Have Good Time
  Management Skills
• Develop Skills Incrementally
• Start by developing a realistic schedule
• Build in reward system for finishing things
• Over time, itll become second nature.

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The Big Picture

• Important to know when youve done all that you
  can.
• Dont schedule more than is humanly possible.
• Dont stress about things that you cant control.
• Keep the long term goals in mind.

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TIME MANAGEMENTSome Days Are Impossible

• In spite of best efforts - Its still impossible
  to get everything done.
• Partly the Environment or too many commitments.
• This can lead to stress.

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Active Inactivity

• Music is the Space Between Notes
• - Claude Debussy
• Creating Empty Spaces in Life
• is Essential.

• Creating Quiet Time - turn off phone, dont check
  email, just Be
• Very important to break up your life with quiet
  periods for reflection, planning, and refocusing.

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The Art of Procrastination

• Wastes more time worrying about the outcome or
  avoiding what seems to be unpleasant.
• Art of Delaying the Inevitable
• Where can you lose time?
• Worrying about finishing on time.
• Worrying about the final outcome.
• Distractions.
• Doing unimportant things first.

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Components of procrastination

• A behavior sequence for postponement
• Often resulting in a substandard product
• Involving a task that is NOT important to do
• Resulting in a state of emotional upset

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ProcrastinationProcrastination is a crime it
only leads to sorrow, I can stop at anytime, I
think I will tomorrow!!!! Unknown

• The act of putting off something that needs to be
  done.
• Ignoring the task, hoping it will go away.
• A natural human tendency
• Undermines The Creative Process
• Important When you exclude the creative process,
  everything suffers!

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• STEPS IN THE CREATIVE PROCESS
• PREPARATION
• Whatever steps necessary to think about, begin to
  gather resources, STARTIN THE PROCESS.
• INCUBATION
• Let it chill
• Give yourself time and space to think about,
  revise, revisit the first step.
• ILLUMINATION
• Aha! Moment "Aha!", "Eureka!",
  "What-da-ya-know"... or just plain "hmmm."
  Whatever we call it, its that single, magical
  moment when things just make sense
• VERIFICATION (Doing it!)
• The actual process of getting it done!

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The Power of Thought
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Six Styles of Procrastination

• Dreamers
• These procrastinators desperately want life to be
  easy and free from pain. They retreat from the
  real world and live in their heads.
• Worriers
• Prizes security above all else. Has a narrow
  comfort zone and is paralyzed with anxiety.
• Endless stream of "what ifs" about hypothetical
  situations, all with negative consequences.
• Defiers
• Resents authority but expresses the rebellion
  covertly.
• Likely to say, "sure, Ill do that". Then they
  "forget", or delivers work thats late.
• Crisis Makers
• Most of us do our best work under some kind of
  time constraint.
• A crisis-maker goes out of the way to create
  drama
• Perfectionists
• Self-esteem is on the line every time they do
  anything.
• Often they are idealists who are unrealistic in
  their use of time and energy
• Overdoers
• Always busy.
• People pleaser, the guy who never says no to
  taking on more work.

For specific info http//www.nypsychotherapy.com/
procrastination.html
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Anti-Procrastination Techniques for Dreamers

• Change your somedays and soons to specific
  times.
• Buy and maintain calendars keep them visible
  and utilize it.
• Write out assignments.
• Do fewer passive activities and more active
  activities.
• Prioritize!!!

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Which one are you?

• Take a couple of minutes to write down which of
  the procrastination type best fits you?
• Give 2 - 3 specific (personal) examples
• Find others like you and come up with 2-5
  effective strategies to stop procrastinating.

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Anti-Procrastination Techniquesfor Worriers

• Recognize that making no decision is, in fact,
  making a decision.
• To help yourself become more decisive, follow a
  two-part-decision-making process first commit
  yourself to the goal, then determine the steps
  youll take to achieve the goal.
• Instead of panicking with a rhetorical What if?
  question, go one step further and state the
  answer.

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Anti-Procrastination Techniquesfor Perfectionists

• Focus on what is realistic rather than
  perfectionism.
• Change your have tos to want tos
• Make a daily to do list that is short and
  practical

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Anti-Procrastination Techniquesfor Over-Doers

• Say no when appropriate
• Take breaks and enjoy free time
• Make to do lists

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Anti-Procrastination Techniquesfor Defiers

• Pick your battles carefully, weighing what's
  really worth fighting for according to a scale of
  priorities.
• Mean what you say.
• Do what you know needs to be done.
• Always try to act instead of react. Take pains to
  decide and do rather than complain and defy

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Anti-Procrastination Techniquesfor Crisis Makers

• The crisis maker needs to increase his
  self-motivation to accomplish things
• Decrease the emotional investment in the
  death-defying, last minute performance.
• Recognize your need for an adrenaline rush, but
  find a safer avenue for it than your work or your
  relationships.

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Managing procrastination

• Simply begin
• Set reasonable goals
• Set priorities
• Chunk tasks
• Use time line
• Write contract
• Use positive self talk
• Affirm your ability
• Motivational messages

• Challenge perfectionism
• Write reminders
• Reward yourself
• Develop a routine
• Reward yourself for progress - Work before you
  play
• Work in daylight

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Time of Your Life Green Day

• Another turning point, a fork stuck in the
  road.Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you
  were to goSo make the best of this task and
  don't ask why.It's not a question but a
  lesson learned in time.It's something
  unpredictable but in the end is right.I hope you
  had the time of your life.
• So take the photographs and still frames in your
  mindHang them on a shelf of good health and good
  time.Tattoos of memories and dead skin on
  trial.For what it's worth, it was worth all the
  while.It's something unpredictable, but in the
  end is rightI hope you have the time of your
  life.

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Time Pink Floyd
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand
way. Kicking around on a piece of ground in your
hometown Waiting for someone or something to
show you the way. Tired of lying in the sunshine
staying home to watch the rain. You are young
and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got
behind you. No one told you when to run, you
missed the starting gun. So you run and you run
to catch up with the sun but it's sinking Racing
around to come up behind you again. The sun is
the same in a relative way but you're older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.
Every year is getting shorter never seem to find
the time. Plans that either come to naught or
half a page of scribbled lines Hanging on in
quiet desperation is the English way The time is
gone, the song is over, Thought I'd something
more to say.
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Create your own Time Sheet

• Make a choice to change
• Begin to manage your time more efficiently
• http//www.usd.edu/trio/tut/time/evtime.html
• Resource
• Covey, S. R. (1989) The 7 habits of highly
  effective people. Simon Schuster New York.