Professional Practices Lecture 5

Agenda

Time Management

Benefits of Time
Management
Obstacles to Time
Management
Time Management
Technique
 ? What is Time Management

Time management refers to the way that you organize

and plan how long you spend on specific activities. Also
define as managing time effectively so that the right
time is allocated to right activity

Indefinite, unlimited duration in which things are

considered as happening in the past, present, or future;
every moment there has ever been or ever will be a
system of measuring duration: the period between two
events or during which something exists, happen or act
measured or measurable interval
 Benefits of
Time Management

• To save time
• To function effectively
• Greater productivity and efficiency.
• For a better professional reputation.
• To reduce stress.
• To Increased opportunities for advancement.
• Greater opportunities to achieve important life and career goals.
 Benefits of
Time Management

By some estimates, people waste about 2 hours per day. Signs of time
wasting:
• Messy desk and disarranged files
• Can’t find things
• Miss appointments, need to reschedule them late and/or unprepared
for meetings
• Tired/unable to concentrate
 Benefits of
Time Management

• Your 80% goals in your institution may achieve with 20% of your
efforts.

• Very small number of things in your life can contribute vast majority
of values.
 Obstacles to effective
Time Management

• There are a lot of things that make it difficult for us to manage

our time effectively. Let’s consider some of the most common
ones, and see if they apply to us:
• Unclear objectives – It’s hard to hit a target with your eyes
closed, and it’s just as hard to accomplish something when you
aren’t exactly clear about what you want to achieve
• Disorganization – It’s easy to see when your desk is too messy,
but sometimes you have to step back and ask yourself if you are
taking an organized approach in completing all of your tasks
• Inability to say “no” – We all want to be as helpful as we can
when others need us, but this can mean taking time away from
other priorities to do something we may not have planned
 Obstacles to effective
Time Management

• Too many things at once – Many of our tasks are not routines. They
require concentration to detail. When we are attempting to do too many
different things at one time, each individual task suffers as a result
• Stress and fatigue – Everyone experiences stress from time to time, and
sometimes we actually operate a little better when there is some level of
stress. Too much stress, on the other hand, causes our work to suffer and
wears us down physically and mentally. Dealing with stress is an
important part of time management
• All work and no play – Most successful people know how to balance
work and play. When work takes over your life, you not only give your
body little time to re-energize, but you may end up sacrificing the really
important things in life like family and friends
 Obstacles to effective
Time Management

•Interruptions
• An act of interrupting something or someone or the state of being
interrupted: such as
• a: a stoppage or hindering of an activity for a time
• b: a break in the continuity of something
• c: something that causes a stoppage or break in the continuity of
something

Periods of inactivity
the state of not doing anything, not moving, or not working
 ?What can we do

• Recognize that obstacles exist

• Identify them
• Employ strategies to overcome
 Set goals

• Achievable – It is commendable to set your sights high, but sometimes we try to accomplish
more than we can actually do. Training and certifying ten Certified Guiding Lions in your
district in one year may or may not be achievable at this time for a number of reasons. Your
goals should be such that, if you “extend yourself” you can just reach them.
• Realistic – Can you establish a program in your district to help everyone with vision
problems? It is certainly a worthwhile goal, but it may not be realistic at this time. It might
be better to work on setting up a program with schools to provide vision testing and
eyeglasses for disadvantaged children.
• Time-based – Most of the goals that you establish in your position as a Lions leader will not
be long-term. It is important to set time guidelines for your goals, so that you can keep track
of your progress as you are going along and can be alert to when you are falling behind
schedule.
 Prioritize

You don’t find time for important things, you make it

You make it by electing not to do something else.
1. Address the urgent
2. Accomplish what you can early
3. Attach deadlines to things you delay
4. Break things down into small steps
5. Do the ugliest thing first
 Organize

• As you prioritize tasks and set deadlines, you will want to organize your plans and actions. Some of you may
be more comfortable using paper and pencil, so I urge you to make use of a planner with a calendar and
plenty of space to make notes. Many planners contain not only calendar space, but also room for daily
activities, contact information, and “to do” lists. Find a planner that fits your needs and use it. You will find
this to be an indispensable tool for managing your time.

• Maybe you use, or would consider using, a computer to help in organizing your time. Today’s computers
often come equipped with software programs that include calendars, task lists, reminders, and contact
information. If your computer does not have such a function, software is readily available that you can
install.

• You may also consider a small personal digital assistant, or PDA. These devices are small enough to fit in
your hand, and use the same software your home computer uses. PDAs are helpful tools when you are away
from your computer during the day or are traveling on business.

• Whatever method you choose, make sure you organize your tasks so that you can stay on track.
Use your waiting time
 Use your waiting time
The trick to making use of your waiting time is to always make sure you have something with you
that you can accomplish in the event that you are kept waiting. For instance:
•Reading correspondence – Take your mail with you and read it while you are waiting or traveling.
Some PDAs have e-mail capability, so you can read your e-mail on a train or plane or at the
doctor’s office
•Writing letters or memos – While you wait, you can take out a notepad or use a PDA to write
letters or memos. This could also be a good time to update your planner
•Reading or listening to tapes – Carry a book or magazine or a tape with you. You can also
download books and articles to your PDA. There is often no time in your schedule to keep current
on books or articles related to your business or to self-improvement. Instead of being impatient when
you are delayed, this could be a perfect time to advance your own knowledge and skills.

Note: This would be a good time to describe some ways you personally fill the “waiting times”
in your schedule, and how you feel it has helped you manage your time overall.
 Concentrate on the task at hand

• Concentration can be difficult when you have a lot on your mind. Your
time will be better spent if you are able to:
• Focus on your goal – You may have many commitments and many
concerns, but you will accomplish more when you keep focused on the
one task you are performing at the moment
• Tune out interruptions – You will find your concentration is at its
highest level when you can set aside times during the day when you will
not answer the phone or schedule visitors. You can’t isolate yourself all
of the time, but by avoiding interruptions for specific periods of time, you
may find you can accomplish tasks successfully in far less time than you
anticipated. When you must respond to phone calls, be assertive in
minimizing interruptions by asking if you can call back at another time or
meet another day.
 Consider your personal prime time

• Morning?
• Evening?
• Late night?
• Are you one of those people who gets up before the sun rises and starts working?
Is the early evening, after the evening meal, your time to work? Or are you
someone who prefers to wait until the quiet of the late night hours to do the really
hard tasks?
• Everyone is different. Most research shows that tasks that take the most mental
concentration are most effectively accomplished early in the day, but even these
studies acknowledge that this is not always true, and that everyone has a “personal
prime time.”
• When you plan your tasks, think about your own “prime time.” If you do your best
work early, plan to do the routine tasks later in the day and concentrate on the more
challenging tasks when you are at your best. If you don’t really get going until
later, handle the routines in the morning and save the more difficult tasks for later.
 Time Management Technique

• Spending a little time learning about time-management

techniques will have huge benefits now and throughout your
career.
• One of Important Time Management technique is Covey’s
Four Quadrants for time management
Four Quadrants for
Time Management
Another Examples
 Quadrant I

• Represents things that are both “urgent” and “important” – we need to

spend time here
• This is where we manage, we produce, where we bring our experience
and judgment to bear in responding to many needs and challenges.
• Many important activities become urgent through procrastination, or
because we don’t do enough prevention and planning.
 Quadrant II

• Includes activities that are “important, but not urgent”- Quadrant of

Quality
• Here’s where we do our long-range planning, anticipate and prevent
problems, empower others, broaden our minds and increase our skills
• Ignoring this Quadrant feeds and enlarges Quadrant I, creating stress,
burnout, and deeper crises for the person consumed by it
• Investing in this Quadrant shrinks Quadrant I
 Quadrant III

• Includes things that are “urgent, but not important” - Quadrant of

Deception.
• The noise of urgency creates the illusion of importance.
• Actual activities, if they’re important at all, are important to someone
else.
• Many phone calls, meetings and drop-in visitors fall into this category
 Quadrant IV

• Reserved for activities that are “not urgent, not important”- Quadrant
of Waste.
• We often “escape” to Quadrant IV for survival.
• Reading addictive novels, watching mindless television shows, or
gossiping at office would qualify as Quadrant IV time-wasters.
 ?Is it bad to be in Quadrant I

• Are you in Quadrant I because of the urgency or the importance?

• If urgency dominates, when importance fades, you’ll slip into
Quadrant III.
• But if you’re in Quadrant I because of importance, when urgency
fades you’ll move to Quadrant II.
 ?What is the problem with urgency

• Urgency itself is not the problem…

• When urgency is the dominant factor in our lives, importance isn’t
• What we regard as “first things” are urgent things
 Where do I get time to spend in
?Quadrant II

• From Quadrant III

• Time spent in Quadrant I is both urgent and important- we already
know we need to be there
• We know we shouldn’t be there in Quadrant IV
• But Quadrant III can fool us
 TIME WASTERS
Minor Time Waster Major Time Waster
• Interruptions we face during the • Procrastination
day • Afraid to Delegate
• Being a slave on the telephone • Not Wanting to Say "NO"
• Unexpected/Unwanted visitors • Low Self-Esteem
• Needless reports/Junk mail • Problems With
• Meetings without agenda Objectives/Priorities
 ?WHAT CAN STOP YOU

• Negative Thoughts
• Negative People
• Low Self-Esteem
• Fear of Failure
• Fear of Rejection / Criticism
How do I use this to
?make my life better
 ACTION PLAN

• Analyze your use of TIME - "80/20“

• Do not “REACT” to Urgency
• Allocate time according to Priorities (Quiet Hour, Session I,II,III,IV)
• "TO DO LIST“ (Top 3 Priorities today)
• Have a Follow through
• Learn to say two letter word - "NO"
• Visualization and Auto-Suggestion
• Delegate low Priority Item