Time Management TacticsBy Chelse Benham

“I get up every morning determined to both change the world and to have one hell of a good time. Sometimes, this makes planning the day difficult.” - E.B. White20th century American writer

Imagine managing your time to accomplish more in your day. How wonderful it would be to feel in control of your workday by completing tasks ahead of schedule. Effectively managing time is a skill that requires constant practice using techniques developed to assess, prioritize, strategize and implement projects in an orderly fashion. BB Barron-Gaytan, student development specialist I with the University Retention Advisement Program (URAP) at The University of Texas-Pan American, suggests the use of a daily activity log to help initiate a time management schedule.

“First thing we stress is the logging of a daily activity schedule which requires filling in a normal work day using increments of 30 minutes. It is important to log everything that you do from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed. This way you can visually see where you’re spending your time,” Gaytan said. “Using a daily activity log is one of the most important things a person can do to mange time effectively. They can visually see where they spend their time and alter it to maximize their work production.”

Structuring time may seem difficult or time consuming itself. It takes a concerted effort to log all the different activities as they are happening, but the result is worth it. Time is a concept and different times of day are not the same. A day can have “peaks and valleys.”

“The first thing to understand is that not all time is equal. If you are a morning person, your most productive or “peak” hours are in the morning. It’s wise to use that time for the harder tasks or the more intellectually challenging tasks and save the easier tasks for “off-peak” hours,” Gaytan said.

Just as time of day has different effects, the same can be said of activities. Each has a different weight based on importance. Edwin Bliss, author of “Getting Things Done” offers a breakdown of the level of priority that an activity can have.

Urgent and important – This is your highest priority. The items in this category are things that have to be done and they have a time limit. Important here means they are important to you and they support plans, goals and purpose.

Important, but not urgent – These activities support plans, goals and purposes, but they don’t have time limits. They often get put on the back-

burner, such as “One of these days I’ll write that book.” Unfortunately, they can be put to the side until it’s too late.

Urgent but not important – This is the trickiest category. Because of the time limits on them they have value placed on them that’s not warranted. Generally, these activities are important to someone else.

Busy work – This is the type of work that helps avoid the necessary work such as straightening your desk instead of writing the report. It is doing anything of low priority to avoid higher priority work.

Time wasting – This is simply doing nothing of consequence and it can make you feel worse than busy work.

At www.mindtools.com this simple advice of time management is offered: concentrate on results, not on being busy.

Some important questions to ask yourself when evaluating the importance of an activity are:

What am I doing that doesn't really need to be done? What am I doing that could be done by someone else? What am I doing that could be done more efficiently? What do I do that wastes my time and others' time? Am I procrastinating and why?

Procrastination is the self-produced bane of productivity. Pace Productivity web site offers reasons why procrastination might occur and solutions for over coming it.

Recognize that procrastination stems from habit. New habits will be needed, and these take time and commitment to develop. Harold Taylor, president of Harold Taylor Time Consultants Inc., defines procrastination as the intentional and habitual postponement of an important task that should be done now.

Understand the cause for procrastination then develop strategies to fix it. Recognize the difference between an appropriate decision to delay and an

irrational postponement without justification. Fix procrastination by working on tasks and your environment.

TASK STRATEGIES

Unpleasant tasks

The problem: You may believe an unpleasant task is going to be difficult. Unpleasant tasks rarely turn out to be as bad as initially thought.

The solution: Complete these tasks first. Schedule them in your “peak” hours and give yourself a reward for doing them.

Complex Projects

The problem: Something looms ahead of you: starting a small business, getting a job, preparing the annual budget. The job is too big or will take too long to do now, so you put it off.

The solution: Break large jobs into smaller, more manageable tasks. Plan and complete a start-up task, no matter how small.

Indecision The problem: You delay because you can't make up your mind. The solution: Determine a time for making a decision and the criteria for

making it. Share your deadline with someone else.

Fear of failure (lack of self confidence)

The problem: You don't want to face the consequences of failure, so you delay. (Some people suffer from fear of success too!)

The solution: Develop a clear mental picture of the completed task and how you will feel at that time. Maintain a focus on the end result, not just the process. Remind yourself how good you'll feel when you're finished.

Lack of interest

The problem: You are tired or lazy. You're just not very interested in the task.

The solution: Reward yourself for accomplishments. Go out for special lunches when major projects are completed. If you don't earn the reward, don't take it.

The solution: Schedule the task for when you will be at your peak.

Perfectionism

The problem: You delay because you want to get the project perfect. The solution: Set deadlines for yourself. Tell other people your deadlines

and encourage them to check up on you. The solution: Maintain your high standards, but recognize that sometimes

80 percent for you may well be 100 percent for someone else. Don't spend hours conducting a detailed cost breakdown when a rough estimate would suffice.

Hostility towards a boss

The Problem: You delay because you don't like the person who assigned the task.

The solution: Review with your boss what exactly is needed. Clarify the expectations.

The solution: Make a game out of unpleasant tasks. Give yourself points, or do a running commentary on yourself as you do the task.

Distraction, lack of focus

The problem: Sometimes losing concentration causes delays. The solution: Create a to-do list with priorities and block your time for

projects. The solution: As you get distracted from a work project, make a rule that

you are not allowed to move out of your chair, make a call, surf the net, pick up a book etc. until you return to your task.

The solution: Complete something. Make a very small task for yourself and finish it. Then, make another one.

ENVIRONMENT STRATEGIES

Tailor your environment for work. Close your door, clean up the clutter on your desk.

Remove distractions such as water coolers, snacks, in-boxes, coffee machines and magazine racks.

If you work at home, treat your office as an office. Don't go out to lunch before lunchtime or watch television before the end of the day.

Tell your family that you are not to be disturbed in your home office.

Realizing that it requires consistent practice, commitment and application, time management is the epitome of a practice-makes-perfect skill. Effective time management can create such feelings of productivity and a sense of control that mastery over it can result in having more time and a peace-of-mind.

“Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 19th Century German Poet, Dramatist & Scientist