Month: May 2013

The final tip that I offer as part of Time Management Week is to keep written records.  So much of life is repeated and cyclical; you can save yourself lots of time if you keep written track of things.

Keeping written records has become so much easier with electronic devices and searchable programs, but whether you use them or good old fashioned paper and pencil, a documentation system will serve you well.

Examples:
 > Many organizations sponsor annual events.  Instead of starting from scratch each year, keep records of what tasks need to be accomplished and who needs to do them.  As I have written about before, after each big event it helps to do a debriefing “lessons learned” meeting so you can document the nuances that need to be addressed when doing the event in the future.

> After a long winter lapse, you forget what you need to take when you go camping.  Keep a list that you need to throw in the hatchet to chop wood or the clothesline for towels. Ditto for a list of the routine things you need to take on a trip, or when attending the annual conference, etc.

>  My sister is on a quest to see all of the state capitols.  Instead of repeatedly taking the time to figure out which ones are missing, she has a list on her phone of the seven she still needs to see.

> Each year, we do an extensive analysis of enrollment once the fall numbers are finalized.  We keep a list of what reports to run so we don’t have to recreate it every year.  Ditto for the quarterly reports we need for our consultant — and after each visit we add to it so we are more effective next year and don’t waste time hunting down the information during meetings.

> Keeping track of car repairs/maintenance serves you well in the long run.  You can easily keep track of when you need an oil change and know how many miles are on those tires.

So many situations involve things that happen again.  Get in the habit of keeping written records and you will save yourself much hunting down/re-creating/wondering time as you tackle the routine things in the future.  “Champions aren’t champions because they do anything extraordinary, but because they do the ordinary better than anyone else.”  Chuck Knoll

— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com

Tip #5 for Time Management Week:  always have a pen with you.  It may sound a bit dated in the era of electronic note taking, but having a pen allows you to capture the ideas, things to remember and “to dos” that occur to you throughout the day.  And night; having a method of capturing things that interrupt your sleep will also save you time by day instead of back tracking because you forgot them!

Almost always, there is something to write on, thus the recommendation to have only a writing instrument.  Napkins, newspapers, receipts, business cards or the back of your hand are readily available to quickly capture your note with barely a pause in what else you were doing.  

Having a method of idea capture allows your work to flow more smoothly.  I keep a pad and pen in the car, in my purse, by my bed, in the kitchen, on my walks and everywhere else that I am.  Throughout the day I am writing notes of things I need to do at home/bring into work, and then at home I am remember things I need to do at work/bring home.  The second it takes to write them down saves me from forgetting in the long run and saves time in scrambling for what I missed.

Examples:

> Making a note to remember to pick up milk on the way home saves you the extra trip required if you forget it.

> You run into someone in the cafeteria who needs you to send them a piece of information.  By the time lunch is over, most will have forgotten about the task unless it is written, and then time is later spent playing phone tag while the person tracks it down.

> Writing down a task you need to accomplish at work allows you to address it early instead of frantically trying to find/create something at the last minute because you did not do it.

> Jotting reminders of items that you need to discuss with someone or add to a meeting agenda allows you to add those to the itinerary to cover in the scheduled time, rather than requiring a separate meeting to address items you forgot in round one.

There is not a day that goes by where I don’t have a note or two to jog my memory or remind me to bring/do/discuss something.  Time management happens by mastering the margins.  Stop those little things from falling through the cracks and eating up time by writing yourself a little note and dealing with them once.

— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com

Tip #4 for Time Management Week is to USE a calendar.

Time Management Week continues with Tip #3:  Create a To-Do List with Doable Items

People are guilty of putting big projects on their to-do list or bucket list, instead of breaking them down into manageable parts.  My ideal is not to have anything on the list that takes more time to accomplish than the time block I am likely to have free to accomplish the tasks. For the times I don’t follow that, I find myself falling behind because I didn’t make incremental gains throughout the process.  But when I do break things down, I find that I can check off some of the smaller tasks toward the big goals — because when I look at the list to see what I can do “in the next 15 minutes before my meeting” there are tasks there that fit that interval.

Examples:
> I have always wanted to write a book, but never have.  Yet, somehow I have managed to write 341 blogs (aka: sections of a book) because I broke down the task.  Writing a book sounds too daunting to begin — even writing a blog was pretty intimidating for a long time — and then I put on the list to “test” my ability to publish one blog entry and here we are.

> I need to do 11 staff evaluations this year.  I could put “evaluations” on my list and never get them done.  Instead, I listed all 11 names and wrote “prep, meet, write” by each of them.  I put on the list to schedule the meetings.  To develop and send out my set of prep questions to the four different groups.  Etc. 

> “Christmas shopping” sounds daunting until I make the list and put down some ideas for everyone on it.  Then I can go to Store X and buy one thing, and while I’m on-line I can order a few more things, etc. so pretty soon the presents are ready.

> Students get stuck when writing a term paper because they put “history term paper” on the list.  Instead, it should say to: select topic, research part X, write outline, develop draft, etc.  I am convinced it is why so many doctoral students remain ABD* because “dissertation” is as ominous sounding as it comes, even though it is hundreds of small steps like a giant term paper.

> Doing taxes is another procrastination-prone activity.  But sorting receipts, reviewing deductions, setting an appointment with the accountant, contributing to an IRA — those are all much more palatable items that are more likely to get accomplished.

Whether at home or at work, breaking down items into to doable steps is a great way to maximize your use of time.  Those 15 minute time blocks [that you identified when you did Tip #1 (-: ] can be put to good use instead of frittered away.

Give your list a once-over today and see if you can make your tasks more user-friendly.

— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com

*All But Dissertation — a slang reference for when doctoral students are finished with classes but have yet to complete their paper.  Instead of Ph.D. or Ed.D. people jokingly refer to the letters ABD behind their name instead.

It is Finals Week where I work, and with it comes a cadre of stressed out students.  I am seeing bleary-eyed students in the hall after pulling an all-nighter and taking an exam, and I am seeing students staring aimlessly at the same page for an hour.  In this spirit, I declare this Time Management Week and will provide a series of tips that have worked well for me in managing my time throughout the decades.

Tip #1:  Understand Your Use of Time
There are 168 hours in the week.  Pull out a piece of paper and try to account for where you spend them.  If you’re like most, you don’t have answers for more hours than you expected.

It’s a pain to do — I’ll say that right up front — but I still advocate for keeping a time diary for one week.  Where does your time go?  It’s hard to answer that question without some understanding of the answer.  Keep track of the hours you spend on computer games or television; the amount of time it takes for you to get ready in the morning; the time for household chores.  Where are there periods of wasted time (and intentional recreation is not wasted time!); where are there gaps that add up of time that just slips away (do you really wait in line at the coffee shop two hours/week??).  Your task is to figure out what is before you can make any changes.

Tip #2:  Acknowledge Your Energy Level
While we all have peaks and valleys given specific circumstances, on the whole I believe that people have a certain rhythm that works best for them.  Time management task #2 is to figure out when that time is for you and then capitalize on it.  I wrote about this in Blog #118 (September 27, 2012) so won’t repeat it here.

We all need to do things when we would prefer not to, but you may be surprised at how much control you have over when you get the tasks accomplished.  Pay attention to your energy levels and see if you can match your task to your corresponding level of pep.  Or another way to look at it: try to be like an environmentally-friendly light bulb and produce the same brightness with less wattage!

More tomorrow!

— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com