Time Management Tips – Complete Series Self Learning Guide                 Used with permission

TIME MANAGEMENT TIP SERIES

Managing Daily Task & To-Do’s Lists are probably the most common prioritizing tool, however, used incorrectly, they can actually create more work for you. The key is not to prioritize your schedule but to schedule your priorities. The following are tools for using lists effectively. • • • • • • • • • • •

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Use a master to-do list! Develop the habit. Don’t put too much on your list. Make sure that your list is achievable. Set it up in a way so that it’s portable and easily accessible. Leave some space on the list for items that come up during the day. Create the list in a way that you can write on it, change it, and so on and clean it up every so often. If you’re inclined to forget personal tasks and commitments, get them down along with your work-related tasks. Break big jobs into smaller pieces. If other people are inclined to forget things they agreed to do for you, use your master to-do list to record these follow ups. Start list with verbs to make them action items. Prioritize your tasks; then make a to-do list and work through the items in priority order. Think about each task: before adding it to your list, ask: • Does it need to be done? • Am I the one who needs to do it? • Will doing it keep me from doing something more important? Find a format that works for you. Keep the list visible.

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TIME MANAGEMENT TIP SERIES

Managing Weekly Planning One of the single most important things you can do to manage yourself and your time is to learn to effectively manage your weekly calendar. The following is an easy to follow, two-step process for ensuring your weekly plan is a successful one. STEP 1 Objectives: What are your objectives for the week ahead? • Review your true priorities (focus sheet) and where you’re at with each of them. • Which ones do you want to work on this week? • Make sure these are realistic given your schedule and workload. • Pick a best time to plan your weekly actions e.g. Friday afternoon. STEP 2 Actions: What action are you going to take? How and when are you going to achieve this week’s objectives? • Will these weekly objectives take a significant amount of time (more than half an hour?) Should you be blocking off time in your calendar? If so, when? Are you being realistic? • If some of these weekly objectives involve relatively small tasks - a call, an e-mail, etc., should you be putting them on a to-do list so they are not forgotten? • Schedule mentally taxing jobs when you’re most alert and energetic. • Try to arrange set times for regular tasks such as going through your mail, or performing computer input e.g. first or last 10 minutes of the day. • Set definite times that you would like to be undisturbed, and allow for genuine emergencies only. • Arrange your breaks at times when you cannot work effectively • If you have pre-scheduled more than 50% of your time, you are in danger of overbooking. Leave enough “white space” in your day to manage chaos and handle unforeseen emergencies. • You have one life. Use one planner. Using several agendas simultaneously is a bad idea. • Do not limit your entries to work tasks; incorporate items from your personal life as well.

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TIME MANAGEMENT TIP SERIES

Managing Paperwork It has been said that paper clutter alone can cost the average worker an hour a day looking for things. Has your desk become one giant to-do list: papers to sign, articles you'll read "someday," or folders to file? Here are some useful hints for dealing with the clutter. • Make your in-box a real in-box, not a miscellaneous file. • Manage your desktop – know where everything is. • Remove all non-urgent and non-important items from your desk. (Each piece of paper on your desk will distract you five times a day.) • Apply the “touch it once” rule to all paperwork: redirect it, act on it, file or trash it. • Sort paperwork into “do”, “read” and “file” categories. • Create the file you need now and mark it with an appropriate label. • Schedule a time to deal with paperwork. • Use colour coding (for example, red for committee) to help you find files faster. • If you don't know what to do with certain paperwork, put it in one pile and then go through the pile once a week and deal with everything. • Discard all non-relevant documents (Up to 85 percent of the documents retained by an organization will never be looked at again.)

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TIME MANAGEMENT TIP SERIES

Managing Requests for Your Time and Unexpected Visitors We hear a lot about time management and how we need to organize ourselves and manage our time more effectively. What we actually need to focus on is developing self management strategies. When we manage ourselves better we tend to be less overwhelmed, more productive and happier. Two ways we can begin to do this is by handling additional requests for your time and unexpected visitors more effectively. MANAGING REQUESTS FOR YOUR TIME Here are some phrases to use instead of the automatic “yes” or “no” when someone asks for your time: • “Help me understand…” • “I’m working on ____ right now.” • “I need a few minutes to finish up, then I can give you my full attention.” • “Where does this fit strategically?” • “I’m happy to, but I’m concerned about what should drop in priority while I do this.” MANAGING UNEXPECTED VISITORS Here are some helpful hints for dealing with unexpected visitors: • Establish immediately why the visitor has come to see you. • Stand when the visitor enters the room so that he/she also remains standing. • If you must deal personally with the visitor, suggest a later meeting, at your convenience. • Whenever possible, suggest a meeting at the visitor’s office/workspace, as it is usually easier to leave someone else’s office than it is to get them to leave yours. • Set time limits for your discussion ahead of time.

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TIME MANAGEMENT TIP SERIES

Managing e-Mail and the Telephone Are you overwhelmed by the number of e-mail messages in your Inbox? Are the messages the pile up becoming a constant source of stress and distraction for you? Use the following helpful hints to manage email overload. MANAGING E-MAIL Step 1: Keep unnecessary e-mail to a minimum • Remove yourself from lists you don’t really need to be on. • Delete the unimportant messages you really don’t need to keep. • Sign off with “no reply needed.” • Use e-mail “rules” to automatically sort your e-mail into folders. • Choose specific times each day to read and reply to your e-mail, and do so only during those times. • Clear your emails twice a day; don’t let incoming e-mails pile up. Keep your Inbox as empty as possible. Step 2: Keep your Inbox clean of non-action messages • Decide which e-mails are “information only” and which are “action” messages. • File “information only” messages away immediately. • If you can handle an item in less than 2 minutes, do it now. • If it will take longer than 2 minutes, use a follow-up flag or schedule a time to handle it and file in electronic folders by topic or by person. • Use “to” and “cc” correctly. • Clarify the nature of the email by adding to the subject line either: “Action requested,” “FYI”, or “Please Reply.” Step 3: Don’t let priority “B” e-mails pull you away from your priority “A” activities • Turn off all bells and alarms for incoming mail. • Ask yourself, "If I weren't reading and answering e-mail right now, what would I be doing?" (If it's something more important, then stop reading your e-mail!) • Schedule specific times throughout the day to read your e-mails instead of reading them as soon as they arrive. MANAGING THE TELEPHONE We often waste time with the telephone because we don't plan our calls properly or don't use voicemail effectively. The following are tips to help you manage the telephone effectively. • Plan your calls: make a brief note about what you want to say and what you want to find out. • If you have several phone calls to make, do them all at once. • If a person asks you to hold, have a task available for you to work on while you wait. • If the person you are calling is unavailable, find out the best time to call back, or leave your number • If you are leaving a message, suggest the most beneficial time to call you back in order to avoid the dreaded “telephone tag”.

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