Time Management Building Connections: Community Leadership Program

Where does your time go? Using the handout provided, allocate where your time goes each week and then answer the following questions: What activities do you spend the least amount of time? What activities do you spend the most amount of time? Does the amount of time you spend on activities reflect what you value?

What if… What would you do if you had 2 extra hours each day? How would you spend those 2 extra hours? Why haven’t you made time for this before?

“Theory” behind time management You only have so many hours available in a day, so many weeks in a year, and so many years in your lifetime…what happens if you don’t spend your time wisely?

Time Life is really about how you spend your time and where you place your priorities. The key to time management is NOT to work harder than everyone else. The key is to work smarter.

Work smarter…how do I do that? To work smarter than everyone else, you must determine what’s important in your life through visioning, writing goals, and taking action toward achieving those goals.

Approaches to Time Management There are three approaches to time management. First approach – increase amount of available time each day. Second approach – do more work in available time – pack more work in your day Third approach – do only the important work in the time you have available

What’s wrong with the approaches? First approach – you will stretch yourself thin – will likely result in fatigue, lack of efficiency, and even depression in the work cases Second approach – doing more work will result in high amounts of stress (feeling as if you can never get everything done) and burnout

Approaches cont… Third approach – this approach is the most effective way of managing time Forces you to prioritize tasks to be completed during your work day

So, where do I start? The first step of effective time management is to decide where your priorities are. This is often the most difficult task of all and takes the most time!

Stephen Covey’s time management matrix Covey designed a time management matrix to help people manage themselves through prioritizing tasks YOU have to decide what is important for you to do YOU have to decide which things are urgent and what can wait

Matrix URGENTNOT URGENT IMPORTANT NOT IMPORTANT III IIIIV Crises Pressing problems Deadline driven projects Prevention Preparation Relationship building Recognizing new opportunities Planning Values clarification True recreation Interruptions Many pressing matters Some phone calls Some mail Some Some reports Some meetings Many popular activities Trivia Busywork Some phone calls Junk mail Time wasters Escape activities

Quadrant I – Urgent & Important These activities should take first priority The activities in this quadrant need to be dealt with immediately and they are important In the long term, time spent here should be reduced with prevention and preparation (Quadrant II)

Quadrant II – Not Urgent but Important The activities in this quadrant need to be the FOCUS!!! You should begin to prioritize the activities that fall into this category If you are currently spending very little time here, begin slowly and build upon it

Quadrant III –Urgent and Not Important The activities in this quadrant are often the result of someone else’s sense of urgency If you allow your priorities to fall here, you will feel rushed to get things done, followed by a lack of satisfaction These tasks are distractions!

Quadrant IV – Not Urgent and Not Important Activities in this quadrant are simply a waste of time Should strive to minimize the amount of time you spend on activities falling into quadrant IV

Now it’s your turn Use the blank matrix and write in your own specific activities

10 Guidelines for Effective Time Management 1.Plan ahead – must be able to plan and follow through with the plan 2.Schedule leisure activities – schedule in blocks of time for your family, friends, exercise, etc. If you don’t, you likely will spend little time doing these activities 3.Under-promise and over deliver – set due dates that are not just meetable but beatable. Get your work done early!

10 Guidelines for Effective Time Management 4.Break big jobs into manageable chunks – break big projects into small tasks and set deadlines for completing the tasks. 5.Keep track of your progress – If your timeline is no longer realistic, make sure your schedule allows for “work in progress” 6.Delegate whatever you can – if the job can be completed by someone else or with their help – DELEGATE!!!!

10 Guidelines for Effective Time Management 7.Establish parameters for saying “NO” – learn what projects you should say yes to and which ones someone else should have the opportunity to do 8.Make and follow a list of priorities – maintain a list or lists of your priorities. Check your progress each day

10 Guidelines for Effective Time Management 9.Group tasks according to the skills required – try doing the tasks that are most difficult when you are at your best 10.Keep your eyes open for shortcuts – learn and incorporate new and better ways of doing things From the book “Beat Stress with Strength,” by Stephanie Spera and Sandra Lanto

Final Thoughts… Great time management is one of the most important skills a person can develop – it takes practice to effectively manage your time Remember…what’s important to you may not be important to someone else – they are your priorities – and only you need to follow them