1. Strategic Ways to Manage Your Time
Jim White
Gonzaga University

2. Parkinson’s Law
“A Task will swell in (perceived) importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion” (The end product of a shorter deadline is almost inevitably of equal or higher quality due to greater focus) -Cyril Northcote Parkinson The Economist, 1955

3. Eisenhower Method: The Tyranny of the Urgent
Not Urgent I II
Planning
Clarifying Values
Relationships
Vision
Process-
Improvement
Crises
Deadlines
Emergencies
Repairs
Important
III IV
Phone calls
Interruptions
Mail
Reports
Drop-ins
Trivial
“Escapes”
Junk Mail
Busy Work
Not
Important

4. Prioritizing Your Tasks
Important/Urgent (I): Tackle these projects first.
Important/Not Urgent (II): Set deadlines for completion and get these projects worked into your daily routine. Devoting consistent time to this quadrant will bring greatest results
Not Important/Urgent (III): Find quick, efficient ways to get this work done without much personal involvement. If possible, delegate it to the right person.
Not Important/Not Urgent (IV): This is busy or repetitious work such as filing. Stack it and do it in half-our segments every week; get somebody else to do it; or don’t do it at all.

5. Organize Yourself First
Purpose: “What am I here for?”
Make a list
Quadrant II Tasks
Quadrant III Tasks
Schedule your time – “Happiness takes organization”
Block big spaces for important tasks
Schedule enough time for reactive tasks
Organize other people
“Managing Up”
Delegation

6. PRIME TIME When do you have the most energy?
When are the fewest interruptions?
When can you schedule private time?

7. INTERRUPTIONS Set limits Get to the point
Deal with the issue on the spot
Conclude the conversation firmly
Let callers leave a message
Find a place outside your office to do focused work

8. What is your time worth? Calculate your hourly wage
Evaluate tasks against that amount.
Is it worth your time or should the task be delegated?
Provide others with the opportunity to grow and be challenged.

9. Running Effective Meetings
Set Agenda with time allocated to talk
If you run out of time, be conscious about allowing more time or defer to future
Make sure you are clear about the meeting’s purpose
Call for only new information-don’t let people beat a dead horse
Some issues ought not to be “solved” in a large group, better to table and come back to the larger group with a proposal.

10. Ways to Organize Time To Do list—Outlook Tasks Scan Card Notebooks
Other suggestions

11. Questions