TIME MANAGEMENT

Time management is the act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity. Time management may be aided by a range of skills, tools, and techniques used to manage time when accomplishing specific tasks, projects and goals complying with a due date. This set encompasses a wide scope of activities, and these include planning, allocating, setting goals, delegation, analysis of time spent, monitoring, organizing, scheduling, and prioritizing. Initially, time management referred to just business or work activities, but eventually the term broadened to include personal activities as well. A time management system is a designed combination of processes, tools, techniques, and methods. Usually time management is a necessity in any project development as it determines the project completion time and scope.

Some time management literature stresses tasks related to the creation of an environment conducive to real effectiveness. These strategies include principles such as –

·                     “Get Organized” – paperwork and task triage

·                     “Protect Your Time” – insulate, isolate, delegate

·                     “Achieve through Goal management Goal Focus” – motivational emphasis

·                     “Recover from Bad Time Habits” – recovery from underlying psychological problems, e.g. procrastination

Writers on creating an environment for effectiveness refer to issues such as the benefit of a tidy office or home to unleashing creativity, and the need to protect “prime time”. Literature also focuses on overcoming chronic psychological issues such as procrastination.

 Excessive and chronic inability to manage time effectively may be a result of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Diagnostic criteria include a sense of underachievement, difficulty getting organized, trouble getting started, many projects going simultaneously and trouble with follow-through. Some authors focus on the prefrontal cortex which is the most recently evolved part of the brain. It controls the functions of attention span, impulse control, organization, learning from experience and self-monitoring, among others. Some authors argue that changing the way the prefrontal cortex works is possible and offers a solution.

Time management

Developing time management skills is a journey

that may begin with this Guide, but needs practice and other guidance along the way.

One goal is to help yourself become aware of how you use your time as one resource in organizing, prioritizing, and succeeding in your studies in the context of competing activities of friends, work, family, etc.

First: try our exercise in time management:

How do you spend your time each day?

Strategies on using time: These applications of time management have proven to be effective as good study habits.

As we go through each strategy, jot down an idea of what each will look like for you:

§     Blocks of study time and breaks

As your school term begins and your course schedule is set, develop and plan for, blocks of study time in a typical week. Blocks ideally are around 50 minutes, but perhaps you become restless after only 30 minutes? Some difficult material may require more frequent breaks. Shorten your study blocks if necessary-but don’t forget to return to the task at hand! What you do during your break should give you an opportunity to have a snack, relax, or otherwise refresh or re-energize yourself. For example, place blocks of time when you are most productive: are you a morning person or a night owl?

Jot down one best time block you can study. How long is it? What makes for a good break for you? Can you control the activity and return to your studies?

§     Dedicated study spaces

Determine a place free from distraction (no cell phone or text messaging!) where you can maximize your concentration and be free of the distractions that friends or hobbies can bring! You should also have a back-up space that you can escape to, like the library, departmental study center, even a coffee shop where you can be anonymous. A change of venue may also bring extra resources.

What is the best study space you can think of? What is another?

§     Weekly reviews

Weekly reviews and updates are also an important strategy. Each week, like a Sunday night, review your assignments, your notes, your calendar. Be mindful that as deadlines and exams approach, your weekly routine must adapt to them!

What is the best time in a week you can review?

§     Prioritize your assignments

When studying, get in the habit of beginning with the most difficult subject or task. You’ll be fresh, and have more energy to take them on when you are at your best. For more difficult courses of study, try to be flexible: for example, build in reaction time when you can get feedback on assignments before they are due.

What subject has always caused you problems?

§     Achieve “stage one”–get something done!

The Chinese adage of the longest journey starting with a single step has a couple of meanings: First, you launch the project! Second, by starting, you may realize that there are some things you have not planned for in your process. Details of an assignment are not always evident until you begin the assignment. Another adage is that “perfection is the enemy of good”, especially when it prevents you from starting! Given that you build in review, roughly draft your idea and get going! You will have time to edit and develop later.

What is a first step you can identify for an assignment to get yourself started?

§     Postpone unnecessary activities until the work is done!

Postpone tasks or routines that can be put off until your school work is finished! 

This can be the most difficult challenge of time management. As learners we always meet unexpected opportunities that look appealing, then result in poor performance on a test, on a paper, or in preparation for a task. Distracting activities will be more enjoyable later without the pressure of the test, assignment, etc. hanging over your head. Think in terms of pride of accomplishment. Instead of saying “no” learn to say “later”.

What is one distraction that causes you to stop studying?

§     Identify resources to help you

Are there tutors? An expert friend? Have you tried a keyword search on the Internet to get better explanations? Are there specialists in the library that can point you to resources? What about professionals and professional organizations. Using outside resources can save you time and energy, and solve problems.

Write down three examples for that difficult subject above?

Be as specific as possible.

§     Use your free time wisely

Think of times when you can study “bits” as when walking, riding the bus, etc. Perhaps you’ve got music to listen to for your course in music appreciation, or drills in language learning? If you are walking or biking to school, when best to listen? Perhaps you are in a line waiting? Perfect for routine tasks like flash cards, or if you can concentrate, to read or review a chapter. The bottom line is to put your time to good use.

What is one example of applying free time to your studies?

§     Review notes and readings just before class

This may prompt a question or two about something you don’t quite understand, to ask about in class, or after. It also demonstrates to your teacher that you are interested and have prepared.

How would you make time to review?

Is there free time you can use?

§     Review lecture notes just after class

Then review lecture material immediately after class.

The first 24 hours are critical. Forgetting is greatest within 24 hours without review!

How would you do this?

Is there free time you can use?

Select one of the ten applications above.

and develop a new study habit!

Try something you have a good chance of following through and accomplishing. 

Nothing succeeds like a first successful try!

Try the University of Minnesota’s Assignment Calculator

Develop criteria for adjusting your schedule to meet both your academic and non-academic needs

Effective aids:

§     Create a simple “To Do” list

This simple program will help you identify a few items, the reason for doing them, a timeline for getting them done, and then printing this simple list and posting it for reminders.

§     Daily/weekly planner

Write down appointments, classes, and meetings on a chronological log book or chart.

If you are more visual, sketch out your schedule

First thing in the morning, check what’s ahead for the day always go to sleep knowing you’re prepared for tomorrow

§     Long term planner

Use a monthly chart so that you can plan ahead. Long term planners will also serve as a reminder to constructively plan time for yourself.

OBJECTIVES

After reading this chapter, the student should be able to:

• Describe his or her perception of time.

• Set short- and long-term personal career goals.

• Analyze activities at work using a time log.

• Organize work to make more effective use of available time.

• Set limits on the demands made on one’s time.

 

Coming into the unit, Sofia, the evening charge nurse, already knew that a hectic day was in progress. Scattered throughout the unit were clues from the past 8 hours. Two clients on emergency department stretchers were parked outside observation rooms already occupied by clients who had been admitted the previous day in critical condition. Stationed in the middle of the hall was the code cart, with its drawers opened and electrocardiograph paper cascading down its sides. Approaching the nurses’ station, Sofia found Daniel buried deep in paperwork. He glanced at her with a face that had exhaustion written all over it. His first words were, Three of your RNs called in sick. I called staffing for additional help, but only one is available. Good luck!’’

Sofia surveyed the unit, looked at the number of staff members available, and reviewed the client acuity level of the unit. She decided not to let the situation upset her. She would take harge of her own time and reallocate the time of her staff. She began to mentally reorganize her staff and alter the responsibilities of each  member. Having taken steps to handle the problem, Sofia felt ready to begin the shift.

Business executives, managers, students, and nurses know that time continues to be a valuable resource. Time cannot be saved and used later, so it must be used wisely. As a new nurse, you may at times find yourself sinking in the “quicksand” of a time trap, knowing what needs to be done but just not having the necessary time to do it (Ferrett, 1996). In today’s fast-paced healthcare environment, time management skills are critical to a nurse’s success. Learning to take charge of your time is the key to time management (Gonzalez, 1996).

Many nurses feel as though they never have enough time to accomplish the tasks that need to be completed. Like the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, they are constantly in a rush against time. Time management is simply organizing and monitoring time so that clientcare tasks can be scheduled and implemented in a timely and organized fashion (Bos & Vaughn, 1998).

THE TYRANNY OF TIME

How often do you look at your watch during the day? Do you divide your day into blocks of time? Do you steal a quick glance at the clock when you come home after putting in a full day’s work? Do you mentally calculate the amount of time left to complete the day’s tasks of grocery shopping, driving in a car pool, making dinner, and leaving again to take a class or attend a meeting? In our society, calendars, clocks, watches, newspapers, television,  and radio all remind us of our position in time. Our perception of time is important because it affects our use of time and our response to time (Box 1).

 

Computers complete operations in a fraction of a second, and we can measure speeds to the nanosecond. Time clocks that record the minute we enter and leave work are commonplace, and few excuses for being late are really considered acceptable. Timesheets and schedules are part of most healthcare givers’ lives. We are expected to follow precisely set schedules and meet deadlines for virtually everything we do, from distributing medications to getting reports done on time. Many agencies produce vast quantities of computergenerated data that can be analyzed to determine the amount of time spent on various activities. It is no wonder some of us seem obsessed with time.

Individual personality, culture, and environment all interact to influence our perceptions of time (Matejka & Dunsing, 1988). Each of us has an internal tempo (Chappel, 1970). Some internal tempos are quicker than others. Environment also affects the way we respond to time. A fast-paced environment influences most of us to work at a faster pace, despite our internal tempo. For individuals with a slower tempo, this pace can cause discomfort. If you are a high-achievement–oriented person, you are likely to have already set some career goals for yourself and to have a mental schedule of deadlines for reaching these goals (“go on to complete my BSN in 4 years; an MSN in 6 years’’). Many healthcare professionals are linear, fast-tempo, achievement-oriented people. Simply working at a fast pace, however, is not necessarily equivalent to achieving a great deal. Much energy can be wasted in rushing around and stirring things up but actually accomplishing very little. The rest of this chapter looks at ways in which you can use your time and energy wisely to accomplish your goals.

HOW DO NURSES SPEND THEIR TIME?

Nurses are the largest group of healthcare professionals. Because of the number of nurses and the shift variations, attention concerning the efficiency and effectiveness of their time management is needed. The effect of rotating shifts has long been a concern iursing. Nurses who rotate shifts are twice as likely to report medication errors as those who do not rotate. Night-shift staff members and rotating-shift staff members also report  getting less sleep, a poorer quality of sleep, greater use of sleep medication, and a problem with nodding off at work or while driving home after work (Sleeping on the job, 1993).

A new graduate worked the 7 A.M. to 3 P.M. shift and rotated every third week to the 11 P.M. to 7 A.M. shift in a medical intensive care unit, working 7 days straight before getting 2 days off. It was not difficult to remain awake during the entire shift the first night on duty, but each night thereafter staying awake became increasingly more difficult. After the 2 A.M. vital signs were taken and recorded, the new graduate inevitably fell asleep at the nurses’ station. He was so tired that it was necessary to check and recheck client medications and other procedures for fear of making a fatal error. He became so anxious over the possibility of injuring someone that sleep during the day became impossible.  Because of his obsession with going over his work, he had difficulty completing tasks and was always behind at the end of the shift (of course, napping didn’t help his time management).

A number of studies have examined how nurses use their time, especially nurses in acute-care settings. For example, a study by Arthur Andersen found that only 35 percent of nursing time is spent in direct client care (including care planning, assessment teaching, and technical activities). Documentation accounts for another 20 percent of nursing time. The remainder of time is spent on transporting clients, transaction processing, administrative responsibilities, and hotel services (in Brider, 1992) (Fig. 6–1). Categories may change from study to study, but the amount of time spent on direct client care is usually less than half the workday. As hospitals continue to reengineer, downsize, and cross-train personnel, nurses are finding themselves more involved with tasks that are not client-related, such as quality improvement, developing critical pathways, and so forth. These are added to their already existing client care functions. The result is that in some cases nurses are able to meet only the highest-priority client needs.

Any change in the distribution of time spent on various activities can have a considerable impact on client care and on the organization’s bottom line. Prescott (1991) offers the following example of this: If more unit management responsibilities could be shifted from nurses to non-nursing personnel, about 48 minutes per nurse shift could be redirected to client care. In a large hospital with 600 fulltime nurses, the result would be an additional 307 hours of direct client care a day. Calculating the results of this timesaving strategy in another way shows an even greater impact: the changes would contribute the equivalent of the work of 48 additional fulltime nurses to direct client care. Many healthcare institutions are considering integrating units with similar patient populations and having them managed by a non-nurse manager, someone with business and management expertise and not necessarily nursing skills. However, as a group, nurses respect managers who have nursing expertise and are able to perform as nurses.

ORGANIZING YOUR WORK

Setting Your Own Goals

It is difficult to decide how to spend your time because there are so many things that need time. A good first step is to take a look at the situation and get an overview. Then ask yourself, “What are my goals?” Goals help clarify what you want and give you energy, direction, and focus. Once you know where you want to go, set priorities. This is not an easy task. Remember Alice’s conversation with the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland?

“Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?” asked Alice.

“That depends a good deal on where you want to go to,” said the Cat.

“I don’t care where,” said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

How can you get somewhere if you do not know where you want to go? It is important to explore your personal and career goals. This can help you make decisions about the future. This concept can be applied to day-today activities as well as help in career decisions. Ask yourself questions about what you want to accomplish over a particular time period. Personal development skills include discipline, goal setting, management and organizational skills, self-monitoring, and a positive attitude toward the job (Bos & Vaughn, 1998). Many of the personal management and organizational skills related to the workplace focus on time management and scheduling. Most new nurses have the skills required to perform the job but lack the personal management skills necessary to get the job done, and specifically time management.  To help organize your time, you need to set both short- and long-term goals. Short-term goals are those that you wish to accomplish within the near future. Setting up your day in an organized fashion is a short-term goal and so is scheduling a required AIDS course.  Long-term goals are those you wish to complete over a long period of time. Advanced  education and career goals are examples. A good question to ask yourself is, “What do I  see myself doing 5 years from now?’’ Every choice you make requires a different allocation of time (Moshovitz, 1993). Eleanor, a licensed practical nurse returning to school to obtain her associate’s degree iursing, was faced with a multitude of responsibilities. A wife, a mother of two toddlers, and a full-time staff member at a local hospital, Eleanor suddenly found herself in a situation in which there just were not enough hours in a day. She became convinced that becoming a registered nurse was an unobtainable goal. When asked where she wanted to be in 5 years, she answered, At this moment, I think, on an island in Tahiti!’’ Several of her instructors helped Eleanor develop a time plan. First, she was asked to list what she did each day and how much time each task required. This list included basic childcare, driving children to and from day care, shopping, cooking meals, cleaning, hours spent in the classroom, study hours, work hours, and time devoted to leisure. Once this was established, she was asked which tasks could be allocated to someone else (e.g., her husband), which tasks could be clustered (e.g., cooking for several days at a time), and which tasks could be shared. Eleanor’s husband was willing to assist with car pools, grocery shopping, and cleaning. Eleanor had never asked him for help before. Cooking meals was clustered: Eleanor made all the meals in 1 day and then froze and labeled them to be used later. This left time for other activities. Eleanor graduated at the top of her class and has subsequently completed her BSN and become a clinical preceptor for other associate degree students on a pediatric unit in a county hospital. She never did get to Tahiti, though. Organizing your work can eliminate extra steps or serious delays in completing your work. It can also reduce the amount of time spent doing things that are neither productive nor satisfying. Working on the most difficult tasks when you have the most energy decreases frustration later in the day when you may be more tired and less efficient. To begin managing your time, you need to develop a clearer understanding of how you use your time. Creating a personal time inventory helps you estimate how much time you spend in typical activities. Keeping the inventory for a week gives a fairly accurate estimate of how you spend your time. The inventory also helps identify “time wasters” (Gahar, 2000). To avoid time wasters, take control. It is important to prevent endless activities and other people controlling you. Every day, set priorities to help you meet your goals.

 

Lists

One of the most useful organizers is the “things to do” list. You can make this list either at the end of every day or at the beginning of each day before you do anything else. Some people say they do it at the end of the day because something always interferes at the beginning of the next day. Do not include routine tasks, because they  will make the list too long and you will do them without the extra reminder. If you are a team leader, place the unique tasks of the day on the list: team conference, telephone calls to families, discussion of a new project, or an in-service demonstration on a new piece of equipment. You may also want to arrange these things to do in order of their priority, starting with those that must be done on that day. Ask yourself the following questions regarding the tasks on the list (Moshovitz, 1993):

• What is the relative importance of each of these tasks?

• How much time will each task require?

• When must each task be completed?

• How much time and energy do you have to devote to these tasks?

If you find yourself postponing an item for several days, decide whether it should be given top priority the next day or dropped from the list as an unnecessary task. The list itself should be in a user-friendly form: on your electronic organizer, in your pocket, or on a clipboard. Checking the list several times a day quickly becomes a good habit. Computerized calendar-creator programs help in setting priorities and guiding daily activities. These programs can be set to appear on the desktop when you turn on your computer and give an overview of the day, week, or month. This calendar acts as an automated “things to do” list. Your daily things to do list may become your most important time manager. Box 2 summarizes ways to determine how to distribute your time.

 

 

Tickler Files

Tickler files might be called long-term lists. The basic principle of a tickler file is that you create a system to remind yourself of approaching deadlines and due dates. Today, computerized tickler files can be created by using calendar-creator programs. At the beginning of the semester, students are told the examination dates and when papers will be due. Many students find it helpful to enter the dates on a semester-long calendar so that they can be seen at a glance. Then the students can see when clusters of assignments are due at the same time. This allows for advance planning or perhaps requests to change dates or get extensions.

 

Schedules and Blocks of Time

Without some type of schedule, you are more likely to drift through a day or bounce from one activity to another in a disorganized fashion. Assignment sheets, worksheets, flow  sheets, and critical pathways are all designed to help you plan client care and schedule your time effectively. The critical pathway is a guide to recommended treatments and optimal client outcomes (see Chapter 4). Assignment sheets indicate the clients for whom each staff member is responsible. Worksheets are then created to organize the daily care that must be given to the assigned clients (see Chapters 2 and 4 for examples of worksheets). Flow sheets are lists of items that must be recorded for each client. Effective worksheets and flow sheets schedule  and organize the day by providing reminders of various tasks and when they need to be done. The danger in using them, however, is that the more they divide the day into discrete segments, the more they fragment the work and discourage a holistic approach. If a worksheet becomes the focus of attention, the perspective of the whole and of the individuals who are our clients may be lost. Some activities must be done at a certain time. These activities structure the day or week to a great extent, and their timing may be out of your control. However, in every job there are tasks that can be done whenever you want to do them, as long as they are done on time.

In certaiursing jobs, reports and presentations are often required. For these activities, you may need to set aside blocks of time during which you can concentrate on the task. Trying to create and complete a report in 5- or 10-minute blocks of time is unrealistic. By the time you reorient yourself to the project, the time allotted is over and nothing has been accomplished. Setting aside large blocks of time to do complex tasks is much more efficient.

Consider your energy levels when beginning a big task. Start when levels are high and not you find yourself winding down. For example, if you are a morning person, plan your demanding work in the morning. If you get energy spurts later in the morning or early afternoon, plan to work on larger or heavier tasks at that time. Nursing shifts may be designed in 8-, 10-, or 12-hour blocks. Many nurses working the night shifts (11 P.M. to 7 A.M., or 7 P.M. to 7 A.M.) find they have more energy a little later into their shift rather than at the beginning, whereas nurses working the day shifts (7 A.M. to 3 P.M.; 7 A.M. to 7 P.M.) find they have the most energy at the beginning of their shift. Also, learn to delegate tasks that do not require professional nursing skills.

Some people go to work early to have a block of uninterrupted time. Others take work home with them for the same reason. This extends the workday and cuts into leisure time. The higher your stress level, the less effective you will be on the job—so don’t bring your work home with you. You need some time off to recharge your batteries (Turkington, 1996).

 

Filing Systems

Filing systems are helpful to keep track of important papers. Every professional needs to maintain copies of licenses, certifications, and continuing-education credits as well as current information about their specialty area. Keeping these organized in an easily retrievable system saves time and energy when you need to refer to them. Using color-coded folders is often helpful. Each color holds documents that are related to one another. For example, all continuing-education credits might be placed in a blue folder, anything pertaining to licensure in a yellow folder, and so on.

 

SETTING LIMITS

To set limits, it is necessary first to identify your objectives and arrange the actions needed to meet them in order of their priority (Haynes, 1991). It is also important to stick to these objectives, which can require considerable determination.

 

Saying No

Saying no to low-priority demands on your time is an important but difficult part of setting limits. Assertiveness and determination are necessary for effective time management. Learn to tactfully say no at least once a day (Hammerschmidt & Meador, 1993). Is it possible to say no to your supervisor or manager? It may not seem so at first, but actually many requests are negotiable. Requests sometimes are in conflict with career goals. Rather than sit on a committee in which you have no interest, respectfully decline and volunteer for one that holds promise for you as well as meets the needs of your unit. Can you refuse an assignment? Your manager may ask you to work overtime or to come in on your scheduled day off, but you can refuse. You may not refuse to care for a group of clients or take a report because you think the assignment is too difficult or unsafe. You may, however, discuss the situation with your supervisor and together work out alternatives. You can also confront the issue of understaffing by filing an unsafe staffing complaint (see Appendix 4). Failure to accept an assignment may result in accusations of abandonment. Some people have difficulty saying no. Ambition keeps some people from declining any opportunity, no matter how overloaded they are. Many individuals are afraid of displeasing others and therefore feel obligated to continuously take on all forms of additional assignments. Still others have such a great need to be needed that they continually give of themselves, not only to clients but also to their coworkers and supervisors. They fail to stop and replenish themselves and become exhausted. Remember, no one can be all things to all people at all times without creating serious guilt, anger, bitterness, and disillusionment. “Anyone who says it’s possible has never tried it’’ (Turkington, 1996, p. 9).

 

Eliminating Unnecessary Work

Some work has become so deeply embedded in our routines that it appears essential, although it is really unnecessary. Some nursing routines fall into this category. Taking vital signs, baths, linen changes, dressing changes, irrigations, and similar basic tasks are more often done according to schedule rather than according to client need, which may be much more or much less often than the routine specifies. Some of these tasks may be appropriately delegated to others.

• If clients are ambulatory, bed linens may not need to be changed daily. Incontinent and diaphoretic clients need to have fresh linens more frequently. Not all clients need a complete bed bath every day. Elderly clients have dry, fragile skin; giving them good mouth, facial, and perineal care may be all that is required on certain days. This should be included in the client’s care plan.

• Much paperwork is duplicative, and some is altogether unnecessary. For example, is it necessary to chart nursing interventions in two or three places on the client record? The use of charting by exception, flow sheets, and computerized records are attempts to eliminate some of these problems.

• Socialization in the workplace is an important aspect in maintaining interpersonal relationships. When there is a social component to interactions in a group, the result is usually positive. However, too much socialization can reduce productivity in the workplace, so judgment must be used in deciding when socializing is interfering with work.

You may create additional work for yourself without realizing it. How often do you walk back down the hall to obtain equipment when it all could have been gathered at one time? How many times do you walk to a client’s room instead of using the intercom, only to find that you need to go back to where you were to get what the client  needs? Is the staff providing personal care to clients who are well enough to meet some of these needs themselves?

 

STREAMLINING YOUR WORK

 

Many tasks cannot be eliminated or delegated, but they can be done more efficiently. There are many sayings in time management that reflect the principle of streamlining work. “Work smarter, not harder’’ is a favorite one that should appeal to nurses facing increasing demands on time. “Never handle a piece of paper more than once’’ is a more specific one, reflecting the need to avoid procrastination in your work. “A stitch in time saves nine’’ reflects the degree to which preventive action saves time in the long run.

Several methods of working smarter and not harder are:

• Gathering materials, such as bed linens, for all of your clients at one time. As you go to each room, leave the linen so that it will be there when you need it.

• While giving a bed bath or providing other personal care, perform some of the aspects of the physical assessment, such as taking vital signs, skin assessment, and parts of the neurological and musculoskeletal assessment. Prevention is always a good idea.

• If a client does not “look right,’’ do not ignore your instincts. The client is probably having a problem.

• If you are not sure about a treatment or medication, ask before you proceed. It is usually less time-consuming to prevent a problem than it is to resolve one.

• When you set aside time to do a specific task that has a high priority, stick to your schedule and complete it.

• Do not allow interruptions while you are completing paperwork, such as transcribing orders.

What else can you do to streamline your work? A few general suggestions follow, but the first one, a time log, can assist you in developing others unique to your particular job. If you complete the log correctly, a few surprises about how you really spend your time are almost guaranteed.

 

Keeping a Time Log

 

Our perception of time is elastic. People do not accurately estimate the time they spend on any particular task, so we cannot rely on our memories for accurate information about how we spend our time. The time log is an objective source of information. Most people spend a much smaller amount of their time on productive activities than they estimate. Once you see how large amounts of your time are spent, you will be able to eliminate or reduce the time spent oonproductive or minimally productive activities (Drucker, 1967; Robichaud, 1986). For example, many nurses spend a great deal of time searching for or waiting for missing medications, equipment, or supplies. Before beginning client care, assemble all the equipment and supplies you will need, and check the client’s medication drawer against the medication administration record so that you can order anything that is missing before you begin.

Figure 6–1 is an example of a time log in which you enter your activities every halfhour. This means that you will have to pay careful attention to what you are doing so that you can record it accurately. Do not postpone the recording; do it every 30 minutes. A 3-day sample may be enough for you to see a pattern emerging. It is suggested that you repeat the process again in 6 months, both because work situations change and to see if you have made any long-lasting changes in your use of time.

Reducing Interruptions

Everyone experiences interruptions. Some of these are welcome and necessary, but too many interfere with your work. Interruptions must be kept to a minimum or eliminated if possible. Closing the door to a client’s room may reduce interruptions. You may have to ask visitors to wait a few minutes before you can answer their questions, although you must remain sensitive to their needs and return to them as soon as possible.

There is nothing wrong with asking a colleague who wants your assistance to wait a few minutes if you are engaged in another activity. Interruptions that occur when you are trying to pour medications or make calculations can cause errors. Physicians and other professionals often request nursing attention wheurses are involved with client care tasks. Find out if a nonlicensed person may be of assistance. If not, ask the physician to wait, stating that you will be more than glad to help as soon as you complete what you are doing. Be courteous, but be firm; you are busy also.

Categorizing Activities

Clustering certain activities helps eliminate the feeling of bouncing from one unrelated task to another. It also makes your caregiving more holistic. You may, for example, find that documentation takes less time if you do it while you are still with the client or immediately after seeing a client. The information is still fresh in your mind, and you do not have to rely ootes or recall. Many healthcare institutions have switched to computerized charting, with the computers placed at the bedside. This set-up assists in documenting care and interventions while the nurse is still with the client. Also, try to follow a task through to completion before beginning another.

 

Finding the Fastest Way

Many time-consuming tasks can be made more efficient through the use of automation. Narcotic delivery systems that deliver the correct dose and electronically record the dose, the name of the client, and the name of the healthcare personnel removing the medication are being used in many institutions. This system saves staff  time in documentation and in performing a narcotic count at the end of each shift (Meyer, 1992). Efficient systems do not have to be complex. Using a preprinted color-coded sticker system helps to identify clients who must be without food or fluids (NPO) for tests or surgery, those who require 24-hour urine collections, or those who are having special cultures done. The informatioeed not be written or entered repeatedly if stickers are used.

 

Automating Repetitive Tasks

Developing techniques for repetitive tasks is similar to finding the fastest method, but it focuses on specific tasks that are repeated again and again, such as client teaching. Many clients come to the hospital or ambulatory center for surgery or invasive diagnostic tests for same-day treatment. This does not give nurses much teaching time. Using videotapes and pamphlets as teaching aids can reduce the time needed to share the information, allowing the nurse to be available to answer individual questions and create individual adaptations. Many facilities are using these techniques for cardiac rehabilitation, preoperative teaching, and infant-care instruction.

 

CONCLUSION

Time can be our best friend or our worst enemy, depending on our perspective and how we manage it. It is important to identify how you feel about time and to assess your own time management skills. Nursing requires that we perform numerous activities within what often seems to be a very short period of time. Knowing this can create stress. Learn to delegate. Learn to say, “I would really like to help you; can it wait until I finish this?’’ Learn to say no. Most of all, learn how to make the most of your day. Finally, remember that 8 hours should be designated as sleep time and several more as personal or leisure (“time off’’) time.

S T U D Y Q U E S T I O N S

1. Develop a personal time inventory. Identify your time wasters. How do you think you can eliminate these activities?

2. Create your own client care worksheet. How does this worksheet help you organize your clinical day?

3. Keep a log of your clinical day. Which activities took the most time and why? Which activities took the least time? What situations interfered with your work? What could you do to reduce the interference?

4. Identify a task that is done repeatedly in your clinical area. Think of a new, more efficient way to do that task. How could you implement this new routine? How could you evaluate its efficiency?

 

 

CRITICAL THINKING EXERCISE

Antonio was recently hired as a team leader for a busy cardiac step-down unit. Nursing responsibilities of the team leader, in addition to client care, include meeting daily with team members, reviewing all admissions and discharges for acuity and length of stay, and documentation of all clients who exceeded length of stay and the reasons. At the end of each month, the team leaders are required to meet with unit managers to review the client care load and team member performance.

This is the last week of the month, and Antonio has a meeting with the unit manager at the end of the week. He is 2 weeks behind on staff evaluations and documentation of clients who exceeded length of stay. He is becoming very stressed over his team leader responsibilities.

1. Why do you think Antonio is feeling stressed?

2. Make a “things to do” list for Antonio.

3. Develop a time log for Antonio to use to analyze  his activities.

4. How can Antonio organize and streamline his work?

 

 

 

 

Time Management for Leaders

Time in the organization is constant and irreversible. Nothing can be substituted for time. Worse, once wasted, it caever be regained. Leaders have numerous demands on their limited time. Time keeps getting away and they have trouble controlling it. No matter what their position, they cannot stop time, they cannot slow it down, nor can they speed it up. Thus, time needs to be effectively managed to be effective.

On the other hand, you can become such a time fanatic convert by building time management spreadsheets, creating priority folders and lists, color coding tasks, and separating paperwork into priority piles that you start to waste more time by managing it to deeply.

In addition, time management techniques may become so complex that you soon give up and return to your old time wasting methods.

What most people actually need to do is to analyze how they spend their time and implement a few time saving methods that will gain them the most time. The following are examples of some of the biggest time wasters:

o        Worrying about it and putting it off, which leads to indecision

o        Creating inefficiency by implementing first instead of analyzing first

o        Unanticipated interruptions that do not pay off

o        Procrastinating

o        Making unrealistic time estimates

o        Unnecessary errors (not enough time to do it right, but enough time to do it over)

o        Crisis management

o        Poor organization

o        Ineffective meetings

o        Micro-managing by failing to let others perform and grow

o        Doing urgent rather than important tasks

o        Poor planning and lack of contingency plans

o        Failing to delegate

o        Lacking priorities, standards, policies, and procedures

The following are examples of time savers:

o        Managing the decision making process, not the decisions.

o        Concentrating on doing only one task at a time.

o        Establishing daily, short-term, mid-term, and long-term priorities.

o        Handling correspondence expeditiously with quick, short letters and memos.

o        Throwing unneeded things away.

o        Establishing personal deadlines and ones for the organization.

o        Not wasting other people’s time.

o        Ensuring all meetings have a purpose, time limit, and include only essential people.

o        Getting rid of busywork.

o        Maintaining accurate calendars; abide by them.

o        Knowing when to stop a task, policy, or procedure.

o        Delegating everything possible and empowering subordinates.

o        Keeping things simple.

o        Ensuring time is set aside to accomplish high priority tasks.

o        Setting aside time for reflection.

o        Using checklists and To-Do lists.

o        Adjusting priorities as a result of new tasks.

A Simple Time Management Plan

Effective time management is crucial to accomplishing organization tasks as well as to avoiding wasting valuable organizational assets. The following nine rules will aid you:

Get Started – This is one of the all time classic time wasters. Often, as much time is wasted avoiding a project, as actually accomplishing the project. A survey showed that the main difference between good students and average students was the ability to start their homework quickly.

Get into a routine – Mindless routines may curb your creativity, but when used properly, they can release time and energy. Choose a time to get certain task accomplished, such as answering email, working on a project, completing paper work; and then sticking to it every day. Use a day planning calendar. There are a variety of formats on the market. Find one that fits your needs.

Do not say yes to too many things – Saying yes can lead to unexpected treasures, but the mistake we often make is to say yes to too many things. This causes us to live to the priorities of others, rather than according to our own. Every time you agree to do something else, something else will not get done. Learn how to say no.

Do not commit yourself to unimportant activities, no matter how far ahead they are – Even if a commitment is a year ahead, it is still a commitment. Often we agree to do something that is far ahead, when we would not normally do it if it was in the near future. No matter how far ahead it is, it will still take the same amount of your time.

Divide large tasks – Large tasks should be broken up into a series of small tasks. By creating small manageable tasks, the entire task will eventually be accomplished. Also, by using a piecemeal approach, you will be able to fit it into your hectic schedule.

Do not put unneeded effort into a project – There is a place for perfectionism, but for most activities, there comes a stage when there is not much to be gained from putting extra effort into it. Save perfectionism for the tasks that need it.

Deal with it for once and for all – We often start a task, think about it, and then lay it aside. This gets repeated over and over. Either deal with the task right away or decide when to deal with it.

Set start and stop times – When arranging start times, also arrange stop times. This will call for some estimating, but your estimates will improve with practice. This will allow you and others to better schedule activities. Also, challenge the theory, “Work expands to fill the allotted time.” See if you can shave some time off your deadlines to make it more efficient.

Plan your activities – Schedule a regular time to plan your activities. If time management is important to you, then allow the time to plan it wisely.

The Big Picture

Keep the big picture of what you want to achieve in sight. Checklists normally have such items as: “staff meeting at 2:00” and “complete the Anderson Company memo Tuesday.” In addition to these small tasks, ensure you set quality time for the important tasks, for example:

o        Develop a relationship with Sam in Marketing who may be helpful to me in the long run.

o        Meet with all my workers on a regular basis. (It is your workers who will determine if you are a great leader, not you!)

o        Read the new novel by your favorite writer that just came out.

o        Coaching my employees on providing excellent customer service because that is where my vision is pointing to.

o        Set aside time for interruptions. For example, the 15 minute coffee break with Sam that may lead to a great idea.

In other words, do not get caught up in short term demands. Get a real life! One quarter to one third of the items on your To-Do list need to contain the important long range items that will get you, your workers, and your organization on its way to excellence.

The Big Rocks of Time

Stephen Covey (1996) tells a great story about the real things that we should devote our time to:

One day an expert in time management was speaking to a group of business students. As he stood in front of the group of high-powered overachievers he said, “Okay, time for a quiz.” He then pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouthed Mason jar and set it on the table. He produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them one at a time into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, “Is this jar full?” Everyone in the class said, “Yes.” Then he said, “Really?”

He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar causing it to work down into the space between the big rocks. Then he asked the group once more, “Is the jar full?” By this time the class was on to him. “Probably not,” one of them answered. “Good!” he replied.

He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand and started dumping the sand in the jar until it filled the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, “Is this jar full?” “No!” the class shouted. Once again he said, “Good.”

Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked at the class and asked, “What is the point of this illustration?”

One eager beaver raised his hand and said, “The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard you can always fit some more things in it!” “No,” the speaker replied, “that’s not the point.”

“The truth this illustration teaches us is that if you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all. What are the ‘big rocks’ in your life? Your children, your loved ones, your education, your dreams, a worthy cause, teaching others, doing things that you love, your health; your mate. Remember to put these BIG ROCKS in first or you’ll never get them in at all. If you sweat about the little stuff then you’ll fill your life with little things and you’ll never have the real quality time you need to spend on the big, important stuff.”

So, tonight, or in the morning, when you are reflecting on this short story, ask yourself this question: What are the ‘big rocks’ in my life? Then, put those in your jar first.

Time Management Activity

1. Have the learners read the Time Management Model below. Also note they will need to read the section on The Big Rocks of Time (about 5 min.).

2. Break them into small groups composed of 2 to 4 learners. Have them discuss what they have just read (about 10 min.).

3. The learners will now work alone. Ensure each person has a pen and paper. Have them divided the paper into two columns: Life and Work. Ask them to list their most important priorities in the respective column. If a priority spans both columns, then have them draw a line into the next column to show the priority is both a life and work priority (about 15 to 20 min.).

4. The learners should join their previous group (or you can create new small groups) and discuss their lists with each other (about 25 min.):

o        Will the items that span both list be the easier ones to accomplish?

o        How will you handle the items that might contradict each other? For example spend more time with family vs. work harder to get promoted?

o        Which column(s) contains the most items and most important items? Why?

o        What must you do to ensure these big priorities get accomplished?

Reading Material: Time Management Model

The ability to mange time normally takes two skills:

o        Organization: the ability to organize tasks according to their priorities

o        Task: the ability to focus on the task on hand

This is shown in the model below:

o        Perfectionists will often spend too much time arranging their priorities, but do not focus on the task at hand.

o        Slobs are always in disarray because they fail to prioritize and do not focus on the task at hand.

o        Doers focus on a task they are performing, but often fail to accomplish the important ones because they fail to prioritize.

o        Time Managers both prioritize their tasks so that they know which ones need accomplished first and always focus on the task at hand.

We can also rearrange the two dimensions so that they shows the four steps of good time management when performing a task:

1.                Focuses upon the task on hand to discover what needs to be accomplish.

2.                Organizes the materials so that the task can be accomplished.

3.                Uses the materials to get the task done

4.                Uses one’s inner-abilities and instincts to wrap things up (know when to stop and what to finish) so that the next priority task can be started — don’t waste time on the unimportant details.

In The Big Rocks of Time (it’s the last section of the page), Stephen Covey uses jars as a metaphor for the amount of time we have and rocks for the tasks that must be prioritized (the bigger the rock, the more important it is). And just as a jar can only hold so many rocks, we only have so much time in a day to get the right things done, thus it is important that we decide which tasks are the big ones (the most important) to ensure they fit within our “time jar.”

Personal Time Management for Busy Managers

Time passes, quickly. This article looks at the basics of Personal Time Management and describes how the Manager can assume control of this basic resource.

The “Eff” words

The three “Eff” words are [concise OED]:

·                     Effective – having a definite or desired effect

·                     Efficient – productive with minimum waste or effort

·                     Effortless – seemingly without effort; natural, easy

Personal Time Management is about winning the “Eff” words: making them apply to you and your daily routines.

What is Personal Time Management?

Personal Time Management is about controlling the use of your most valuable (and undervalued) resource. Consider these two questions: what would happen if you spent company money with as few safeguards as you spend company time, when was the last time you scheduled a review of your time allocation?

The absence of Personal Time Management is characterized by last minute rushes to meet dead-lines, meetings which are either double booked or achieve nothing, days which seem somehow to slip unproductively by, crises which loom unexpected from nowhere. This sort of environment leads to inordinate stress and degradation of performance: it must be stopped.

Poor time management is often a symptom of over confidence: techniques which used to work with small projects and workloads are simply reused with large ones. But inefficiencies which were insignificant in the small role are ludicrous in the large. You caot drive a motor bike like a bicycle, nor can you manage a supermarket-chain like a market stall. The demands, the problems and the payoffs for increased efficiency are all larger as your responsibility grows; you must learn to apply proper techniques or be bettered by those who do. Possibly, the reason Time Management is poorly practised is that it so seldom forms a measured part of appraisal and performance review; what many fail to foresee, however, is how intimately it is connected to aspects which do.

Personal Time Management has many facets. Most managers recognize a few, but few recognize them all. There is the simple concept of keeping a well ordered diary and the related idea of planned activity. But beyond these, it is a tool for the systematic ordering of your influence on events, it underpins many other managerial skills such as Effective Delegation and Project Planning.

Personal Time Management is a set of tools which allow you to:

Ø  eliminate wastage

Ø  be prepared for meetings

Ø  refuse excessive workloads

Ø  monitor project progress

Ø  allocate resource (time) appropriate to a task’s importance

Ø  ensure that long term projects are not neglected

Ø  plan each day efficiently

Ø  plan each week effectively and to do so simply with a little self-discipline.

Since Personal Time Management is a management process just like any other, it must be planned, monitored and regularly reviewed. In the following sections, we will examine the basic methods and functions of Personal Time Management. Since true understanding depends upons experience, you will be asked to take part by looking at aspects of your own work. If you do not have time to this right now – ask yourself: why not?

Current Practice

What this article is advocating is the adoption of certain practices which will give you greater control over the use and allocation of your primary resource: time. Before we start on the future, it is worth considering the present. This involves the simplistic task of keeping a note of how you spend your time for a suitably long period of time (say a week). I say simplistic since all you have to do is create a simple table, photocopy half-a-dozen copies and carry it around with you filling in a row every time you change activity. After one week, allocate time (start as you mean to go on) to reviewing this log.

Waste Disposal

We are not looking here to create new categories of work to enhance efficiency (that comes later) but simply to eliminate wastage in your current practice. The average IEE Chartered Engineer earns about 27,000 pounds per annum: about 12.50 pounds per hour, say 1 pound every 5 minutes; for how many 5 minute sections of your activity would you have paid a pound? The first step is a critical appraisal of how you spend your time and to question some of your habits. In your time log, identify periods of time which might have been better used.

There are various sources of waste. The most common are social: telephone calls, friends dropping by, conversations around the coffee machine. It would be foolish to eliminate all non-work related activity (we all need a break) but if it’s a choice between chatting to Harry in the afternoon and meeting the next pay-related deadline … Your time log will show you if this is a problem and you might like to do something about it before your boss does.

In your time log, look at each work activity and decide objectively how much time each was worth to you, and compare that with the time you actually spent on it. An afternoon spent polishing an internal memo into a Pulitzer prize winning piece of provocative prose is waste; an hour spent debating the leaving present of a colleague is waste; a minute spent sorting out the paper-clips is waste (unless relaxation). This type of activity will be reduced naturally by managing your own time since you will not allocate time to the trivial. Specifically, if you have a task to do, decide before hand how long it should take and work to that deadline – then move on to the next task.

Another common source of waste stems from delaying work which is unpleasant by finding distractions which are less important or unproductive. Check your log to see if any tasks are being delayed simply because they are dull or difficult.

Time is often wasted in changing between activities. For this reason it is useful to group similar tasks together thus avoiding the start-up delay of each. The time log will show you where these savings can be made. You may want then to initiate a routine which deals with these on a fixed but regular basis.

Doing Subordinate’s Work

Having considered what is complete waste, we now turn to what is merely inappropriate. Often it is simpler to do the job yourself. Using the stamp machine to frank your own letters ensures they leave by the next post; writing the missing summary in the latest progress report from your junior is more pleasant than sending it back (and it lets you choose the emphasis). Rubbish!

Large gains can be made by assigning secretarial duties to secretaries: they regularly catch the next post, they type a lot faster than you. Your subordinate should be told about the missing section and told how (and why) to slant it. If you have a task which could be done by a subordinate, use the next occasion to start training him/her to do it instead of doing it yourself – you will need to spend some time monitoring the task thereafter, but far less that in doing it yourself.

Doing the work of Others

A major impact upon your work can be the tendency to help others with their’s. Now, in the spirit of an open and harmonious work environment it is obviously desirable that you should be willing to help out – but check your work log and decide how much time you spend on your own work and how much you spend on others’. For instance, if you spend a morning checking the grammar and spelling in the training material related to you last project, then that is waste. Publications should do the proof-reading, that is their job, they are better at it than you; you should deal at the technical level.

The remaining problem is your manager. Consider what periods in your work log were used to perform tasks that your manager either repeated or simply negated by ignoring it or redefining the task, too late. Making your manager efficient is a very difficult task, but where it impinges upon your work and performance you must take the bull by the horns (or whatever) and confront the issue.

Managing your manager may seem a long way from Time Management but no one impacts upon your use of time more than your immediate superior. If a task is ill defined – seek clarification (is that a one page summary or a ten page report?). If seemingly random alterations are asked in your deliverables, ask for the reasons and next time clarify these and similar points at the beginning. If the manager is difficult, try writing a small specification for each task before beginning it and have it agreed. While you caot tactfully hold your manager to this contract if he/she has a change of mind, it will at least cause him/her to consider the issues early on, before you waste your time on false assumptions.

External Appointments

The next stage of Personal Time Management is to start taking control of your time. The first problem is appointments. Start with a simple appointments diary. In this book you will have (or at least should have) a complete list of all your known appointments for the forseeable future. If you have omitted your regular ones (since you remember them anyway) add them now.

Your appointments constitute your interaction with other people; they are the agreed interface between your activities and those of others; they are determined by external obligation. They often fill the diary. Now, be ruthless and eliminate the unnecessary. There may be committees where you caot productively contribute or where a subordinate might be (better) able to participate. There may be long lunches which could be better run as short conference calls. There may be interviews which last three times as long as necessary because they are scheduled for a whole hour. Eliminate the wastage starting today.

The next stage is to add to your diary lists of other, personal activity which will enhance your use of the available time. Consider: what is the most important type of activity to add to your diary? No:- stop reading for a moment and really, consider.

The single most important type of activity is those which will save you time: allocate time to save time, a stitch in time saves days. And most importantly of all, always allocate time to time management: at least five minutes each and every day.

For each appointment left in the diary, consider what actions you might take to ensure that no time is wasted: plan to avoid work by being prepared. Thus, if you are going to a meeting where you will be asked to comment on some report, allocate time to read it so avoiding delays in the meeting and increasing your chances of making the right decision the first time. Consider what actions need to be done before AND what actions must be done to follow-up. Even if the latter is unclear before the event, you must still allocate time to review the outcome and to plan the resulting action. Simply mark in your diary the block of time necessary to do this and, when the time comes, do it.

Scheduling Projects

The most daunting external appointments are deadlines: often, the handover of deliverables. Do you leave the work too late? Is there commonly a final panic towards the end? Are the last few hectic hours often marred by errors? If so, use Personal Time Management.

The basic idea is that your management of personal deadlines should be achieved with exactly the same techniques you would use in a large project:

Ø  check the specification – are you sure that you agree on what is to be delivered

Ø  break the task down into small sections so that you can estimate the time needed for each, and monitor progress

Ø  schedule reviews of your progress (e.g. after each sub-task) so that you can respond quickly to difficulties

Like most management ideas, this is common sense. Some people, however, refute it because in practise they find that it merely shows the lack of time for a project which must be done anyway. This is simply daft! If simple project planning and time management show that the task caot be done, then it will not be done – but by knowing at the start, you have a chance to do something about it.

An impossible deadline affects not only your success but also that of others. Suppose a product is scheduled for release too soon because you agree to deliver too early. Marketing and Sales will prepare customers to expect the product showing why they really need it – but it will not arrive. The customers will be dissatisfied or even lost, the competition will have advanced warning, and all because you agreed to do the impossible.

You can avoid this type of problem. By practising time management, you will always have a clear understanding of how you spend your time and what time is unallocated. If a new task is thrust upon you, you can estimate whether it is practical. The project planning tells you how much time is needed and the time management tells you how much time is available.

There are four ways to deal with impossible deadlines:

Ø Get the deadline extended

Ø Scream for more resources

Ø Get the Deliverable redefined to something practical

Ø State the position clearly so that your boss (and his/her boss) have fair warning

If this simple approach seems unrealistic, consider the alternative. If you have an imposed, but unobtainable, deadline and you accept it; then the outcome is your assured failure. Of course, there is a fifth option: move to a company with realistic schedules.

One defence tactic is to present your superior with a current list of your obligations indicating what impact the new task will have on these, and ask him/her to assign the priorities: “I can’t do them all, which should I slip?”. Another tactic is to keep a data base of your time estimates and the actual time taken by each task. This will quickly develop into a source of valuable data and increase the accuracy of your planning predictions.

There is no reason why you should respond only to externally imposed deadlines. The slightly shoddy product which you hand-over after the last minute rush (and normally have returned for correction the following week) could easily have been polished if only an extra day had been available – so move your personal deadline forward and allow yourself the luxury of leisured review before the product is shipped.

Taking this a step further, the same sort of review might be applied to the product at each stage of its development so that errors and rework time are reduced. Thus by allocating time to quality review, you save time in rework; and this is all part of project planning supported and monitored by your time management.

Finally, for each activity you should estimate how much time it is worth and allocate only that amount. This critical appraisal may even suggest a different approach or method so that the time matches the task’s importance. Beware of perfection, it takes too long – allocate time for “fitness for purpose”, then stop.

Monitoring Staff

Your Personal Time Management also effects other people, particularly your subordinates. Planning projects means not only allocating your time but also the distribution of tasks; and this should be done in the same planned, monitored and reviewed manner as your own scheduling.

Any delegated task should be specified with an (agreed) end date. As a Manager, you are responsible for ensuring that the tasks allocated to your subordinates are completed successfully. Thus you should ensure that each task is concluded with a deliverable (for instance, a memo to confirm completion) – you make an entry in your diary to check that this has arrived. Thus, if you agree the task for Tuesday, Wednesday should have an entry in your diary to check the deliverable. This simple device allows you to monitor progress and to initiate action as necessary.

Long term Objectives

There are many long term objectives which the good Manager must achieve, particularly with regard to the development, support and motivation of his/her work-team. Long term objectives have the problem of being important but not urgent; they do not have deadlines, they are distant and remote. For this reason, it is all too easy to ignore them in favour of the urgent and immediate. Clearly a balance must be struck.

The beauty of Time Management is that the balance can be decided objectively (without influence from immediate deadlines) and self-imposed through the use of the diary. Simply, a manager might decide that one hour a week should be devoted to personnel issues and would then allocate a regular block of time to that activity. Of course if the factory is on fire, or World War III is declared, the manager may have to re-allocate this time in a particular week – but barring such crises, this time should then become sacrosanct and always applied to the same, designated purpose.

Similarly, time may be allocated to staff development and training. So if one afternoon a month is deemed to be a suitable allocation, then simply designate the second Thursday (say) of each month and delegate the choice of speakers. The actual time spent in managing this sort of long term objective is small, but without that deliberate planning it will not be achieved.

Once you have implemented Personal Time Management, it is worth using some of that control to augment your own career. Some quiet weekend, you should sketch out your own long term objectives and plan a route to them. As you would any long term objective, allocate time to the necessary sub-tasks and monitor your progress. If you do not plan where you want to go, you are unlikely to get there.

Concluding Remarks.

Personal Time Management is a systematic application of common sense strategies. It requires little effort, yet it promotes efficient work practices by highlighting wastage and it leads to effective use of time by focusing it on your chosen activities. Personal Time Management does not solve your problems; it reveals them, and provides a structure to implement and monitor solutions. It enables you to take control of your own time – how you use it is then up to you.

You finally decide to sit down to begin your paper. As your computer warms up, you pick up a journal that has sat in the “to be read” pile for a month. There is an interesting article on innovative research methods in your field, so you decide to take notes. Two hours later, the paper is still untouched when there is a phone call from your advisor. It seems that he was given an opportunity for a sabbatical in Europe, and the date for your proposal has been moved up six months. You immediately shove the books aside (for the paper you thought you would work on), and you begin outlining the proposal. After a few moments, there is a knock at the door. You knew your friend was having a difficult personal time but why did it have to turn into a crisis now? Being the sensitive and available person that you are, you set aside your work to listen and comfort your friend. After several hours, you realize, as your friend is leaving, that you haven’t eaten, you never started on your paper, the proposal is still mainly a collection of ideas in your head; and that you were so preoccupied with the personal pressures you were feeling that you wonder if you really did your friend any good. However, you decide that the urgent things will always push out things you planned so you start to wonder if you should give up planning.

The scenario described is often referred to as “The Tyranny of the Urgent.” There are some things that are out of our control, like a friend with a crisis, but there are some things that are a natural result of poor planning or an inability to say no to things. The critical issue is to not give up on organizing, planning and prioritizing. Some new method or trick may be a key to your becoming more organized, if only you have the emotional energy to try again.

The struggle of time management isn’t simply a case of cutting back or acquiring new skills because the exhaustion and fatigue we feel has impact on so many areas of life–our relationships, disposition, availability, etc. The pressures of deadlines and requirements hit us in different ways. Some of us will withdraw from people and attempt to accomplish everything, while others see that they perform better when they put limits on the amount of time devoted to work with a healthy balance of leisure and distractions.

We are each refreshed and restored in different ways, so it is essential to discover which activities drain and which renew your energy levels. Some like to sit and read while others need athletic or social activity. We need to care for our emotional well-being as we work on our management skills.

One way to assess how you are doing in your planning is to keep a record for one week of how you spent your time. This journal could also be a means to chronicle your thoughts and feelings from a week under pressure. You may gain insights on how to adjust the use of your time and you may discover the best environment and hours for your personal productivity. Over time, a personal journal is a great asset for showing your progress in research, improved time management, and other personal goals (and a source of strokes if your advisor fails to give the feedback you desire).

Initial Suggestions

Make peace with yourself. Find the schedule that fits you best and make it work, whether it means working through the night with a stereo blaring or at 5am in total silence. Schedule your toughest work during your most productive hours. Attempt to have times when you allow no interruptions (don’t even answer the phone) to tackle projects that require intense concentration.

Utilize a schedule (with set activities written in), a planner with sections for different projects (helpful for jotting ideas that pertain to a specific project), and a Things-To-Do-List where you record each item that requires your attention. But most importantly, prioritize your tasks so that you are working on the higher priority issues first.

Lord Chesterfield stated, “If you watch the minutes carefully, the hours will take care of themselves.” It is most productive if you are able to utilize your time twice. This might mean having a journal with you while riding the bus, balancing your checkbook during slow office hours, or listening to tapes during drive time. Ask yourself regularly, “Am I making the most of my time right now?” The 80/20 rule states that we tend to spend 80% of our time on projects that have a 20% return. Concentrate your efforts on the 20% of things that have the highest value to you.

There is great benefit in handling things only once. If it doesn’t require immediate attention but can’t be thrown away, put it out of your sight or off your desk in a file or drawer for later attention. But don’t put off the challenging tasks just because they feel overwhelming. The Swiss Cheese Technique calls for breaking major projects into smaller steps that can be handled in shorter time slots. You may not have five hours to work on a paper but in 20 minutes you can outline a section.

A Step By Step Approach to Time Management

Stephen Covey is the current organization guru that commands $45,000 per speaking engagement. He also earned $90 million last year on books, supplies, and materials. One of Covey’s most basic rules is to begin with the end in mind. This focus on one’s GOALS provides the vision and motivation to see the task through. That is probably the best place to start in our discussion of Time Management. We will first try to understand the crucial importance of goal-setting. Then we’ll look at developing a personal calendar, schedule, and to-do list. Finally, we’ll discuss how to overcome scheduling barriers.

1. Goals

As Covey explains, goals give a framework for motivation. The more important goals one needs to make are those that cover the broad areas of our personal lives. Too often we start with specific goals and hope they will fit into the big picture (i.e., goals for dieting or balancing the budget), when we really need to identify a few broad categories (i.e., career, family, health, finances, intellectual, hobbies, etc.). It might be helpful to write four or five such categories along the top of a piece of paper and make columns for each.

This sort of forethought is actually a great time saver in that it gives a framework to decide what is a primary value and what is not. And yet this sort of planning time is usually neglected. Most executives, for example, feel that the number one problem they face is a lack of planning and think time.

Next, identify three to five goals per category. For example, in the category of “family,” one goal might be to make my relationship with my spouse my highest priority, or to find personal balance, or to impart values to our kids, etc.

Then, using another sheet of paper for the first category, enumerate the goals along the side of the page and make a statement for each goal in that category. These goals should be specific enough to address the real-life issues you are facing. Regarding my goal to make my relationship with my wife my top priority, I’ve written the statement, “If Mom ain’t happy, nobody’s happy! Check with her on this once a week.” Regarding your career planning, you might make the statement, “Get a teaching position by next January.” In other words, these statements make your goals measurable. They should also include a date (deadline), and should be achievable. You should be able to reflect your goals through scheduled activities.

2. Activities

Your next objective is to identify the activities that will help you get to your goal. For imparting values to your kids, you might decide to read a good book with them at dinner or bedtime (i.e., The Book of Virtues by Win. Bennett).

How best does one best turn goals into reality? Try these three steps for starters. First, brainstorm. Create a list of all possible activities that might help you to reach your goal. Second, prioritize your activities. Here it might be helpful to employ the feedback of your spouse or a good friend. If this person both cares about you and yet can remain objective, they might help you to be realistic about which activities will actually work toward desired results and which are simply more enjoyable. Third, attempt to accomplish the activities of higher priority that day. Remember the 80-20 rule — you need to focus 80% of your time on those activities of highest priority. In section 4 are suggestions on how to prepare a schedule that reflects one’s highest values.

3. Using a Calendar

A calendar can stimulate your vision, aid long-term planning, and help measure your personal planning success. One graduate student has created a master calendar for his entire graduate experience, with critical dates factored in. Included in his calendar is a dissertation checklist. We have included that list at the end of these notes.

Also, many students have found a monthly calendar to be quite helpful. It proves to be more portable than a large calendar, and will help you avoid schedule conflicts.

4. Scheduling your Daily Values

According to Peter Drucker, “time is the scarcest resource available.” And yet, as we saw in our opening illustration, many times our highest priorities are not reflected in our actual daily activities. The Barna Research Group, in their 1990 study on graduate students, found that most students considered close personal friendships to be their top personal priority — and yet little time was consistently given to relationship-building activities. Matching one’s activities with one’s values is truly no simple task!

And yet, to be effective in developing a balanced life, this connection is crucial. Here are some suggestions for making that connection:

a. Place in your schedule only the events that actually match the goals on your goal sheets.

b. Plan to plan! In other words, set in your schedule each week a small amount of time to plan for the following week. That fifteen to thirty minutes could be the most valuable activity of your week! (It has been said that every hour in effective planning saves three to four hours in execution and results.)

c. Review your schedule daily. You may want to place your daily goals at the top of your schedule for quick review.

d. Schedule time for flexibility, correspondence, and crisis management. If you can learn- to have “scheduled crises” you will be able to keep them from taking over your personal and family time. Then you should be able to keep an “ideal” work week to about 50 hours per week or less. (A study was done of those who worked 50 or more hours per week, and found that their productivity declined proportionately as their number of work hours increased past 50.)

e. Evaluate your schedule weekly. As I suggested earlier, begin keeping a journal of how time is actually spent. Drucker points out that astute managers constantly assess where their time is going for increased productivity.

f. Manage a to do list. It has been said that the palest ink is better than the best memory. Therefore, I have always recommended writing down EVERYTHING! Once your list is developed, prioritize your activities by placing an H, M, or L (for High, Medium, or Low) in front of each item. This system is so simple and yet can be the key factor in doubling or tripling your output. The idea is to use one’s most productive hours for H items, and other hours for the M and L items. These M and L items will become higher priorities as time goes on.

5. Tips for Effectiveness

Goals, schedules, and to-do lists are incredibly helpful items — but only if we continue to actually USE them. Here are some ideas for staying effective in your time management efforts. First, discover relationships that refresh you (as opposed to always spending time with those who drain you). I highly recommend a support group for every graduate student. Second, when possible, use your time twice. Carry stationary with you to write notes to friends if you ride a bus or are caught waiting outside your advisor’s office. Third, set study times and locations free from interruptions. Fourth, delegate work whenever possible. Fifth, finish a project before picking up the next — even skipping lunch if you have to. This cuts down on the reorienting required to start again. Sixth, keep phone numbers on the “to-do list” of those you’ll need to contact (saves you from repeatedly looking them up). Finally, handle things only once if possible. For example, if you receive an email message, decide NOW if you want to respond or delete it. “Do-it-now workers” always rank highest in efficiency.

6. Barriers to Scheduling

There are several barriers to scheduling you may need to overcome. These barriers are the time wasters. The biggest, or course, is procrastination. The best way to attack procrastination is the “Swiss Cheese Method” I mentioned earlier. Divide your projects into smaller (perhaps 15 minute) chunks or tasks. You may want to set up some rewards for yourself for the completion of each task. The Swiss Cheese Method is designed to help you focus on ONE issue at a time.

The second barrier is interruptions. If you find yourself getting interrupted frequently (phone calls, drops ins, etc.), you may need to simply leave the premises. Instead of allowing your best work hours to be wasted by incoming calls, set certain phone hours in your schedule.

The third barrier is stress. It’s been shown that 75% of all worries never actually happen. But the stress over these fictitious events can waste many hours. Stress can be managed, though. One way is simply to allow flex time in your schedule to deal with demanding issues. Also, you may want to read the article entitled Emotional Fatigue: Coping with Academic Stress. We’d be happy to send that to you.

Perhaps the best way to overcome these barriers and others is simply to create habits of good time management, because this will naturally begin to remove internally generated time wasters When you find yourself in a habit pattern that is continually wasting your time, try these steps:

1.                Start strong. Set a workable resolution plan that will attempt to tackle the time-waster. Then begin your plan boldly.

2.                No exceptions until habit is firmly rooted. This is the key to beating the habit. You may eveeed the encouragement and accountability of a friend for your “weak moments.”

3.                Act quickly oew resolutions. The idea here is to not procrastinate once you’ve realized what the time waster is otherwise, it will only get more and more deeply entrenched into your daily routine.

Conclusion:

Stephen Covey’s seventh habit, in his book

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is to “Sharpen Your Saw!”

Covey asks you to imagine meeting someone in the woods working feverishly to saw down a tree.

“You look exhausted,” you exclaim. “How long have you been at it?”

“Over five hours,” he returns, “and I’m beat! This is hard work.”

“Well, why don’t you take a break for a few minutes and sharpen that saw?” you inquire. “I’m sure it would go a lot faster.”

“I don’t have time to sharpen the saw,” the man says emphatically. “I’m too busy sawing!”

To be the most effective person you can be, including being an effective time manager, you will need to be sure to preserve and enhance the greatest asset you have — you. According to Covey, that includes the four dimensions of your nature — physical, mental, social/emotional, and spiritual:

1. Physical. This includes regular exercise (at least three hours a week), eating the right kinds of foods (low-fat, high-fruit and-vegetable diet), and getting sufficient rest and relaxation.

2. Mental. Most grad students do very little reading for pleasure. And yet skimming or reading a good magazine or book (eg., National Geographic, fiction books, etc.) can often be a better mental break than watching TV, because it helps to expand our very focused minds and to integrate academic issues with more practical “real life” ones.

3. Social/Emotional. Renewing our emotional life also requires exercise. Our emotions are very tied up in both my relationships and in my personal integrity. First, we need to take the time to develop and keep good communication with those closest to us. Second, we need to develop the inner security derived from a life of integrity, where our heart, soul, and mind are all at peace with one another, and our daily habits are reflecting our deepest values.

4. Spiritual. According to Covey, “renewing the spiritual dimension provides leadership to your life. The spiritual dimension is your core, your center, your commitment to your value system.” But this renewal, like the others, takes an investment of time. Though many grad students intellectually hold to a belief in God, some have put the development of their spiritual lives on hold. Reasons often cited are simply a lack of time or, even more often, that a disparity has developed between personal faith and intellectual reasoning. As one grad recently concluded, “I am currently coming to terms with my religious beliefs and sorting them out from my scientific training, and yet I must admit that this is no easy task!”

Finally, Grad Resources has articles available on many of the issues raised in this article, and particularly regarding items 3 and 4 above. If you would like to do further investigation in either of these two areas as they relate to the graduate student, please let us know. The following articles are available via email, on the web site and/or snail mail:

1.                Emotional Fatigue: Coping with Academic Stress

2.                The Relativistic Bog: Inductive Inference and the Knowledge of God

3.                Beyond a Shadow of Doubt (Investigating issues of faith and reason)

Time Management is a discipline that is sometimes accompanied by many failures. But as you begin to take it seriously, I think you’ll find that the reward is worth the effort. Remember what the great European leader Winston Churchill said in his shortest, yet most famous speech: “Never give up! Never, never, never, never, never give up!”

To help with some planning, we want to give you this Dissertation Checklist and Sample Schedule as a resource. We hope you find it useful.

(This article is a working copy. We would appreciate your comments and suggestions as we work toward a final draft. If you can help, please review it and email us. Our number is 972-867-0188. Thank you!)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Covey, Stephen R. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (New York: Simon and Schuster Inc., 1989).

Dissertation News. Incline Village, NV: Association for Support of Graduate Students. Address: 585 Fallen Leaf Way, Incline Village, NV 89451. (702) 831-1399.

Robert L. Peters, Ph.D. Getting What You Came For: The Smart Student’s Guide to Earning a Master’s or a Ph.D. (New York: Noonday Press, 1992).