Managing your time to make the most out

Managing your time to make the most out of your research Pam Phillips Personal & Business Coach 22 February 2011 New Directions

Definitions • Success is moving from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm – Sir Winston Churchill • Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes – Oscar Wilde • Even if you’re on the right track…. . you’ll get run over if you just sit there – Will Rogers New Directions

Definitions • The problem in my life and other people’s lives is not the absence of knowing what to do…. . but the absence of doing it – Peter Drucker • The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again…………. expecting different results – Rita Mae Brown New Directions

Objectives of this session • To help you to manage your time more effectively in order to achieve both short and long-term goals • To assist you in recognising the areas you deem important so you can prioritise them • To make you aware of habits that aid or deter you in achieving your goals • To encourage you to achieve a greater work -life balance New Directions

Time Management Issues • Do you feel guilty when you are not working? • Do you give up or feel demotivated if you do not keep to your planned schedule? • Do you concentrate on the negatives – i. e. , what you still have to do rather than what you have done? • Do you recognise or reward yourself when you have completed a task or been productive? • Have you tried to use any time management techniques in planning your schedule? If so, what were they? New Directions

Time management: is it possible? • The challenge is not to manage time but to manage ourselves. • The root of self-management lies in first defining your values and goals. • You need to be flexible. Life can be unpredictable • Think about being efficient with things and New Directions effective with people

The Wheel of life exercise New Directions

Activity 1: Using the Wheel of Life to assess your satisfaction levels • What areas of your life do you deem to be ‘key’? • Label the segments on the ‘Wheel of Life’ with what you consider to be your 8 key areas • Using the top wheel and spokes indicated, rate your current satisfaction level (on a scale of 1 to 10) with each area • Now join the dots! How round/balanced is your wheel? • Now use the bottom wheel to plot what you realistically would like your wheel to look like in one year’s time • Compare the two - what areas need attention? New Directions

The Wheel of life exercise New Directions

Time Management matrix New Directions

Quadrants in the TM matrix • QUADRANT 1: Prioritise tasks that fall here according to their relative urgency. • QUADRANT 2: These tasks are most critical to your success, and yet are commonly the most neglected. You must plan time-slots for these. • QUADRANT 3: Assess the real importance of these tasks and, if they must be done, do them quickly to a good-enough standard. • QUADRANT 4: These activities are not central to your success and are time-wasters. They can be destructive to your future success. Check yourself and resist the temptation to dwell here. New Directions

Using the TM matrix successfully • Spending the bulk of your time in Quadrant 2 will ensure that Quadrants 1 and 3 don’t engulf you. • Quadrant 1 tasks often result from neglecting Quadrant 2 tasks – which then become crises. • Perfecting Quadrant 3 tasks means less time is left for Quadrant 2 tasks, which can cause problems. • Time spent in Quadrant 4 usually results from an inability to say ‘NO’ or is a displacement activity. • Effective time management means stealing time from Quadrants 3 and 4, and using it for Quadrant 2 tasks. This also results in a reduction of Quadrant 1 tasks, due to fewer ‘spillover’ crises. New Directions

Activity 2: Time management matrix and reflection of your patterns/habits • Using the Time Management matrix, map out your previous week’s activities • In which quadrant have you spent the most time? And the least? • Could you have stolen time from Quadrant 3 & 4 tasks to use on Quadrant 2 tasks? • In table groups, decide the ideal proportions of time one should spend in each quadrant. Let’s compare views! New Directions

Envisage your long term goals • Where would you like to be this time next year? • For example: • • • Career – ‘I’d like to get a book contract/finish my book’ Home – ‘I’d like to buy a house/flat’ Relationships – ‘I’d like to have a child with my partner’ Health – ‘I’d like to get fit/run a marathon’ Money – ‘I’d like to earn more money through consultancy work’ • Hobbies – ‘I’d like to spend more time playing guitar’ • You can have multiple scenarios (most people do) New Directions

Using your goals to plan your time • • • By being aware of your goals, you can ensure that you do most of the things that are important to you Look at your wheel? Which areas need most work/do you want to work on? You can improve your life by devoting a bit of time to each of these areas each week New Directions

Time management tips 1 Keep your eye on the ball – what is your top priority? Keep some kind of visual reminder near your desk or in your wallet Organise and execute around priorities. Decide what is important to you and devote time in your life to it It is no good working all the time if your personal relationships are in disarray. Consider how your goals affect other people – are you being fair to them? Stop and smell the roses, at least sometimes! Give yourself designated breaks, where you decide not to work – at least one full day per week New Directions

Time management tips 2 • • • Taking regular breaks is essential to productivity Bill Gates practices this principle - he works less than 40 hours per week and takes one month off per year – as a way of generating his best ideas When and where do you get your best ideas? Simply knowing this can make you more effective. Do not think of time away from your research as time wasted – but use those extra hours to fulfil your other life goals New Directions

Time management tips 3 • • • Reward yourself when you have completed a difficult task or spent time productively Work somewhere different if your normal place cannot provide you with a quiet situation and protection from interruption Inform other people of your planned time-slots and schedules. Having a visible schedule is the key to being able to protect these vital time-slots. Allocate time for setbacks – life is not predictable Realise what time management techniques work for you and use them again. If something doesn’t work, try a different approach New Directions

Question • • When you look back at what has taken up your time over the past week, how much has got you closer to your goal? Write down at least 5 things that you will do differently next week that will improve your own time management? New Directions

Final thought We can easily keep ourselves busy all the time, but at the end of the month what have you got to show for it? When you are managing your time effectively your list of achievements will be endless Good Luck! New Directions