Time Management

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Agenda

• Values

• Goals

• Prioritizing

• Building a schedule

• Procrastination

• Maintaining a schedule

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Values

What are values?

Principles or qualities that one considers important, right, or good.

Carter et al. (2004)

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Values

Take a moment to think about your values

Fill out the Your Values Rating Scale

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Goals

What are goals?

An end toward which effort is directed; an aim or intent. Can be long-term or short term.

Carter et al. (2004)

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Goals

Take a moment to think about your goals

What are your goals?

How do they fit with your values?

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Goals

“The goals that you set for yourself express your values and translate them into action. You experience a strong drive to achieve if you build goals around what is important to you.”

Carter et al. (2004)

Example

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Long term goals

Year long goals

Semester goals

One month goals

This week’s goals

Getting a degree

Passing your courses

Handing in assignments on time

Start to implement time management skills

Learn some new time management tools

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Prioritizing Goals

How do you prioritize what you need to do next?

It may depend on many factors

Your values and goals should be your guide to determining what you think is the most important task to do first.

Priorities may be different for different people

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Student A

1)Family2)Work3)Going to school/studying4)House hold chores5)Belonging to organizations6)Time for self7)Socializing

Student B

1)Going to school/studying2)Socializing3)Work4)Belonging to organizations5)Time for self6)Family7)House hold chores

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Why talk about values, goals and prioritizing?

• Prioritizing your tasks move you close achieving your goals

• Prioritizing helps you to set a time frame for your goal

• The main purpose of time management is to move you towards accomplishing your goals

• Your values are the driving force behind your goals

• Your goals put your values into action

Time Management

• What makes people poor time managers?

• What can you do to avoid these time traps?

Activator:

Think about the above questions.

Write down a few points.

What makes people poor time managers?

• Procrastinating

• Saying “yes” when they really don’t have the time

• Planning things at a bad time of day (i.e., when you are tired)

• Distractions

• Not thinking ahead

• Social time

• Taking on too much at once

What can you do to avoid these time traps?

• Look at the effects of procrastinating versus not procrastinating

• Set reasonable goals

• Break the task into smaller parts

• Reward yourself

• Ask for help

• Get started whether or not you “feel like it”

• Shake off the judgments of others

• Don’t expect perfection

Wrap up

“Of course no one is going to be able to avoid all of these time traps all of the time. Do the best you can. The first step is an awareness of your particular tendencies. Once you know how you tend to procrastinate and waste time, you can take steps to change your habits. Time is your ally – make the most of the time you have.”

Carter, et. al. (2004)

Procrastinating versus not procrastinating

Think about a situation where you procrastinated.

What were the pros of procrastinating?

What were the cons of procrastinating?

Are you saying things to yourself to excuse your procrastination?

Would you do anything differently next time?

Set reasonable goals

Thinking back to your situation where you procrastinated,

do you think that you had set reasonable goals for yourself?

Breaking the task into smaller parts

Write down a time management task that you are faced with right now.

Write down (in any order) the steps you need to take to complete the task.

Look back over the steps, can you break them down any further?

Look back over your final draft of the steps and prioritize.

Get started whether or not you “feel like it”

Think about a time when you struggled to get something started.

What action did you take to get the task started?

How did you feel once you had completed the task?

Did you think about your big picture goal and how this task fit into it?

Don’t expect perfection

Habitual procrastinators are often perfectionists.

Often the fear of failure prevents taking the risk that could bring success.

Have you ever procrastinated because you were afraid of failing? What are the pros and cons to this type of procrastination?

Reward yourself!!

What do you enjoy doing?

What do you do to pamper yourself?

Could you use these things to reward yourself for all of your hard work?

Time Management Session 3

• Time management or self-management?

• Review

Time Management or Self-management?

“…good time management is about good self-management.”

Learning Skills Services, York University

Activator:

What do you think about this quote?

Do you agree or disagree?

Time Management or Self-management?

Time management is about taking responsibility for how you use your time.

Activator:

What do you think about this statement?

Do you agree or disagree?

What choices can I make to manage my time effectively?

• Plan your schedule each week

• Plan time to update your schedule daily

• Plan for things to go wrong

• Schedule time to relax

• Post a calendar at home (monthly, 4 month, yearly)

• Make use of to-do lists

• Experiment to see what works best for you

Review

• Prioritizing moves you closer to achieving your goals.

• Prioritizing helps you to set a time frame for your goal.

• The main purpose of time management is to move you towards accomplishing your goals.

• Your values are the driving force behind your goals.

• Your goals put your values into action.

Review continued

• Time traps and unexpected events are sometimes unavoidable. Giving yourself flexibility in your schedule will help to deal with these situations when they come up.

• Using a time management system helps you to allocate specific amounts of time to achieving your weekly, month long, semester, year long, long-term goals.

• A time management system is a concrete reminder of upcoming due dates, commitments, responsibilities, etc…

Review continued

• There is no one right way to mange your time. You need to experiment and find what works best for you.

• Good time management is about good self-management.

• Time management is about making good decisions about which tasks to do in order to reach your desired goal.

References

Benoit, N. (2006). Time Management. Toronto, York University.

Britcher, T. (2009). Introduction to Time Management. Toronto, York University.

Carter, C., et al. (2004). Keys to Success: How to Achieve Your Goals (3rd Ed). Toronto, Pearson Education Canada, Inc.

Learning Skills Program (2009). Time Management. Toronto, York University.

Plan your schedule each week

• note events that are coming up

• note your goals

• note your priorities (upcoming tests, assignments that are due)

• decide where to fit your tasks into your schedule being mindful to start with high priority items

Plan time to update your schedule daily

• adds flexibility into your schedule

• allows you to make adjustments based on other commitments that have come up that need your attention

• allows you to prioritize your activities for the day (i.e., grouping activities together that all take place in the same location)

Make use of to-do lists

• monthly

• weekly

• set up in order of priority

• can post as a reminder of events or tasks that must be completed

• can be placed within your agenda or wall calendar to list specific items that need to be completed or remembered for tasks

Post a calendar at home

• serves as a reminder of important events and deadlines

• can be a monthly calendar, a wall calendar that shows only 4 months at a time, a yearly calendar

• can include other family members or housemates upcoming events so that everyone is aware of the other schedules and commitments (especially if you rely on each other for transportation, household chores, study help, etc…)

Schedule time to relax

• will refresh you and give you time to recharge

• try scheduling at least 30 minutes a day

Plan for things to go wrong

• planning daily scheduling time will give you flexibility for when things go wrong

• keep in mind things like traffic, waiting in lines, delays on the subway or bus

• know who to go to for support when the unexpected happens

Experiment to see what works for you

• Try out different methods of keep track of your time

• agenda

• wall calendar

• electronic calendar

• posted notes

• lists of tasks to do for each class

• colour code based on course, based on level of importance, etc

• text, voicemail or email reminders to yourself

• use symbols in your agenda or on your calendar to mark the level of importance (! *) or tentative plans (?)