Fwd: Time Management

Question
Dear Sirs,

I want to ask some questions concerning Time Management especially the To Do List:

1- How, When and Where should I make my To Do List?
2- Should I put a dead time for each item?
3- What should I do to prevent myself from being lazy?
4- I always put in my TDL some things not related to my job in my work time (I think I put it to make busy from doing my work, I don't like it too much)?solution please?

I'm Sorry for all this questions, but I hope you can help me in this.

Thank you in Advance

Best Regards
Reiko


Answer
Reiko,
I will answer your questions briefly. I have also added some useful notes
which will act as a resource for you.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- How, When and Where should I make my To Do List?
WHEN
-make a list every week.
-from the weekly list-- make a daily list.
HOW
-list all your activities
-then segment them like these
*important/ urgent [ to be done first ]
*not so important / but urgent [second]
*important / but not urgent [ third]
*not so important/ not so urgent [ last]
WHERE
I CAN SEND YOU AN ATTACHMENT, IF YOU SEND ME YOUR EMAIL ID
AS THERE IS NO FACILITY AT THIS WEBSITE
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2- Should I put a dead time for each item?
A ROUGH INDICATION WOULD BE USEFUL, BUT BE FLEXIBLE.
YOU MUST ALWAYS LOAD YOURSELF FOR 70% OF THE DAYS
AND KEEP 30% OF THE DAY FOR ALL EMERGENCIES/ URGENT ITEMS
AND UNEXPECTED EVENTS.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
3- What should I do to prevent myself from being lazy?
LAZINESS CREEPS IN BECAUSE
-your mood changes
-it is unpleasant task
-you lack knowledge//skills in performing.
-you feel the pressure, as you have not set the priority.
-you lack the feelings of responsibilities/accountabilities.
-sometimes you need a break, to refresh yourself.
-you have not worked out the workload
etc etc
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
4- I always put in my TDL some things not related to my job in my work time (I think I put it to make busy from doing my work, I don't like it too much)?solution please?
AS MENTIONED PREVIOUSLY,
YOU NEED TO CLASSIFY/ PRIORITIZE THE WORKLOAD.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Concentrate on results, not on being busy
Many people spend their days in a frenzy of activity, but achieve very little because they are not concentrating on the right things.

The 80:20 Rule
This is neatly summed up in the Pareto Principle, or the '80:20 Rule'. This argues that typically 80% of unfocussed effort generates only 20% of results. The remaining 80% of results are achieved with only 20% of the effort. While the ratio is not always 80:20, this broad pattern of a small proportion of activity generating non-scalar returns recurs so frequently as to be the norm in many areas.
By applying the time management tips and skills in this section you can optimize your effort to ensure that you concentrate as much of your time and energy as possible on the high payoff tasks. This ensures that you achieve the greatest benefit possible with the limited amount of time available to you.
Time Management Tools
The tools we will discuss are:
Manage time. Get things done - Beating Procrastination
Finding out how you really spend your time - Activity Logs
Small scale planning - Action Plans
Tackling the right tasks first - Prioritized To Do Lists
Deciding what your personal priorities should be - Personal Goal Setting
Planning to make the best use of your time - Effective Scheduling

By the end of this section, you should have a much clearer understanding of how to use time to its greatest effect.
If you’ve found yourself putting off important tasks over and over again, you’re not alone. In fact, many people procrastinate to some degree - but some are so chronically affected by procrastination that it stops them achieving things they're capable of and disrupts their careers.
The key to controlling and ultimately combating this destructive habit is to recognize when you start procrastinating, understand why it happens (even to the best of us), and take active steps to better manage your time and outcomes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why do we Procrastinate?
In a nutshell, you procrastinate when you put off things that you should be focusing on right now, usually in favor of doing something that is more enjoyable or that you’re more comfortable doing.
Procrastinators work as many hours in the day as other people (and often work longer hours) but they invest their time in the wrong tasks. Sometimes this is simply because they don't understand the difference between urgent tasks and important tasks, and jump straight into getting on with urgent tasks that aren't actually important.
They may feel that they're doing the right thing by reacting fast. Or they may not even think about their approach and simply be driven by the person whose demands are loudest. Either way, by doing this, they have little or no time left for the important tasks, despite the unpleasant outcomes this may bring about.
Another common cause of procrastination is feeling overwhelmed by the task. You may not know where to begin. Or you may doubt that you have the skills or resources you think you need. So you seek comfort in doing tasks you know you're capable of completing. Unfortunately, the big task isn't going to go away - truly important tasks rarely do.
Other causes of procrastination include:
Waiting for the “right” mood or the “right” time to tackle the important task at hand;
A fear of failure or success;
Underdeveloped decision making skills;
Poor organizational skills; and
Perfectionism ("I don't have the right skills or resources to do this perfectly now, so I won't do it at all.")
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How to Overcome Procrastination:
Whatever the reason behind procrastination, it must be recognized, dealt with and controlled before you miss opportunities or your career is derailed.
Step 1: Recognize that you're Procrastinating
If you're honest with yourself, you probably know when you're procrastinating.
But to be sure, you first need to make sure you know your priorities. Putting off an unimportant task isn't procrastination, it's probably good prioritization. Identify your priorities, and then work from a Prioritized To Do List on a daily basis.
Some useful indicators which will help you pull yourself up as soon as you start procrastinating include:
Filling your day with low priority tasks from your To Do List;
Reading an e-mail or request that you've noted in your notebook or on your To Do List more than once, without starting work on it or deciding when you're going to start work on it;
Sitting down to start a high-priority task, and almost immediately going off to make a cup of coffee or check your e-mails;
Leaving an item on your To Do list for a long time, even though you know it's important;
Regularly saying "Yes" to unimportant tasks that others ask you to do, and filling your time with these instead of getting on with the important tasks already on your list.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 2: Work out WHY You're Procrastinating
Why you procrastinate can depend on both you and the task. But it's important to understand what the reasons for procrastination are for each situation, so that you can select the best approach for overcoming your reluctance to get going.
Common causes of procrastination were discussed in detail above, but they can often be reduced to two main reasons:
You find the task unpleasant; or
You find the task overwhelming
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 3: Get over it!
If you are putting something off because you just don't want to do it, and you really can't delegate the work to someone else, you need to find ways of motivating yourself to get moving. The following approaches can be helpful here:
Make up your own rewards. For example, promise yourself a piece of tasty flapjack at lunchtime if you've completed a certain task.
*Ask someone else to check up on you. Peer pressure works! This is the principle behind slimming and other self-help groups, and it is widely recognized as a highly effective approach
Identify the unpleasant consequences of NOT doing the task.
*Work out the cost of your time to your employer. As your employers are paying you to do the things that they think are important, you're not delivering value for money if you're not doing those things. Shame yourself into getting going!
If you're putting off starting a project because you find it overwhelming, you need to take a different approach. Here are some tips:
Break the project into a set of smaller, more manageable tasks. You may find it helpful to create an action plan.
Start with some quick, small tasks if you can, even if these aren't the logical first actions. You'll feel that you're achieving things, and so perhaps the whole project won't be so overwhelming after all.
Key points:
To have a good chance of conquering procrastination, you need to spot straight away that you're doing it. Then, you need to identify why you're procrastinating and taken appropriate steps to overcome the block.
Part of the solution is to develop good time management, organizational and personal effectiveness habits, such as those described in “Make Time for Success!” This helps you establish the right priorities, and manage your time in such a way that you make the most of the opportunities open to you.
=======================================================================
Activity Logs

Finding Out How You Really Spend Your Time
How long do you spend each day on unimportant things; Things that don't really contribute to your success at work? Do you KNOW how much time you've spent reading junk mail, talking to colleagues, making coffee and eating lunch? And how often have you thought, "I could achieve so much more if I just had another half hour each day."
And are you aware of when in the day you check your e-mail, write important articles or do your long-term planning?
Most people find they function at different levels of effectiveness at different times of day as their energy levels fluctuate. Your effectiveness may vary depending on the amount of sugar in your blood, the length of time since you last took a break, routine distractions, stress, discomfort, or a range of other factors.
Activity logs help you to analyze how you actually spend your time. The first time you use an activity log you may be shocked to see the amount of time that you waste! Memory is a very poor guide when it comes to this, as it can be too easy to forget time spent on non-core tasks.
How to Use the Tool
Keeping an Activity Log for several days helps you to understand how you spend your time, and when you perform at your best. Without modifying your behavior any further than you have to, note down the things you do as you do them on this template. Every time you change activities, whether opening mail, working, making coffee, gossiping with colleagues or whatever, note down the time of the change.
As well as recording activities, note how you feel, whether alert, flat, tired, energetic, etc. Do this periodically throughout the day. You may decide to integrate your activity log with a stress diary.

LEARNING FROM YOUR ACTIVITY LOG

Once you have logged your time for a few days, analyze your daily activity log. You may be alarmed to see the amount of time you spend doing low value jobs!
You may also see that you are energetic in some parts of the day, and flat in other parts. A lot of this can depend on the rest breaks you take, the times and amounts you eat, and quality of your nutrition. The activity log gives you some basis for experimenting with these variables.
Your analysis should help you to free up extra time in your day by applying one of the following actions to most activities:
Eliminate jobs that your employer shouldn't be paying you to do. These may include tasks that someone else in the organization should be doing, possibly at a lower pay rate, or personal activities such as sending non-work e-mails.
Schedule your most challenging tasks for the times of day when your energy is highest. That way your work will be better and it should take you less time.
Try to minimize the number of times a day you switch between types of task. For example, read and reply to e-mails in blocks once in the morning and once in the afternoon only.
Reduce the amount of time spent on legitimate personal activities such as making coffee (take turns in your team to do this - it saves time and strengthens team spirit

Key points:
Activity logs are useful tools for auditing the way that you use your time. They can also help you to track changes in your energy, alertness and effectiveness throughout the day.
By analyzing your activity log you will be able to identify and eliminate time-wasting or low-yield jobs. You will also know the times of day at which you are most effective, so that you can carry out your most important tasks during these times
=======================================================

How to Use the Tool:
Wherever you want to achieve something significant, draw up an Action Plan. This helps you think about what you need to do to achieve that thing, so that you can get help where you need it and monitor your progress.
To draw up an Action Plan, simply list the tasks that you need to carry out to achieve your goal, in the order that you need to complete them. This is very simple, but is still very useful!
Keep the Action Plan by you as you carry out the work and update it as you go along with any additional activities that come up.
If you think you'll be trying to achieve a similar goal again, revise your Action Plan after the work is complete, by changing anything that could have gone better. Perhaps you could have avoided a last-minute panic if you'd alerted a supplier in advance about when and approximately what size of order you would be placing. Or maybe colleagues would have been able to follow up on the impact of your newsletter on clients if you have communicated with them about when it would be hitting clients' desks. (If you're doing the job often, it can be incredibly powerful to turn your Action Plan into an Aide Memoire.)

Key points:
An Action Plan is a list of things that you need to do to achieve a goal. To use it, simply carry out each task in the list!
==================================================================

By keeping a To-Do List, you make sure that you capture all of the tasks you have to complete in one place. This is essential if you're not going to forget things. And by prioritizing work, you plan the order in which you'll do things, so you can tell what needs your immediate attention, and what you can quietly forget about until much, much later. This is essential if you're going to beat work overload. Without To-Do Lists, you'll seem dizzy, unfocused and unreliable to the people around you. With To-Do Lists, you'll be much better organized and much more reliable. This is very important!
Whilst To-Do Lists are very simple, they are also extremely powerful, both as a method of organizing yourself and as a way of reducing stress. Often problems may seem overwhelming or you may have a seemingly huge number of demands on your time. This may leave you feeling out of control, and overburdened with work.

Preparing a To-Do List
The solution is often simple: Firstly, download our free To Do list template.
Start by writing down the tasks that face you, and if they are large, break them down into their component elements. If these still seem large, break them down again. Do this until you have listed everything that you have to do, and until tasks are will take no more than 1 - 2 hours to complete.
Once you have done this, run through these jobs allocating priorities from A (very important) to F (unimportant). If too many tasks have a high priority, run through the list again and demote the less important ones. Once you have done this, rewrite the list in priority order.

You will then have a precise plan that you can use to eliminate the problems you face. You will be able to tackle these in order of importance. This allows you to separate important jobs from the many time-consuming trivial ones.

Using Your To-Do Lists
Different people use To-Do Lists in different ways in different situations: if you are in a sales-type role, a good way of motivating yourself is to keep your list relatively short and aim to complete it every day.
In an operational role, or if tasks are large or dependent on too many other people, then it may be better to keep one list and 'chip away' at it.
It may be that you carry unimportant jobs from one To-Do List to the next. You may not be able to complete some very low priority jobs for several months. Only worry about this if you need to - if you are running up against a deadline for them, raise their priority
If you have not used To-Do Lists before, try them now: They are one of the keys to being really productive and efficient.
Key points:
Prioritized To-Do Lists are fundamentally important to efficient work. If you use To-Do Lists, you will ensure that:
You remember to carry out all necessary tasks
You tackle the most important jobs first, and do not waste time on trivial tasks.
You do not get stressed by a large number of unimportant jobs.
To draw up a Prioritized To-Do List, download our template and use it to list all the tasks you must carry out. Mark the importance of the task next to it, with a priority from A (very important) to F (unimportant). Redraft the list into this order of importance.
Now carry out the jobs at the top of the list first. These are the most important, most beneficial tasks to complete.
============================================================

Effective Scheduling

Plan your time. Make time for yourself.
So far , we have looked at your priorities and your goals - these define what you aspire to do with your time. Scheduling is where these aspirations meet reality.
Scheduling is the process by which you look at the time available to you, and plan how you will use it to achieve the goals you have identified. By using a schedule properly, you can:
Understand what you can realisticaly achieve with your time;
Plan to make the best use of the time available;
Leave enough time for things you absolutely must do;
Preserve contingency time to handle 'the unexpected'; and
Minimize stress by avoiding over-commitment to yourself and others.
How to Use the Tool:
Scheduling is best done on a regular basis, for example at the start of every week or month. Go through the following steps in preparing your schedule:
Start by identifying the time you want to make available for your work. This will depend on the design of your job and on your personal goals in life.

Next, block in the actions you absolutely must take to do a good job. These will often be the things you are assessed against.

For example, if you manage people, then you must make time available for dealing with issues that arise, coaching, and supervision. Similarly, you must allow time to communicate with your boss and key people around you. (While people may let you get away with 'neglecting them' in the short-term, your best time management efforts will surely be derailed if you do not set aside time for those who are important in your life.)

Review your To Do List, and schedule in the high-priority urgent activities, as well as the essential maintenance tasks that cannot be delegated and cannot be avoided.

Next, block in appropriate contingency time. You will learn how much of this you need by experience. Normally, the more unpredictable your job, the more contingency time you need. The reality of many people's work is of constant interruption: Studies show some managers getting an average of as little as six minutes uninterrupted work done at a time.

Obviously, you cannot tell when interruptions will occur. However, by leaving space in your schedule, you give yourself the flexibility to rearrange your schedule to react effectively to issues as they arise.

What you now have left is your "discretionary time": the time available to deliver your priorities and achieve your goals. Review your Prioritized To Do List and personal goals, evaluate the time needed to achieve these actions, and schedule these in.
Key points:
Scheduling is the process by which you plan your use of time. By scheduling effectively, you can both reduce stress and maximize your effectiveness. This makes it one of the most important time management skills you can use.
Before you can schedule efficiently, you need an effective scheduling system. This can be a diary, calendar, paper-based organizer, PDA or a software package like MS Outlook. The best solution depends entirely on your circumstances.
Scheduling is then a five-step process:
Identify the time you have available.
Block in the essential tasks you must carry out to succeed in your job.
Schedule in high priority urgent tasks and vital "house-keeping" activities.
Block in appropriate contingency time to handle unpredictable interruptions.
In the time that remains, schedule the activities that address your priorities and personal goals.

REGARDS
LEO LINGHAM