Time Management Tools - Healthy Families Learning Center · Time Management Tools How you manage...

Time Management Tools

How you manage your time can play an important role in preventing stress. Time is the most valuable and sought-after resource that is available to everyone. Time management is a simple way to control how you spend your days. By managing your time, you may be more productive without working harder. Without good planning, you will struggle to complete all of your work, which in turn will make you frustrated and add to your stress.

Scheduling Tips Write it down.

• Buy a calendar and start writing down your appointments.

• Keep a written record that can make paperwork easier to complete later.

• Create a list of what you want to accomplish every day, week, or month

Schedule the standard.

• Record simple, everyday tasks on a list.

• Reflect the drive time and other typical items that are involved in appointments.

• Complete a calendar that provides a clearer picture of how you need to spend your time.

Double the estimate.

• Give yourself 20 minutes to complete a form that you think will take you ten.

• Allow for the unknown like the unplanned conversation with a supervisor or the surprise phone call.

• Create a sense of accomplishment from completing your task early if you do get the form done in 10 minutes.

Tips for Completing Tasks Use the 80/20 rule.

• Know what takes you longer to accomplish; by focusing 80 percent of your time on a larger, more complicated task, you will be able to accomplish more.

• Use the other 20 percent of your time to finish smaller, simpler tasks.

Stop procrastinating!

• Leaving hard tasks or overwhelming paperwork for “later” just adds to your workload.

• Delay a task and it will only loom over your head as you do other work.

• Start early and do a little each day.

Break it down.

• Take a large task and break it apart into small pieces.

• Do a project one piece at a time; it makes the task seem smaller.

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Time Management Tools Tips for Setting Boundaries

Establish parameters.

• Exhausting your time resource is a danger, so you should be able to say “no”.

• Recognize when it’s not feasible for you to add more paperwork or meetings in a particular week and schedule them for later in the month.

• Do not overbook; realistic scheduling will allow you to do a good job and finish other tasks in the time you have available.

From Time Management, by MindTools (http://www.mindtools.com/pages/main/newMN_HTE.htm, obtained October 4, 2006).

From Personal Time Management for Busy Managers, by Gerard M. Blair (http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/Management/art2.html?http://oldeee.see.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/Management/art2.html, obtained October 4, 2006).

From Time Management Made Easy, by J. McHenry ( http://www.tips-for-boomers.com/timemanagement.html, obtained October 4, 2006).

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