time management

Penelope_Penguin

raggydoll wrote: »

What other simple time saving things do you do??

Lists, lists and more lists As this has fallen from the front page of OS, I'll add it to the existing thread on Time Management.

Penny. x

pavlovs_dog

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

pavlov's dog - are you dr pavlov's dog yet??

I'v only jut seen this

I'm not at the PHd stage yet. I've done my Honours degree, my teaching qualification, and the first third of my masters degree. So I'm currently pavlovs_dog BA (Hons) QTS. In a year or two i'll go back to do my masters and then i'll add MA to the list of letters after my name. Whether I'll ever get around to becoming a doctor is anyone's guess think it would be more fun to go for random qualifications, just to see how much of the alphabet i can collect :rotfl:

Stephen_Leak

I've actually done a course on time management. The tutor stunned us all at first by saying that there is no such thing. You cannot manage time. He "proved" this by asking us to make the next minute last only 59 seconds. Of course, you can't. But you can manage what activities you do in that minute.

The basics are to prioritise activities into urgent and non-urgent, important and unimportant. You then assign one of the "4 D's".

Urgent & Important = Do
Urgent & Unimportant = Devolve (If you can. If not, Do it next)
Non-urgent & Important = Defer
Non-urgent & Unimportant - Dump

PS. Pavlov, I will soon be Stephen Leak, LACP. That's Licentiate (or should that be licencious?) member of the Association of Computer Professionals.

walby1993

Hi all,

Don't where the appropriate place for this thread would be but you are all nice folks on here so thought I would try here to start with.

I am posting as I am feeling a bit down and part of the reason is I never seem to be very productive - I will write a to do list for the day and will never finish it. I know I am guilty of procrastinating sometimes but other times I just can't figure out where the time has gone! Any ideas on time management/reduce time spent on certain activities?

Thanks in advance!

Linda32

Well, if its anything like me, some days are good and I manage to get loads done and some days I just can't seem to get going.

Sometime I feel I have so many things to do that I don't know where to start, so oftern don't.

Not sure if you have looked at the Flylady thread but it really is very useful. :T

Something mentioned on there is to set a timer, free online one will do for 30 mins and choose one thing to do for that 30 minutes. And so on each day or every few hours whatever suits you.

Its not very oftern you can get to the bottom of a list, but you can just carry that list onto the next day.

HTH

Fruball

walby1993 wrote: »

Hi all,

Don't where the appropriate place for this thread would be but you are all nice folks on here so thought I would try here to start with.

I am posting as I am feeling a bit down and part of the reason is I never seem to be very productive - I will write a to do list for the day and will never finish it. I know I am guilty of procrastinating sometimes but other times I just can't figure out where the time has gone! Any ideas on time management/reduce time spent on certain activities?

Thanks in advance!

I'm afraid I can offer no advice whatsoever as I am exactly the same as you!!!

I have learned not to beat myself up over what I haven't done but to be pleased with what I have achieved, even if it isn't a lot!

I shall keep an eye on this thread and see if I can learn anything from the replies!!!

ps, if its housework that gets you down, join us on the "My home is a mess" thread - its a wonderful antidote!!!

rosie383

Maybe you are trying to do too many tasks in one day so you get disheartened when you don't manage them all. I would sa, be more realistic. If you really want to have some sort of sense of achievement, then write down even the wee things that you want to do. Then you will cross more stuff on the list and be more motivated.
For me, if I don't put the PC on early in the day, I get a lot more done. Otherwise I am constantly going and checking in for answers on forums etc, replies to emails etc.
I always get things done if I have deadlines. Eg, someone wanted me to bake some samples for their their new cafe. I just constantly put it off, and off, until I knew she needed it for a particular time, then got the stuff done, no probs!
Also,I will get the place cleaned up rightly if I know that i have visitors coming. So, if I can get into that sort of mindset, then i get more done.

Why_oh_why

I am completely the same - with my house and my business.

One thing I found extremely useful (although unfortunately I don't always stick to it) is to write a complete list of absolutely everything that needs to be done. Store this somewhere it's not constantly 'in your face'! (I use an Excel Spreadsheet, so I can update it if necessary, plus I love the 'strikethrough' option :rotfl:)

Then, each day, choose just one item - that is your 'important task of the day'.

Ignore everything else, just do your very best to get that one task done. You may think that you need to do everything but if you're like me getting 1 item a day done, instead of nothing over a month, you will feel like you have achieved a lot.

ETA: I do often find that the sense of achievement of completely my task means I am then motivated to do other things on the list but if I can't be bothered, I don't beat myself up about it, I just celebrate having achieved the important task.

walby1993

Thanks all for your replies, some of the things you said definately rung true. Things I am going to try and do from now on:

• Try the 30 minute timer thing - short-term view might help me focus
• Try not to get down about what I haven't achieved but focus on what I have
• Don't go on forums/facebook/personal emails (I have it in my contract that I should be checking my work emails at least twice a day) before 9pm
• Write a complete list of all my jobs and choose one per day to be the "important job".

Will also have a nosey at the "my home is a mess" thread as this where I really feel I am falling down!

Thanks all!

Sambucus_Nigra

I'd say you need to split your list into the 4 groups that 'the 7 habits of highly effective people' use.

Urgent and Important [Get these done and dusted first]
Important but not urgent [do these second on the list]
Urgent but not important [if not important, why do them? Do these third]
Neither Important nor urgent. [what can you ditch?]