Unit 1: Time Management Skills
Unit 1 introduces the concepts of time and stress management and discusses the importance of goal setting and time tracking. For example, you have had to put aside other activities and tasks to allow time to take this course. Were they important or urgent, and did they align with your goals? How did you decide what activities to modify, reschedule, or eliminate? Did you hand some actions off to someone else? Do you still feel overwhelmed and need help with obtaining a successful outcome from incorporating this course into your schedule, which was already chaotic?
This unit emphasizes putting you in control of your time and giving you the planning tools to meet goals and reduce your unhealthy stress levels. You will learn that distractions, lack of planning, and a failure to prioritize can sabotage your personal and professional life.
In the materials below, you will learn about tools you can use to gain control of your time. For example, creating a to-do list can help you manage your time and reduce stress. Remember that efficiency may necessitate recruiting others to help you complete your work. In business terms, you want to optimize your time as a return on investment. How can you maximize balancing your personal and work time to achieve a healthy, rejuvenated, and successful life?
Completing this unit should take you approximately 3 hours.
Upon successful completion of the unit, you will be able to:
- discuss why time is such a valuable commodity;
- differentiate the relationship between time and efficiency;
- explain why corporations value your time, focus, and attention;
- explain the value of knowing how you spend your time;
- give examples of how distractions can affect your productivity;
- explain the benefits of prioritizing tasks; and
- explain why "proper planning can prevent poor project performance".
1.1: What Is Time Management?
If you were on a game show and asked to identify your most valuable resource, would time be your answer? Time is a finite resource that has the most potential to create value for you personally and professionally. Although everyone has access to the same amount of time each day, it is up to you to allocate this precious commodity in the most productive way to yield maximum benefit and the least stress. Using effective planning techniques, setting goals, delegating tasks, and prioritizing help us work smarter, not harder. Moreover, practicing these new skills helps us gain control over self-defeating stress levels that typically accompany ineffective time management.
Watch this lecture which explains the importance of maximizing the return on time spent. We should aim to acquire assets and qualities beyond financial gains, such as knowledge, skills, reputation, goodwill, and relationships. Accomplishing this requires being present "in the moment". An imbalance between our personal and work lives can damage our currency, such as our relationships and good health.
This article explores strategies for "staying on top of things". Suggestions include arriving early to work, planning your day ahead of time, dealing with the tasks at hand, addressing feeling overworked, and taking a problem-solving approach to identifying and relieving stress. Incorporating these tips into your daily activities will likely improve your productivity!
This resource provides worksheets to help you prioritize and organize your tasks. Notice that the worksheets are time and goal-oriented. Your planning should include time to rejuvenate and strive for a balance of self-care and productivity. Take the Time Management Inventory to identify growth areas and improve how you manage that precious commodity: time.
Watch this video for a definition of time management and tips to organize time, starting with a to-do list or checklist method. These powerful yet simple time management tools can help you become more productive.
Watch this video on steps college students can take to better manage their time. It explains how to create a calendar to manage activities and responsibilities and discusses the importance of studying. The narrator cites the golden rule of studying – you should study at least two hours outside of class for every hour of scheduled class time. Time management allows busy students to balance work, class, and social activities!
1.2: Tools for Time Management
We often face obstacles of our own making. For example, creative people may feel their minds are cluttered with ideas and distractions. Project managers may not realize the importance of using their team members to effect a positive outcome. Students may dismiss the benefits of using time management tools to prioritize activities that are important but not urgent. The articles below show us how planning, organizing, and delegation can result in positive decision-making.
This article emphasizes the challenges creative people face in corralling their thoughts and ideas into productive activities. The chapters explain how to use to-do lists and prioritize commitments. McGuiness suggests several tools for keeping track of daily activities. Complete the questions at the end of each chapter to help assess your planning abilities.
What is project management? It is more than a one-off attempt to complete a task. Watch this video to learn time management tips to complete ongoing projects on time and within budget. Pay attention to the final tip: the project is not finished until you can apply an analysis of things learned to future projects.
Just when you think project management is not in your future, help has arrived! Read this article on how a work breakdown structure (WBS) technique helps you reduce a project into manageable components. You can use this approach for personal projects or more complicated work-related tasks. Test your understanding of this concept by doing the exercises at the end of the article.
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This video explains how managers can conquer the challenge of time management. The speaker describes five ways to gain more time by incorporating input and assistance from your team. He emphasizes the need to prioritize tasks, delegate appropriately, and know when to ask for help. Managers should analyze the purpose of any meeting. They should cancel meetings that lack a clear purpose!