2. Objectives
– Enhance your time management skills
– Help you gain more control and
increase your efficiency by identifying
your personal roadblocks
– Learn a personal process for taking
charge and doing what really matters
3. Stresses
Lack of job security-reduction in
force
E-Mail, phone mail, faxes, paper
mail, phone calls
Too much work to do with
decreasing resources
Always in a hurry-pressed for time
to meet a deadline
Never being caught up
Minimal recognition
Deciding what not to do
No time for planning
Paper shuffling
Finding time for project work
Poorly run meetings
Role ambiguity
Long hours and/or frequent
business travel
Unbalanced lifestyle-work is
primary
Interpersonal relationships
Unrealistic expectations (self &
organization)
Constant interruptions (phone calls)
Other people not meeting
commitments to you
Can’t get to people you need to talk
to
Conflicting meeting schedules
Technical documentation
Inconsistent supervisory practices
4. Stress Management Principles
1. You can’t get everything done
2. Focus on what you can control
3. You cannot “manage” time! You can only manage yourself,
what you do with your time!
4. Be clear as to what your values and priorities are. Have
written goals to actualize your values
5. Measure you progress against your goals
6. Expect changes
7. Anticipate stresses
8. Take 15 minutes to plan EVERY DAY
9. Plan for fun
10. Stay connected
11. Be willing to take risks
12. Be aware of your options and honest about your feelings
13. Life is tough!
5. Principle #1 You Can’t Get
Everything Done!
• It’s designed that way so you would be
forced to work only on the top priorities
• We are conditioned by our past lives that if
we just work a little harder, smarter, longer,
we really can do it all...it simply isn’t true!
• This causes frustration, depression, anger,
etc....
Redefine success as getting the top priorities done!
Anything else is a pleasant extra......
6. Principle #3 You Cannot “MANAGE”
Time! You Can Only Manage Yourself,
What You DO With Your Time!
• Make a list of things to do each day and focus
on three-four key goals from you daily To Do list
• Do one thing at a time
• Tackle the toughest assignments in your “Prime
Time” (most productive time of the day)
• Incorporate clean-up day periodically as part of
your work management practices
The Goal: Increasing your choices in
dealing with the issues listed...
7. Principle #6 Expect Changes
• Be flexible
• Be prepared
• View change as a challenge
• Understand events which I have control
• Understand events which I have no
control
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference”
Reinhold Niebuhr(The Alcoholics’ Prayer)
8. Principle #8 Take 15 minutes to plan
EVERY DAY
• At the beginning or end of the day
• Glance at your goals
• Write a “To Do” list
• Prioritize
– A=Must be done, today
– B=Must be done, not required today
– C=Everything else
• Re-prioritize to fit “emergencies” in
• Don’t over schedule -- leave open time
• Tackle the toughest assignments in the morning
• Don’t beat yourself up when your plans change
• Focus on the A’s
A prioritized “To Do” list is a common factor
among successful people.
9. Principle #13 Life is Tough!
• Don’t be surprised when it is!
• If you are able to view yourself as a
problem solver, you could perceive
problems differently -- as the reason you
have a job.
• You are here because you choose to be
here!
• Accept that, and make the best of it.
Strive to live a meaningful life rather than a
happy one, and joy may be granted as a blessing!
10. Time Robbers
Group A: Those imposed by our environment
interruptions too much work
waiting for answers lack of authority
unclear job descriptions/goals unused reports
unnecessary/unproductive meetings
Group B: Those imposed by us
failure to delegate poor attitude
absentmindedness personal disorganization
failure to listen unclear goals/expectations
procrastination poor planning
inability to say “no” burnout
lack of interest unnecessary perfectionism
11. Procrastination
• Conscious and Unconscious
• Unpleasant or Overwhelming Tasks
• We put them off....our productivity
drops...our self esteem drops
• To counter procrastination
• Set a deadline
• Do the most unpleasant part first so you
end the day with a pleasant activity
• Make a game of it
• Build in a reward
• Divide into smaller jobs
13. Prime Time
–The time of the day that you are most
productive.
–Determine the hours of the day you
are most productive (early
morning/mid-afternoon)
–Schedule monotonous / routine tasks
during non-prime time hours.
–Schedule creative or intense tasks
during peak times.
15. Principle #4 Measure Your Progress
Against Your Goals
• If you measure it against your To
Do list, you’ll go crazy
• Evaluate your progress at least
quarterly
• If you aren’t making the progress
you want, change your actions,
your goals or your situation
This gives you PERSPECTIVE on your life!
16. Wrap up
What am I?
I am your constant companion. I am your greatest helper or
heaviest burden. I will push you onward or drag you down to
failure. I am completely at your command. Half the things you do
you might just as well turn over to me and I will be able to do them
quickly and correctly.
I am easily managed -- you must merely be firm with me. Show
me exactly how you want something done and after a few lessons
I will do it automatically. I am the servant of all great men and
women; and alas, of all failures, as well. Those who are great, I
have made great. Those who are failures, I have made failures.
I am not machine, though I work with all the precision of a
machine plus the intelligence of a person. You may run me for a
profit or run me for ruin -- it makes no difference to me.
Take me, train me, be firm with me, and I will place the world at
your feet. Be easy with me and I will destroy you. WHO AM I?
I am Habit!
Make Time Management Habit!
