BY JESSICA JAY LANGE

CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS PRACTICES – BUS 150- 71873

PROFESSOR NANKIN

Date of Submission: 14th October 2013

TIME MANAGEMENT

ABSTRACT

The following presentation focuses on the importance of time management and developing priorities through an overview of time management theories and tools, as well as a personal time management account and analysis using Covey’s Time Management-Based Matrix as a focal point.

The overall results of the personal time management account displayed fine time management skills, with little development needed, and the overall presentation contributes to existing knowledge on time management theories and tools for proper time management skill development and understanding.

YESTERDAY IS A CANCELED CHECK, TOMORROW IS A PROMISSORY NOTE; TODAY IS THE ONLY CASH YOU HAVE. SPEND IT WISELY.

-ANONYMOUS

TABLE OF CONTENTS• Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………p1

• Effective Time Management………………………………………………………………………………………p2

• 20 Rules for Effective Time Management……………………………………………………p4

• 6 Basic Steps for Effective Time Management………………………………………p6

• Covey’s Principle-Based Time Management Matrix………………………………p8

• Personal Time Management Account……………………………………………………………………p12

• Averaged VS Ideal Personal Time Management………………………………p13

• Description of Ideal Personal Time Management………………………p14

• Analysis of Personal Time Management Account…………………………p16

• Overcoming Distractions……………………………………………………………………………………………p17

• Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………p18

• Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………p19

INTRODUCTIONTime Management is the process of planning, organizing, and controlling the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity.

Central to the entire discipline of time management is Covey’s Principle-Based Time Management Matrix, which divides time-spent into four quadrants, ranging in different urgencies and importance.

The focus of the presentation will discuss how to manage time effectively, as well as conduct and analyze a personal time management account using Covey’s Principle-Based Time Management Matrix and other significant time management tools and theories.

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1. Source: D., Zeller, 2013. Effective Time Management In a Day For Dummies. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT

• Time is the only resource that people cannot borrow, buy or barter. Everyone uses different amounts of time to accomplish results however, everyone is endowed with the same amount of time each day; 1440 minutes.

• The ability to manage your time effectively and to invest greater amounts of time into a specific goal, objective, or even weakness can tip the balance of success in your favor.

• It can be a tricky skill to master, but time spend doing this is not wasted and rather immediately gives you more time to effectively achieve objectives.

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1.Source: D.A., Whetten and K.S., Cameron, 1998. Developing Management Skills, 4th Ed. New York: Addison Wesley Educational Publishing Inc.

ASK YOURSELF:

• Do you make a to-do list or use a daily planner?

• Are you flexible with your plans?

• How often do you accomplish what you plan?

• Do you plan for things that are personally important for you?

• Do you make plans in order to keep things under control?

• How often are your plans hindered by interruptions?

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20 RULES FOR EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT

1. Read selectively

2. Make a list of things to perform each day

3. Have a place for everything and keep everything in its place

4. Prioritize your tasks

5. Do one thing at a time but several trivial thing simultaneously

6. Make a list of some 5 or 10 minute discretionary tasks

7. Divide up large projects

8. Determine the critical 20% of your tasks

9. Save your best time for the most important matters

10. Reserve some time during the day when others do not have access to you

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16. Reach closure on at least one thing everyday

17. Schedule some personal time

18. Do not worry about anything continually

19. Have long term objectives

20. Be on the alert for ways to improve your management of time

11. DO NOT PROCRASTINATE

12. Keep track of time use

13 Set deadlines

14. Do something productive while waiting

15. Do “busy work” at one set time during the day

1. Rules are modified from the following source: David A. Whetten and Kim S. Cameron, Developing Management Skills, 4th Ed., (New York: Addison Wesley Educational Publishing Inc., 1998). 5

6 BASIC STEPS FOR EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT

• STEP 1: Assess your strengths and weaknesses: invest time in honing and maintaining your strengths, and improve the weaknesses that you need to overcome to reach your goals.

• STEP 2: Set specific and definable goals for yourself, both academic and personal.

• STEP 3: Create a calendar with all events including major events or deadlines.

• STEP 4; From this, create a weekly schedule: that reflects all activities you are responsible for on a weekly basis.

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• STEP 5: Create a to-do list for each day: this should follow the basic understanding of Covey’s Principle-Based Time Management Matrix, which the next part of the report will discuss.

• STEP 6: Control: remember not to procrastinate and if any tasks are not completed on the day, rescheduling the event is important as long at the event is of importance.

• NOTE: A schedule will only work if you utilize it. Simply committing a list of activities to paper will not suddenly create a situation in which you can manage your time better. Keep your schedule in a prominent location where you can see it daily and refer to it several times throughout the day.

71.Adapted from source: S., Felton and M., Sims, 2009. Organizing Your Day: Time Management Techniques That Will Work for You. Mississippi: Revel.

Covey’s Principle-Based Time Management Matrix is a representation of his theories which describe that the effective self-manager establishes goals that are based on personal and ethical principles. To “begin with the end in mind” and to develop a persona mission statement or philosophy or creed that “focuses on what you want to be and to do and on the values or principles upon which being and doing are based”.

Once this is established you can manage time around a decision-making core of what is truly important vs. what is simply urgent.

The essence of this idea is illustrated in the following matrix:

COVEY’S PRINCIPLE-BASED TIME MANAGEMENT MATRIX

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COVEY’S PRINCIPLE-BASED TIME MANAGEMENT MATRIX

Urgent Not Urgent

Important: I. Important/Urgent Crises; Pressing problems; Deadline-driven projects.

II. Important/Not Urgent Principle Centered Activities; Planning; Prevention; Relationship building; Opportunity Recognition; True Recreational Activities.

Not Important: III. Not Important/Urgent Imminent pressing matters; "Popular" Activities (i.e., activities that you think will make you popular with others); Personal Interruptions; Some calls and mail; Certain meetings and reports.

IV. Not Important/Not Urgent Time wasters; So called "Pleasant" activities that are not really pleasant (e.g., drinking to excess) that are actually escapes from responsibilities. Trivia, busy work. Some types of mail/phone calls.

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DESCRIPTION OF COVEY’S PRINCIPLE-BASED TIME MANAGEMENT MATRIX

• Quadrant I: (upper left)

This quadrant describes urgent matters that are deadline-driven that require immediate attention. The importance of this and the other quadrants refers to producing results by contributing “to your mission, your values, and your high priority goals”.

• Quadrant II: (upper right)

This quadrant is where one classifies planning, innovating and developmental opportunities; matters of extremely high importance, but not urgency. One should be a Quadrant II dweller as by performing these activities, we not only avoiding wasting time, but learn how to better deal with Quadrant I, and prevent occurrences that force us into Quadrant III.

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• Quadrant III: (lower left)

In this quadrant, time is spent on unimportant matters that are “urgent” simply because others make it appear that these matters are important. Those who spend their time in this quadrant usually think they are in Quadrant I, however they are actually basing the sense of urgency on the priorities and expectations of others.

• Quadrant IV: (lower right)

Quadrant IV activities, such as excessive drinking and/or gambling, should be avoided at all costs. It is a highly ineffective way to spend time better spent in the other quadrants.

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PERSONAL TIME MANAGEMENT ACCOUNT

Time Management Monitor: Day 1

1st Quad2nd Quad3rd Quad4th Quad

56.25%

25%

12.5%

Time Management Mon-itor: Day 2

1st Quad2nd Quad3rd Quad4th Quad

86.67%

6.67%6.67%

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The graphs above show my personal time management account for two days during the week from the 1st to 2nd October 2013. My time spent has been organized into appropriate quadrants from Covey’s Principle-Based Time management Matrix for further analysis and interpretation.

AVERAGED VS IDEAL PERSONAL TIME MANAGEMENT

Averaged Personal Time Management

1st Quad2nd Quad3rd Quad4th Quad

9.59%15.84%

71.46%

Ideal Personal Time Management

1st Quad2nd Quad3rd Quad4th Quad

80%

15%

5%

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The graphs above show my two recorded days of time management, average, as well as an educated estimate on the typical ideal personal time management one would be encouraged to mimic. The purpose of these graphs are for comparison, and further analysis and interpretation of effective time management.

DESCRIPTION OF IDEAL TIME MANAGEMENT

The Ideal Personal Time Management graph is based according to a student’s lifestyle.

The 15% spent in Quadrant I is necessary due to the amount of deadline-driven assignments and projects that are continually given to a student.

However, generally it is important to spend around 80% of one’s time in Quadrant II, and only 5% in Quadrant III for meetings and calls/mails.

No time should be spent in Quadrant IV.

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KEEP YOUR BALANCE

Every schedule or personal time management strategies, regardless of style or design, must have balance.

Every student, no matter what their personal desires and goals may happen to be, need a balanced life-style in order to be more efficient, successful, healthy and happy.

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ANALYSIS OF PERSONAL TIME MANAGEMENT ACCOUNT

Reviewing the results shown on the AVERAGED VS IDEAL PERSONAL TIME MANAGEMENT slide, one can clearly see that generally I am very close to the ideal personal management standards, however, I need to spend less time in Quadrant III and use that time in Quadrant II.

• Strengths:

-Have a clear set of goals and objectives to work by.

-Abide by many and most of the 20 Rules for Effective Time Management.

-I am very self-motivated and career-driven, so I enjoy achieving objectives, setting goals and managing my time effectively for maximum results.

• Weaknesses:

-Spend little time relaxing, and may eventually become exhausted and over worked.

-Can sometimes get distracted by insignificant happenings.

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1. 20 Rules for Effective Time Management. Rules are modified from the following source: David A. Whetten and Kim S. Cameron, Developing Management Skills, 4th Ed., (New York: Addison Wesley Educational Publishing Inc., 1998).

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OVERCOMING DISTRACTIONS

One of my weaknesses is being distracted. Although these distractions don’t last very long, they are still a waste of time that could be used more effectively and efficiently. Here are a few ideas to overcoming these distractions:

• Allow time to be spontaneous.

• Be realistic in one’s planning, set aside free time.

• Take advantage of one’s natural cycles and schedule the most difficult activities when one it at one’s best.

• Learn to say “No” to people.

• Reward oneself for effective time management.

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1. Source: D., Zeller, 2013. Effective Time Management In a Day For Dummies. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Evidence from this presentation suggests that developing priorities is crucial to any successful time management technique. Without priorities it can be difficult to get anything accomplished or focus on the most critical tasks.

In general, therefore, it is important to remember to always allow room for flexibility, as some things are inevitably going to occur out of one’s control, and while one cannot plan for these occurrences, one can leave enough room in one’s schedule to adjust plans for unexpected events.

Avoiding procrastination is as simple as developing better decision making skills and techniques. The reality is decision-making is not a complex issue and rather is nothing more than choosing one course of action from several possibilities.

It is very important to learn how to delegate, successful managers and leaders make it an art form.

Taken together, these findings support strong recommendations to pursue good time management as it will enable one to respond appropriately and be flexible enough to ensure that even problems won’t completely derail one’s goals.

CONCLUSION

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

• D.A., Whetten and K.S., Cameron, 1998. Developing Management Skills, 4 th Ed. New York: Addison Wesley Educational Publishing Inc.

• D., Zeller, 2013. Effective Time Management In a Day For Dummies. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

• S., Felton and M., Sims, 2009. Organizing Your Day: Time Management Techniques That Will Work for You. Mississippi: Revel.

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