A new discovery about time management: It is worth your time to take ten minutes at the start of the day to plan what you are accomplishing that day. I have now done this for eight or ten work-days running, and I find that if I set aside time to get specific tasks done, they get done; if I don’t — things tend to spiral and I tend to wool-gather.
I find that it’s harder to plan for interruptions using this method, or to manage disappointment. I laid out time in my and Leah’s schedule to drive to Worcester for poetry on Sunday, but we were too tired to go. I laid out time on Monday for going to the Monday night reading, but discovered the reading was cancelled. Laying out time for those events made it harder to re-task, although I did. It felt like those things were rewards or positives for getting other jobs done, and not having them was quite difficult.
In today’s schedule, I had time set out for travel to and from our fencing match, and as a result I was able to say no to several requests for action that had to be addressed semi-immediately.
I also got run over by someone else’s schedule snafu. is coming to my school on Friday, and I’ve spent several days talking to and managing all the relevant issues — who to talk to about payment, who would want him in classes, and which rooms he should speak in. Today I received notice that senior administrators put someone else on the master schedule back in September — but didn’t send out a notice to us the teachers until today… , if you read this — you’re still welcome at the school, and you’ll get paid the same, but you probably don’t have to be here much before 9…. maybe 9:30. I’ll know more tomorrow.
So, time management is about scheduling the right number of chores and rewards, being flexible and dealing with other people’s schedule changes, and taking ten minutes a day to get your to-do list sorted by priority and fixed to actual specific times in your actual, specific day.
Any questions?
Re: Keep the End in Mind
Well, it’s not a class, really. It’s me being desperate enough to go out and buy a few books on management and organization, and try to get organized. And yes, who knew self-awareness could be so complex?
I haven’t done any of his exercises yet. I really wanted to read the books first, and get a sense of what fit where. A friend of mine has written a similar book, but it also includes how to make effective and creative choices within multiple domains, across circles of concern and interest and focus. It’s been an interesting ride.
Living where I work…
Living where I work means that I don’t get enough sharpen time, or at least I don’t think I do. But I’ve discovered that by adding in some time in the mornings to do my journal, I can create some sharpening time. The Tai chi every day helps, too.
Some days, though, there’s not enough reward time, and not enough down time in the week to schedule reward time.
Keep the End in Mind
Seems like you’re doing a Covey-type thing, given the title of the class you’re talking about…
I liked that in the Seven habits, he fits the First Things First within the framework of “Keep the End in Mind” and being proactive. Thinking about the doing to know what it is you’re doing before you do it. 🙂 Who knew self-awareness could be so complex? Hee.
What’s really been scary has been going through the whole exercise of what do I really want to have accomplished at the end of my life? At a 80-year-old roast, or at my funeral, what do I really want to have done, what do I want people to say about me? The goals that pop out of that, the boulders involving decades, just amaze me. Especially the parent-related ones. My.
Anyway, yes. 🙂 It’s good to see someone else walking this particular path and to see what you learn is going to be cool, too.
Re: Time Management Suggestions
I brought into the office after his poetry gig here on Friday, and he made the same offer.
The response was a huffy, “Well, send us some info and we’ll put it in the orientation file for faculty and students. We usually work on that in June and July, as we gear up to the new school year. Thanks for coming by and doing this poetry day for us. Have a safe drive home.”
I don’t think they’re really interested in getting trained. The assumption among most of them is that they know exactly what they’re doing, and they don’t want any outsiders to tell them differently.