If it is a group decision, consider the implications for the other
members of the team.
Communicate your ideas to the other team members, explain
your reasoning and make sure they understand the logic behind
it and get their commitment to carry it out.
7. Evaluate how well things went
Learn from the experience especially if your solution does not
prove successful!
©Copyright University of Kent Careers Advisory Service.
1195
Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your
approach. (Tom Robbins)
In a moment of decision, the worst thing you can do is nothing.
Theodore Roosevelt
A peacefulness follows any decision, even the wrong one.
(Rita Mae Brown)
When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in
itself a choice. (William James)
Some persons are very decisive when it comes to avoiding
decisions. (Brendan Francis)
You've got a lot of choices. If getting out of bed in the morning is
a chore and you're not smiling on a regular basis, try another
choice. (Steven Woodhull)
Decision is a sharp knife that cuts clean and straight; indecision,
a dull one that hacks and tears and leaves ragged edges behind it.
(Gordon Graham)
Whether you decide you can or you can't, you're right!
Good decisions come from experience, and experience comes
from bad decisions.
1196
4.21 TIME MANAGEMENT
Why use time management skills?
It's important that you develop effective strategies for managing
your time to balance the conflicting demands of time for study,
leisure, earning money and jobhunting. Time management skills
are valuable in jobhunting, but also in many other aspects of life:
from revising for examinations to working in a vacation job.
Sometimes it may seem that there isn't enough time to do
everything that you need to. This can lead to a build up of stress.
When revising for examinations, or during your final year when
you have to combine the pressures of intensive study with
finding time to apply for jobs good management of your time can
be particularly important. Once we have identified ways in which
we can improve the management of our time, we can begin to
adjust our routines and patterns of behaviour to reduce any
time-related stress in our lives.
What skills are required for effective time management?
Some skills involved are:
Setting clear goals,
Breaking your goals down into discreet steps
Reviewing your progress towards your goals
Prioritising - focusing on urgent and important tasks rather
than those that are not important or don't move you towards
your goals;
Organising your work schedule; list making to remind you of
what you need to do when; persevering when things are not
working out
Avoiding procrastination.
1197
You should have a reminder system to tell you of when you need
to do what: don't try to remember everything in your head as
this is a recipe for disaster! Carry a pen and paper or organiser
wherever you go. At the simplest level your reminder system
could simply be to use your diary to write down the things you
need to do, including appointments and deadlines. Before
interviews, it's fine to write down the questions you wish to ask
on a small piece of card or notepad.
A daily list of tasks that need to be done is an essential part of
action planning. Refer to and update this regularly. Prioritise
items on the list into important/not important and urgent/non-
urgent. Such a list can take a variety of formats but an example is
given to the right. Update your list daily, crossing off completed
tasks and adding new tasks that need to be done. Urgent or
important tasks can be highlighted with an asterisk.
Advantages of using a to do list
Focuses your mind on important objectives
You are less likely to forget to do tasks
Writing a list helps order your thoughts
It helps show the bigger picture
You don't need to hold everything in your head.
It saves time
It helps you decide on priorities: the most important and
the most urgent
You are less likely to become sidetracked
You get the reward of ticking off your achievements
You feel more in control
You have a record of what you've done
You always have something to work on
1198
Setting Goals
Set yourself specific and clearly defined goals, and make sure
that these are realistic and achievable. To do this, you first need
to examine your present situation and assess what goals are
important to you and what action you need to take to achieve
your target. Have a contingency plan or alternative route to your
goal in case you have to change your plans, for example, taking a
relevant postgraduate course if you can't get a job.
Prioritising
Efficiency and effectiveness are not the same. Someone who
works hard and is well organised but spends all their time on
unimportant tasks may be efficient but not effective. To be
effective, you need to decide what tasks are urgent and
important and to focus on these. This is called prioritising. It's
important to list the tasks you have and to sort these in order of
priority, and then to devote most time to the most important
tasks. This avoids the natural tendency to concentrate on the
simple, easy tasks and to allow too many interruptions to your
work.
Differentiate also between urgent and important tasks: an urgent
task may not necessarily be important! When jobhunting, you
won't be able to apply to every employer. You will need to
carefully prioritise those you wish to apply to, based upon
factors such as closing date, location, degree class required, and
chances of getting in.
Avoiding Procrastination
Procrastination is the scourge of action planning. It's important
that you manage 'Your fear of doing things' you don't want to do
and realise that the fear is often far worse than any possible
negative results. Try to take decisions immediately when
possible and when you don't need to gather more information
pertinent to the decision. The best time to do something is
1199
usually NOW. Taking action generates the impetus for further
action. Many applications to prestigious employers now need to
be made in the first term of your final year and if you
procrastinate you'll miss the deadlines.
Breaking down tasks
Break goals down into their components so that you can
accomplish them one step at a time. Write these steps down, and
try to be as specific as you can when you do this. Try to complete
one task before you go on to the next.
Reward yourself for achieving these goals to maintain your
enthusiasm. For example, when you are invited to your first
interview, treat yourself to a good meal with friends. Regularly
review your progress towards your goals and revise plans as
appropriate to take account of unforeseen changes.
Persevering
Inevitably, things will not always run smoothly as you progress
towards your goals. When things are not working out, you need
to persevere and learn how to take a positive attitude towards
frustration and failure.
Mistakes are a crucial part of any creative process and each is a
lesson leading you towards the right solution. Fear of making or
admitting mistakes is a major handicap to taking effective action.
It is said that the people who have achieved the most have made
the most mistakes! Try to be aware that satisfaction comes as
much from pursuing goals as from achieving them.
Work at effective strategies to deal with pressure - these can
vary from taking exercise, to relaxation techniques such as Yoga,
to simply sharing problems with friends. Being assertive can also
help here, for example, politely saying no to the demands of
others when you are pushed for time. Sharing tasks and
1200
problems with others will spread the burden and will bring a
fresh perspective to them.
Organising your time
Identify areas of your life where you are wasting time and try to
reduce these. A good way to do this is to log everything you do
for a week in meticulous detail and then examine your record to
see how you use (or misuse!) your time.
Develop a regular work routine. Keep your work space tidy so
that you can work efficiently - it's hard to do this if things you
need to find are buried under a pile of paper! Work to schedule
so that you meet deadlines in good time - don't leave everything
until the last minute. If you have a difficult essay to write, start
by drafting out the structure first- this will break the ice.
When applying for jobs keep copies of all the applications you
have made and keep a log of the date you applied, result, and a
record of all your interviews, plus you were questions asked.
This will help you to keep track of your progress and spot areas
where you could improve.
USING A TIME LOG
One useful way to eliminate wasted time is to use a time log.
First you need to make up a chart for the next seven days divided
into half hour intervals starting at the time you get up and
finishing at the time you go to bed. Write down what you did in
each half hour of the day for the next seven days. Choose a
typical week. An example for one day is given to the right.
At the end of the week examine your time log and ask yourself
the following questions:
1201
Are there any periods that I could use more
productively?
At what time of day do I do my most effective work?
Some people are most alert in the morning, whilst
others concentrate best during the afternoon or evening.
Schedule your most important tasks for these times of
day.
A time log can be particularly useful at times of pressure, for
example, when revising for examinations or jobhunting during
your final year.
By now you should have been able to identify ways in which you
could manage your time more efficiently, and know some
techniques to allow you to do this.
Source: University of Kent (http://www.kent.ac.uk)
Time Management Training from ManageTrainLearn.
There are 7 scales against which we can measure ourselves as
time managers at work. They are:
1. Control: is control of your time with you or others?
2. Pace: is your pace of work even or erratic?
3. Direction: do you have short-term or long-term objectives?
4. Variety: is there a little or a lot of variety in your work?
5. Ownership: do you own what you do or do others?
6. Volume: does the amount of work you do result in overloads
or underloads?
7. Balance: is there an equal or unequal balance in the different
tasks you do?
1202
Time-Fillers
Time-fillers are those people who see time as a stretch of eight
hours work each day or 40 hours a week which somehow has to
be filled and endured.
Time-fillers...
• put themselves at others' beck and call
• fill up their time in empty ritual, pastimes and competitive
game-playing
• swing from boredom to crisis and back again
• lack any pace of work; sometimes they allow themselves to fall
behind time and so have to rush, while at other times nobody
has anything for them to do so they waste their time and
become bored.
• have no sense of direction
• find themselves underworked or overworked
• suffer stress as a result of not being in control of their time.
Time Managers
Time managers see time as a partner in helping them achieve
their goals and objectives. Sometimes time will be less helpful, eg
when things aren't ready for action; sometimes time will be
more than helpful, eg when offering them opportunities to seize
the moment and get ahead.
Time managers...
• know what they want to achieve with their time
• feel in control even when there is little personal freedom to
arrange their working day
• work closely with others
• work at an even pace without highs or lows
• have a sense of direction
• are able to vary their activities to maintain their interest
• can balance their tasks
• feel a sense of accomplishment and achievement.
1203
Edward Sheldrick describes people at work as either pearl
crushers or pearl divers.
Pearl crushers are those who miss the opportunities that work
affords. They let others determine how they spend their time and
blame them when they feel they underachieve.
Pearl divers are those who look for the hidden jewels on the sea-
bed. They see work as an endless adventure and a means to
achieve, serve and accomplish.
Time Robbers: Others
1. incomplete information from others
2. employees bringing problems
3. the telephone
4. routine tasks
5. unnecessary and long meetings
6. drop-in visitors
7. outside activities
8. crisis management
9. poor communications
10. insufficient planning.
Time Robbers: Ourselves
1. attempting to do too much at once
2. unrealistic time estimates
3. procrastination
4. not listening
5. not saying "No"
6. doing it myself
7. stacked desk
8. delegating responsibility without authority
9. personal disorganisation
10. personality tendency towards workaholism.
1204
Efficient or Effective?
Many people fail to make the best use of their time because they
fail to see the difference between being efficient and being
effective.
Efficiency is doing things by the book. It may be the way to do a
job in the least amount of time. Because of this, efficient people
pride themselves on being good time managers. However, they
are often slaves to routines and may be blind to the fact that the
job may not need to be done at all.
Effectiveness means taking a wider view of things than the
blinkered approach of efficiency. It means taking time to think
through goals and purposes and creating choices not just
following rules. Effective working is smart work, not necessarily
hard work.
The Pareto Principle
When you need to decide, "what is the best use of my time right
now?", one answer lies in the Pareto Principle. Vilfredo Pareto
was an Italian economist who, in 1906, discovered that 20% of
the people in his homeland controlled 80% of the country's
wealth.
So, in the Pareto time management principle,
• 20% of your tasks (ie your top tasks) should require 80% of
your time
• 80% of your results should come from 20% of your actions
• 80% of your time should be spent with 20% of the people you
know.
1205
Time Paradigms
We each have our own way of seeing time according to our own
work personalities:
• planners set high store by how well they fill up each working
hour and minute. They like to be busy.
• team workers set high store by the relationships they form at
work. Time at work means time with others.
• achievers set high store by using their time to work their way
up the organisational ladder.
• creative people like to work on something special and may
dismiss routine time as boring and unnecessary
• active people find time passes quicker if they can get immersed
in new experiences and activities
• dominating people like to get the most out of every minute by
living life to the full. To do this they may act recklessly and refuse
to plan their time.
• relaxed people set high score by avoiding doing too much and
concentrating instead on enjoying their time.
Balancing Each Day
Balancing each day's activities is not simply a healthy way of
working; it is also the most productive and enjoyable. To follow
an intense period of brainwork with some time doing physical
work; then to follow that with some time on a project, followed
by time with friends, is to create a rich and whole texture to the
day. By seeking to create a balance of the different types of tasks
that we must carry out each day, we are able to have order with
spontaneity, the challenging with the practical; routine with
innovation; and introspection with the pleasure of others.
1206
None of us knows what, by our life's end, we might be capable of
achieving. We only know that if we do not use the time that we
have, - and none of us knows how much time each of us has, -
then the potential we have will not be fulfilled.
A/ Routine Time
Routine tasks are the things we do to keep body and soul
together and the workplace functioning. For us as individuals,
they are the set piece habits around which our day is built.
For the organisation, they are the procedures by which regular
work and maintenance work gets done. All workplace
organisations require systems. They form the backbone around
which the organisation keeps control. And it is in systems that
some of the greatest opportunities exist to save time.
The following tips will help you establish the quickest times to
do your routine work:
When you do routine work, eliminate interference or
distractions from outside
Organise the work layout so everything you need is at hand
Time the tasks and see if they can't be done more quickly
Automate and use labour-saving devices where you can
bunch similar jobs together, eg phone calls and letter writing
Aim for continuous workflows with no hold-ups or delays
Obtain materials "just in time" for your needs
When you have defined the optimum method, train everyone,
until you find a better method still. Then train them all again.
The Five S's
The five S's is a Japanese methodology which is a standardized
way of doing things efficiently. The 5 steps can be applied to
routines for any physical materials management, including
stores and paper. These are the 5 steps:
1207
a. Sort. Go through all your materials and keep only the
essentials. Store or discard the rest.
b. Set in Order. Find a place for what is needed and put things in
their place.
c. Sweep. Clean as you go. Tidy up at the end of the day. Put
things back in their place.
d. Standardize. Ensure everyone knows the system
e. Sustain. Operate this way until a better method comes along.
Habits
Habits are those things we do regularly without having to think
about them. The benefit of habit tasks is that they can be done on
automatic pilot and thus rest the conscious brain.
These tips can help you make the most of time spent on habits:
• identify the triggers that set habits off; do them at set regular
times
• use sequences and checklists to memorise habit tasks
• look for shortcuts
• look to double up activities. This is known as the Shoe-shine
Principle: while you're getting your shoes shined, you can do
something else such as make a phone call or read a
newspaper.
• aim for an optimum time to complete habitual tasks
• prepare and arrange your materials before you start; tidy up as
you go
• aim to eliminate bad habits and replace them with good ones.
Maintenance Tasks
It is a well-researched fact that we do not work well when our
physical surroundings are unsafe, uncomfortable or untidy. The
American psychologist Frederick Herzberg called these the
"hygiene" factors and believed that they can have a de-
motivating effect on our work if they are not attended to.
1208
Working on the hygiene factors means spending time attending
to the following:
• making the work area neat and tidy
• ensuring you have the right heating, lighting and ventilation for
your needs
• taking regular breaks
• making sure your systems are safe
• organizing the work space so you are comfortable
• having a pleasing decor.
Chores
Routine work can either seem to drag or fly depending on the
way we look at it. If we regard routines as chores, the time will
hang heavy as we think about more pleasurable alternatives. If
we change our attitude and work with the flow and pace of the
job, the time will pass quickly.
Here's how:
• focus on the task, rather than wishing you weren't doing it
• think about what you are doing, rather than something else
• do it not because of any immediate gain but because you want
to do it
• feel the therapeutic effects of doing routine tasks in which you
can switch off
• work out a rhythm in the job and lose yourself in it
• turn it into a game, a challenge, or a learning adventure.
Deskmanship
The amount of paperwork generated every day in our
workplaces is huge, much of it excessive and time-wasting.
To prevent yourself drowning in a sea of paperwork, practise the
three golden rules of deskmanship:
• rule 1: aim for a clear desk
1209
• rule 2: handle every piece of paper only once; move incoming
correspondence immediately to its next destination.
• rule 3: have a regular clear out of files.
Paper Control
If you have to keep your paperwork, here are 3 things you must
do to keep it under control:
1. Mark It. Simply put a small mark on the top right-hand corner
every time you handle a piece