2. Flow of the session…
1. Defining time management
2. 10 Common Time Management Mistakes
3. Time thieves and how to get rid of them
4. What can you use in order to improve your
time management skills?
• ABC Analysis
• Pareto Analysis
• Eisenhower method
5. Tips & Tricks (how to manage my day, how to deal with huge
tasks, how to delegate, how to manage my emails, )
3. What is Time
management?
the act or process of planning and
exercising conscious control over the
amount of time spent on specific
activities, especially to increase
effectiveness, efficiency or productivity.
5. Mistake #1. Failing to Keep a To-Do List
Mistake #2. Not Setting Personal Goals
Mistake #3. Not Prioritizing
Mistake #4. Failing to Manage Distractions
Mistake #5. Procrastination
Mistake #6. Taking on too Much
Mistake #7. Thriving on "Busy"
Mistake #8. Multitasking
Mistake #9. Not Taking Breaks
Mistake #10. Ineffectively Scheduling Tasks
6. • Facebook, Twitter, Skype…
• Chats and forums
• Internet browsing
What is a • Long and/or ineffective
meetings
time thief? • Interrupting co-workers
• Phone calls
• Too many emails
• Bad planning
• Inability to delegate
• The guy who always says YES
8. How could you get rid of the time thieves?
• Facebook, Twitter, Skype… & Chats and forums & Internet browsing
• SOLUTION – set a time when you check everything and except that time stay away from these
channels. Time flies here and then you will start to panic because you don’t have time to finish your
tasks
• Long and/or ineffective meetings
• SOLUTION – set from the beginning a clear outcome of the meeting and a clear agenda. A very good
idea, when you have team meetings if also to assign some roles in the team:
• Time keeper – that will let you know how much time you still have to discuss different subjects (based on the
agenda set before)
• Output keeper – that will note down the discussion points and main decisions taken
• Meeting leaders – who runs the meeting and has the overview on where you need to get
• Interrupting co-workers
• SOLUTION – ask people in specific times not to disturb you (have a do not disturb sign)
• Phone calls & Too many emails
• SOLUTION – set a specific time when you answer all these emails and calls (except urgent ones of
course). Stop checking your email every 5 minutes
• Bad planning
• SOLUTION – work constantly on improving your planning by tracking your daily schedule and how you
managed the time that you had.
• Inability to delegate
• SOLUTION – don’t do everything yourself. Delegate so that others can also learn how to do certain
things.
• The guy who always says YES
• SOLUTION –Think about your time availability, if you actually need to take on another task
10. ABC Analysis
An analysis of a range of items that have different levels of significance
and should be handled or controlled differently.
The items are are grouped into three categories (A, B, and C) in order of
their estimated importance.
A – Tasks that are perceived as being urgent and important,
B – Tasks that are important but not urgent,
C – Tasks that are neither urgent nor important.
11. Pareto Analysis
Pareto Analysis is a simple technique for prioritizing possible changes by
identifying the problems that will be resolved by making these changes.
By using this approach, you can prioritize the individual changes that will
most improve the situation.
Pareto Analysis uses the Pareto Principle – also known as the "80/20
Rule"
20% generates 80% of the
of the actual work results.
Makes you thing about what are the really relevant things that will bring
you the best results, doesn’t it?
12. Eisenhower Method
The Eisenhower Method is a prioritization
framework that is very effective by categorizing
tasks in a very straightforward manner.
It is derived from a quote supposedly attributed
to Dwight D. Eisenhower:
“What is important is seldom urgent and what
is urgent is seldom important.”
13. Urgent/Important Matrix
High
“Important “Critical
Goals” Activities”
Importance
“Distractions” “Interruptions”
Low
Low High
Urgency
14. Urgent/Important Matrix
High
Preparation/ Crisis
Planning Pressing problems
Relationship Building DDL -driven projects
True recreation Medical emergency
Importance
New opportunities
Junk mail Interruptions
Some phone Phone calls
messages/email Meetings
Low Time-thieves Requests
Internet “Pressing” matters
Pleasant activities Popular activities
Low High
Urgency
15. Urgent/Important Matrix
High
Preparation/ Crisis
Planning Pressing problems
Relationship Building DDL -driven projects
True recreation Medical emergency
Importance
New opportunities
Necessity
Junk mail Interruptions
Some phone Phone calls
messages/email Meetings
Low Time-thieves Requests
Internet “Pressing” matters
Pleasant activities
Waste Popular activities
Deception
Low High
Urgency
18. Take time to plan ahead.
Schedule.
Plan at multiple levels (school, work, free time, etc)
Allocate all the things on your To-do list to
Track your day so you can constantly improve your time management.
19. What should I do if…
• The task is very big.
• The task is very important.
• I don’t know where to start from.
• A difficult decision has to be made.
• Something unpleasant has to do with it
20. Eat the ELEPHANT ?
The elephant technique is a useful
and helpful time management
technique.
Complex projects/tasks can be
broken down into bite size chunks.
22. Delegating effectively…
• What has to be done? (content)
• Should I do it by myself? (priority)
• If not, who has to do it? (person)
• Why should (s)he do it? (motivation, objective)
• How does (s)he have to do it? (range, details)
• Until when does (s)he have to do it? (timeline)
• How will I control the fulfilment? (milestones, evaluation)
Don’t forget to control and evaluate
the status of delegated
tasks and to follow-up.
23. Delegating effectively…
• Treat your people well.
• Challenge your people.
• Give your people a goal, not procedures.
• Tell the importance of each task.
• Communicate clearly.
• Be specific:
-- Give a specific thing to do
-- Set a specific date and time
-- Specific penalty / reward
25. Email is not your to-do list!
• Filter emails through your key areas (example – school, AIESEC EB,
AIESEC GIP ICX, Free time, etc)
• Use Gmail Labels
• Only handle it once (OHIO). Inbox “zero”.
Reply.
Delete.
Forward.
Schedule reply (don’t put it into your never-ending To-do list!!!).
26. Managing e-mails
• Don’t send an email to (5) people!
• If there is no reply within 48 hours – chase people!
• Schedule email times (3-4 times per day)
• Check and respond to email at low-productivity times
• Keep your email program closed (damn difficult!)
• If you are reading emails, you are NOT on vacation!
27. Managing meetings
• Filter meetings with other people through your key areas
• Learn to say NO.
• Manage people interrupting.
• Close your door. Use a sign for your office door
• Use headphones (You don’t have to be listening to music!)
• Once you have a meeting, conduct it effectively.
28. Managing my environments
• Keep your desk clean and organized.
• Get rid of paper piles you’ll never come to read. A file system is
essential.
• Use labels for hard copy documents.
• Arrange facilities conveniently (phone, printer, book shelves etc).
• Keep your Desktop clean.
• Structure your files and folders according to key
areas.
29. What did you learn?
What can you do starting today
so that you can improve your
time management?
