Time Management Workshop
Prepared by Karen Calhoun
for the ULS Leadership Program
12 June 2012

Credits
• Patti Hathaway – 1993 workshop
• Stephen Covey and Charlie Whiting –
1996 First Things First workshop
• SkillPath workshop – Managing Multiple
Projects, Objectives, Deadlines – 1998?
• All the colleagues who have helped me
try to “keep the main thing the main
thing”

Illustration John Tenniel, Alice in Wonderland. Public domain.

Learning Objectives
• Understand your own time
management habits
• Identify what you want to change
• Assess what controls your time
• Explore the links between values
and how you manage your time
• Add some tips and tricks to your
personal tool kit

Write your name with the hand you usually use
________________________________________
Write your name with the other hand
________________________________________
CHANGING OLD HABITS IS HARD AND
FEELS WEIRD

Getting in Control
Control*
Commitment and practice
Tools and techniques
Self-examination
*The fine print:
100% control is not possible, especially as you advance in your career.
See Peter Drucker “Know Thy Time” to learn more.

What Robs Your Time? Pick Your Top Five
Procrastination Poor planning Inadequate Interruptions
equipment
_____ _____ _____ _____
Indecision E-mail/phone Lack of Lack of
procedure authority
_____ _____ _____ _____
Inability to say Anger and My own Multiple bosses
“no” arguments mistakes
_____ _____ _____ _____
Others’ Socializing, Unclear Cluttered
mistakes chat priorities workspace
_____ _____ _____ _____
Waiting for Failure to Poor Shifting
others listen communication priorities
_____ _____ _____ _____

Look at your top five …
• Which ones do you have limited
control over?
• Which ones do you have maximum
control over?

Personal power grid
CAN’T
CAN CONTROL
CONTROL
CEASELESS
TAKE ACTION MASTERY
STRIVING
LETTING GO
NO ACTION GIVING UP

Exercises/Discussion
• Results from “Time Mastery Profile”
(Inscape Publishing)
• Handout – “The main thing”

Action Plan Part One

Am I Addicted to Urgency?
• Sense of excitement
• Energy
• Status (in our society, a busy
person = an important person)
• Feels good to solve crisis
• Good at it

Some Possible Signs of Urgency Addiction
• I work better • I give up family or
under pressure personal time to
• I’m too busy to handle a crisis at
think about it now work
• I feel guilty when • Someday I’ll be
I’m not working able to do what I
• I hate to wait or really want to do
stand in line • I know ____ is
important, but I
don’t have time
now

Time Management Matrix
Urgent Not Urgent
Important Quadrant 1: Quadrant 2:
Critical problems, Preparation &
deadline-driven prevention, re-
projects creation,
relationship
building
Not Important Quadrant 3: Quadrant 4: Trivia,
Interruptions, busywork, junk
some e-mail/calls, mail, time wasters
some meetings,
many “proximate”
matters
Adapted from Covey

Time Tools
• Personal log
• Master list
• Priority planning worksheet
• Weekly plan
• Daily plan
• More ….

Time Concepts
• Prime time
• Strategic reserve time
• Quiet time

Time tool exercise
• How many hours
are in your day?
• How much time
do you actually
have?
• How are you
going to use it?
• See set of
handouts

An Unexpected Way of Paring Down a Task List: A
Tip from Laurie Ford (laurieford.com)*
WHAT HAVE I PROMISED TO
MANAGING THE “IN- OTHERS? WHAT HAVE OTHERS
BETWEEN” PROMISED TO ME?
• Agreements
• Requests and
promises
• Manage the “arrows”
not the boxes
• Fine tune your
network of
agreements
• Manage “dues” not “to
dos”
*Speaker at Women in Project Management
Conference, June 2008, Columbus OH

Why Do We Procrastinate?
• Forget
• Don’t know how
• Don’t have means
– Lack of resources
– Too complicated
– Prospect of conflict
• Attitude
– Unpleasant
– Outside my comfort zone
– Fear of making mistakes
– Sidetracked

A Dozen Ideas for Dealing with Procrastination
• Deal with tough • Schedule it; set aside
issues during your time, make a
prime time deadline
• Start small but start • Seek help
• Write yourself a • Let go (delegate)
reminder • Fight perfectionism
• Reward yourself (I’ll • Listen to your self-
take a break after …) talk (yes you can!)
• Keep a master list • JUST DO IT
• Go somewhere else
to do it

Do It for 15 Minutes
http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/why-15-
minutes/40196?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

Ideas for Dealing with Interruptions
• Stand up • Develop a plan for
• Be aware of consolidating
“people traps” calls, e-mail, etc.
and traffic • Think to yourself
patterns “Can this wait?”
• Maintain your • JUST SAY NO
work posture
• Establish quiet
time
• Have a clock
visible at all times

Can You Say “No”?
I CAN SAY NO WHEN … I CAN SAY NO …
• Boss asks for work I • Without feeling guilty
don’t have time to do • Several times, if I
• Peer asks me for help need to
and giving it would • Without feeling fearful
put me behind • When someone is
schedule sulking, crying or
• Some places getting angry
unrealistic demands • To establish limits
on me with my boss
• Someone asks me for • To establish limits
information I with my peers
shouldn’t give out

Tips for Saying “No”
• Evaluate the request against your goals/plan
• Ask for clarification (be sure you understand
the request)
• Say ‘no’ if appropriate
– Boss: “Yes, provided someone else can…
provided there is opportunity for …”
– All others: “My problem is…” or USA = “I
Understand … here is my Situation … let’s
[Action]”
• Give options if possible
• Say it again, calmly (broken record)
• Don’t give up, don’t lose your temper

Managing Paper Stacks, E-Mail
• Turn off e-mail beep!
• T.A.S.K. – Toss it, Act on it, Send it on,
Keep it
• Decide on a filing system and use it
• PUT THINGS AWAY
– Afraid of forgetting? Make a note in
Outlook, master list, weekly plan,
“perhaps” list …
• Throw away as much as possible
• Set aside time to clear your desk/in-box
(15 minute trick?)

Action Plan Part Two
1. What is at least one new time
management habit I want to develop?
2. What steps will I take in the next two
weeks?
3. What steps will I take in the next two
months?
4. Who will I ask to help me, and what will
I ask them to do?

The Benefits of Managing Your Time
• “We have to decide • For career
what our highest
priorities are and • For building
have the courage— relationships
pleasantly, smilingly, • For relaxing
nonapologetically—to
say ‘no’ to other • For thinking
things. And the way • For staying
you do that is by current
having a bigger ‘yes’
burning inside. The • …
enemy of the best is
often the good.”—
Stephen Covey

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