Learn to work smarter, not harder!

1. Time Management
Strategies
We succeed only as we identify
in life, or in war, or in anything
else, a single overriding
objective, and make all other
C Gita Bosch considerations bend to that one
Academic & Educational Consulting single objective. Dwight D. Eisenhower
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2. The goal of this session is to provide you
with strategies to manage your personal
and professional lives so that you work
smarter, not harder. We will discuss
creating and maintaining a time
management plan, setting goals and
establishing priorities, identifying and
overcoming time management traps and
time bandits.
B
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3. Work smarter, not harder
 Create and maintain a TMP
 Set goals
 Establish priorities
 Identify and overcome
 Time management traps
 Time bandits
B SKGSBS
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4. Time is money
 Budget it wisely
 Time is a precious commodity
 Constructive use of time will improve
productivity
B
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5. A Time Management Plan
 Work-life balance
 Happiness Where is the
“me” time?
 Success
 Efficiency
 Balance
 Physical
 Social
 Emotional
 Spiritual
 Intellectual
 Career
B
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6. Managing time
 You do not manage time
 You manage you
 You control how you use time
B
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7. Big Audacious Goal = Mission
Goal + Plan
Goal + no plan
No goal + no plan
Cannot map a path to a
destination if you do not
have a destination
B A goal without a plan is just
theacademicconsultant.com a wish. Antoine de Saint-Exupery

8. Goals, tasks & priorities
 Ongoing analysis and evaluation
 Goal = big picture should not be lost in
the day-to-day tasks
 Big goal looks impossible?
 Break it into smaller pieces
 Short-term
 Intermediate
success
 Long-term
B
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9. Calendar
 Long-term
 Big picture, ten years
 Intermediate
 The next step, a couple years
 Short-term
 Now, this year/semester
B
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10. Allocate and track your time
 Sleep
 Meals
 Classes
 Laboratory
 Work
 Social activities/small talk
 Social media
 Paperwork/emails
 Fires
B
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11. Prioritizing daily tasks
 Pareto Principle: 80:20
80% Effects: 20% Causes
80% Results: 20% Efforts
Learn to work SMARTER!
B
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12. Daily schedule = Task list
 Review at the end of the day
 Face the good, bad and ugly
 Prep the next day’s schedule
 Leave room for “fires”, you cannot
anticipate everything, i.e, be flexible
 Leave room to adjust for the unexpected
 Leave room for you
 Keep it in a prominent location
B If everything seems to be going well, you have
theacademicconsultant.com obviously overlooked something (Murphy’s Law)

13. Time is your precious commodity
For each thing you do, something else
is not done
 What is the task?
 What is positive about it?
 What is the measure of success?
 Why are you doing it?
 Be optimistic
 Should you be doing it?
B
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14. Motivate yourself
 Give yourself credit for tasks/pieces
completed
 See the light at the end of the tunnel
 Use your success to keep moving
forward
If you perceive that there are four possible
ways in which something can go wrong, and
B circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared
theacademicconsultant.com for, will promptly develop (Murphy’s Law)

15. Time management traps
 Poor planning, poor time budgeting
 Not recognizing the accomplishments
 Skipping A tasks to do B tasks
 Ignoring/missing deadlines
 Crying over spilt milk
 Taking short cuts
B
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16. Identify your time bandits
 Who
 What
 How
 When
Time is the coin of your life. It is the only
coin you have, and only you can determine
B how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let
theacademicconsultant.com other people spend it for you. Carl Sandburg

17. Get rid of time bandits
 Learn to say NO
 You cannot do everything
 Their priority is not necessarily your priority
 Understand the risks of saying no
 Learn to delegate
 Get things off your plate
B
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18. Procrastination
 Distractions compromise goals
 What causes your procrastinations
 Fear of failure
 Perfectionism
 Fear of success
 Paralysis by indecisiveness
Do not confuse motion and
progress. A rocking horse keeps
B moving but does not make any
theacademicconsultant.com progress. Alfred A. Montapert

19. Overcome procrastination
 Good decision-making skills
 Make the tasks meaningful
 Break large tasks into bite-size pieces
 Start with the fun pieces or most difficult pieces
 Organize yourself and your workspace
 Create a workspace without distractions
 Once you start, keep going
 Look back and give yourself credit for
accomplishments
B
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20. Time myths
 I do not have not enough time
Everyone has the same amount of time
One minute = 60 seconds
One hour = 60 minutes or 3,600 seconds
One day = 24 hours or 1,440 minutes or 86,400 seconds
B
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21. In a nutshell
Learn to work SMARTER, not harder!
 Identify and eliminate time bandits
 Limit others’ access to you so you can complete
your tasks
 Turn off the email alarm
 Break the big tasks into manageable pieces
 Make a realistic daily schedule and stick to it!
Your TMP is dynamic, not static
Regularly review and re-prioritize
B
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