This document is a time management assignment submitted by Danielle Bettini analyzing how she spent her time over two days using Covey's time management matrix. On day one, 81% of her time was spent in quadrant II (important/not urgent activities), while on day two it was 40%. Cumulatively, 51% of her 22.5 hours were in quadrant II. While she did well spending time in quadrant II, she recognizes weaknesses in prioritizing tasks, avoiding procrastination, and being more productive during waiting periods. The assignment concludes she needs to spend less time in quadrants III and IV and do quadrant I activities first as recommended by Covey's model.

1. TIME MANAGEMENT
ASSIGNMENT
Submitted by:
Danielle Bettini
October 21, 2013
BUS 150 71873
Contemporary Business Practice
Professor Nankin

2. Table of Contents
 Description of Assignment…………………………….Slide 3
 Purpose of Assignment…………………………………Slide 4
 Covey’s Principle-Based Time Management
Matrix………………………………………………………. Slide
5
 Pie chart of hours spent in each quadrant
on
day one of the assignment………………………. Slide 6
 Analysis of day one pie chart…………………….. Slide 7-8
 How I Could Have Managed My Time More
Effectively
(Day One)…………………………………… Slide 9
 Pie chart of hours spent in each quadrant
day two of the assignment…….................... Slide 10
on
1

3. Table of Contents
(cont.)
 Analysis of day two pie chart……................. Slide 11-12
 How I Could Have Managed My Time More
Effectively
(Day Two)………………………………….. Slide 13
 Cumulative pie chart of hours spent in each
quadrant
over both days of the
assignment……................................................ Slide 14
 Conclusion: Based off of the analysis of the
two-day pie chart……................. Slide 15-16
cumulative
 Strengths and Weaknesses: Applying the Rules for Efficient
Time Management………................ Slide 17-19
 Rules 2, 4, 5……………………………… Slide 17
 Rules 9,11………………………………… Slide 18
 Rules 14,17………………………………. Slide 19
2

4. The Assignment
 Over the past two days (October 17 & 18, 2013)
I have recorded by daily activities.
 I then analyzed my activities based off of
Stephen Covey’s Principle-Based Time
Management Matrix and the Rules for Efficient
Time Management
 The results of my analysis will be covered in this
presentation
3

5. Purpose
 The purpose of this assignment is to analyze how well
and effective my time management skills are.
 I will be able to see what I do well and what I need to
work on.
 This is a useful assignment to complete, seeing as I am
entering a new stage in my life (college).
4

6. Covey’s Principle-Based Time
Management Matrix
Urgent
Important
Not Urgent
I.
II. Important/Not
Urgent
Important/Urgent
Crises; Pressing problems;
Deadline-driven projects
Not Important
Principle Centered Activities;
Planning; Prevention;
Relationship building;
Opportunity recognition; true
recreation Activities
III. Not Important/
Urgent
IV. Not Important/Not
Urgent
Pressing matters; “popular
activities; personal
interruptions; some calls and
mail; certain meetings and
reports
Time wasters; “pleasant
activities” that are escapes
from responsibilities; trivia,
busy work
5

7. Day One Graph
Thursday October 17, 2013
Hours Spent In Each Quadrant
.5 hrs
6%
1hr
13%
6.5 hrs
81%
Quadrant I
Quadrant II
Quadrant III
Quadrant IV
6

8. Analysis of Day One Graph
 Out of the 8 hours that I was active during the day:




0% of my activities were in Quadrant I
81% were in Quadrant II
6% were in Quadrant III
13% were in Quadrant IV
 My morning was spent on a class trip to the Frick
Collection (Quadrant II).
 When I arrived back at my dorm I had to pack for my
weekend because I was leaving that night (Quadrant II;
Important, but not necessarily urgent, because I still had a
lot of time before leaving for home. )
7

9. Analysis of Day One Graph
(cont.)
 Before my next class, I spent about half an hour browsing the
internet, mostly social media i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr.
(Quadrant IV)
 Macroeconomics Lecture (Quadrant II)
 After my lecture I decided to watch Netflix. (Quadrant IV)
 When I got home (Pennsylvania) I spent time with my family.
(Quadrant II; important time for relationship building because I
hadn’t seen my parents in a long time)
 Browse internet before bed. (Quadrant III; this was my winding
down period before going to sleep, I was on the go pretty much all
day.)
8

10. How I Could Have Managed
My Time More Effectively
 My day on Thursday was pretty busy, I was on the go
for most of the day.
 When I had downtime, for example in between
classes, I could have used my time for effectively.
 Instead of browsing the internet and watching Netflix, I
could have spent time studying.
 If I had spent more time studying, I would have spent
more time in Quadrant II and less time in Quadrant
IV, which would be ideal.
9

11. Day Two Graph
Friday October 18, 2013
Hours Spent in Each Quadrant
1.5 hrs
12%
2 hrs
16%
Quadrant I
Quadrant II
Quadrant III
Quadrant IV
4 hrs
32%
5 hrs
40%
10

12. Analysis of Day Two Graph
 Out of the 11.5 hours that I was active during the day:




16% of my activities were in Quadrant I
40% were in Quadrant II
32% were in Quadrant III
12% were in Quadrant IV
 I started my day out by excessively sleeping (Quadrant
IV).
 Then I went to lunch with my dad (Quadrant II; this was
important for maintaining a good relationship with my dad)
11

13. Analysis of Day Two Graph
(cont.)
 For the next couple of hours, I alternated between
studying for midterms (Quadrant I; midterms are
within the next couple of days) and practicing my
ukulele (Quadrant II; I consider this a true recreational
activity).
 That night I went to the homecoming game at my high
school (Quadrant II; I got to see all of my friends from
home and old teachers)
 After the game I hung out with friends
(Quadrant
III)
12

14. How I Could Have Managed
My Time More Effectively
 That morning I made the decision to sleep in for a couple of
hours.
 Those extra hours of sleep could have been spent doing
something more effective such as exercising or studying.
 I had a hard time deciding what quadrant me hanging out
with my friends after the football game should be put in.
 I decided to put it in Quadrant III even though it might have
been able to go in Quadrant II.
 I hadn’t seen my friends in a long time and I was catching up
with them, but at the same time I could have been doing
something more productive.
13

15. Cumulative Two Day Graph
Thursday October 17, 2013 & Friday
October 18, 2013
Hours Spent in Each Quadrant Over Two Days
2.5 hrs
11%
4 hrs
18%
4.5 hrs
20%
Quadrant I
Quadrant II
Quadrant III
Quadrant IV
11.5 hrs
51%
14

16. Conclusion:
Based off analysis of cumulative two day graph
 Out of the 22.5 hours I was active over two days:




18% of my activities were in Quadrant I
51% were in Quadrant II
20% were in Quadrant III
11% were in Quadrant IV
 According to Covey’s Principle-Based Time
Management Matrix, activities in Quadrant I should be
done first
 I only did one activity in Quadrant I, but I failed to do it
first, I did it in the middle of my day.
15

17. Conclusion
(cont.)
 Again, according to Covey, most time should be spent
in Quadrant II.
 I succeeded in this aspect because about half of my time
was spent in Quadrant II.
 Covey also said you should spend as little time as
possible in Quadrant III and avoid Quadrant IV
altogether.
 I really didn’t spend much time at all in Quadrant III, so I
was able to succeed in that.
 I was unable to avoid Quadrant IV, though I definitely
spent less time in that Quadrant than I might’ve on
another day.
16

18. Strengths and Weaknesses:
Applying Rules for Efficient Time Management
 Rule #2: Make a list of things to perform each day
 Weakness; this is something I don’t do and probably
should because it would definitely help with my busy
college schedule.
 Rule #4: Prioritize your tasks
 Weakness; I tend to put off the tasks that are most
important causing me to spend unnecessary time in
Quadrant IV when I should be in Quadrant II.
 Rule #5: Do one important thing at a time but several
trivial things simultaneously
 Strength; I do have a very good ability to multitask
17

19. Strengths and Weaknesses
(cont.)
 Rule #9: Save your best time for important matters
 Strength; I know myself very well, and I know what times
during the day I work best, and what times I am relatively
lazy. For example, I don’t usually do my best work at
night, so I get important things done throughout the
morning and afternoon.
 Rule #11: Do not procrastinate
 Weakness; this is one of my worst habits. Now that I am
in college I definitely need to break my habit of waiting
until the last minute to get things done, do I don’t end up
spending spend in Quadrant I.
18

20. Strengths and Weaknesses
(cont.)
 Rule #14: Do something productive while waiting
 Weakness; whenever I have an hour or so to kill I always
think, “oh that’s not enough time to do something
productive”, so I just end up doing something
unproductive in Quadrant IV.
 Rule #17: Schedule some personal time
 Strength; I always make sure I spend some time during
my day doing something pleasurable, such as reading or
catching up on TV shows.
19