Article #17: Time Management, Self Management
I sometimes hear students say, “I want to learn how to manage my time”, or “I have very bad time management”. But I actually think we cannot manage time. Rather, we manage ourselves, so we make better use of time. This perspective helps me to implement some of these “time management” strategies that are available. I will share about two of these here:
1. Stephen Covey’s time management matrix
Covey (2004) says that we spend time in these four ways. So, let’s have a look at this matrix.
We can look at our activities and put all that we do in a day or week in one of these 4 quadrants. In the top left quadrant are things we have to attend to immediately because they are ‘urgent’, and ‘important’. If we do not attend to them immediately, there will be serious consequences. In a student’s life, sometimes that can be an assignment that is due tomorrow, so you must finish it today. The way to deal with these types of tasks/activities is to ‘manage it’, just do it, basically.
What are some other things we do? In the bottom left quadrant are things we do which are ‘urgent’ (demands our immediate attention) but are actually ‘not important’. Sometimes you get a call from a bank trying to sell you an insurance policy you don’t need, or your attention is focused on the noise from the TV in the next room and you want to find out what’s on. These are things we should avoid. If we cannot avoid it, we can try to delegate it.
At the bottom right quadrant are things that are ‘not important’ and ‘not urgent’, basically stuff that doesn’t have any negative effect if we don’t do them. However, these are often things we enjoy doing in our lazy self – such as spending time going through social media content, watching TV, gossiping(!), going through junk mail… So, try to limit, or eliminate these activities. They don’t really make a difference in the bigger scheme of things, and will help you manage yourself much better. So, dump it or postpone it.
Covey (2004) said should actually focus our energy on the activities that are NOT URGENT, but IMPORTANT. Why is that? This is so that we get important things done properly with our full ability and talents, before they become urgent (and we do them haphazardly or without giving our best). That assignment that is going to distinguish between a pass and a fail, or the exam that will mean a merit and a distinction; or a first class or a second-upper.
In this quadrant, one key activity is preparation and planning. We sometimes don’t prepare, and don’t plan. Hence the important tasks, which should be in this quadrant, ends up in the top left quadrant [urgent & important]. That also happens because we all have this very bad habit of procrastinating: delaying to tomorrow what we can do today. If we want to manage ourselves better, we need to put effort into planning – planning our schedule, so that we put all the activities that are important to us in this top right quadrant, and then execute our plans in order to avoid them moving from right to left (and becoming urgent AND important). In our planning, we should also consciously decide to limit, reduce, avoid or postpone all the activities at the bottom half of this matrix! I have forgotten to do that so so often!
You find exercise in the top right quadrant, because it IS important, and we need to do that (and not postpone it to ‘when I have time’ or ‘when I feel motivated’) before it becomes urgent (e.g. with illness etc). Proper recreation is also important, so if watching TV is your recreation, make sure it doesn’t go down to the bottom right quadrant and takes you away from time you should be spending in the top right quadrant! Building relationship is crucial, especially with people who are important in your life. For me, I am really glad to have spent much quality time with and being available for my children when they were much younger, recognizing at the early years are crucial for the rest of their personal development. So, for activities in this quadrant, schedule it.
Having said that, I recognise that as people, we ARE easily distracted, and can lose focus even when we have great plans for our day. Or you may have a big piece of work to do and feel that you don’t know how you are ever going to finish it. Any project manager will tell you, no matter how big a job you have, if you break it down, you will one day finish it. So, I found this technique which helps me to do that. It’s called:
2. The Pomodoro Technique (by Francesco Cirillo)
The idea is to alternate pomodoro (Italian for tomato – referring to the common kitchen timer which often comes in the shape of a tomato) – focused work sessions of full concentration lasting 25 minutes, with frequent short breaks (5 mins) so that you can have sustained concentration to work on tasks (in the top right quadrant of Covey’s matrix). After every 4 pomodori, take a longer break of 15-30 minutes (for me, I have a snack, or a meal, which can be more than 30 minutes, but who’s counting?!).
The formula would be something like this: 25-5-25-5-25-5-25-30, repeat
For a more extensive explanation of this technique, you can click on the link in the reference to watch a short video.
So, I hope these tips will be useful for you. They will be, if you put them into practice! That is not to say I have always been successful in doing this, but it helps me when I get lost in the many many things I feel I need to do, or when I am so unproductive that a whole week just goes by without me having accomplished anything!
Have a good week ahead!
Contributed by
Wendy Gan
Reference:
- Stephen Covey (2004), Seven habits of highly effective people, New York: Simon & Schuster
- Youtube video: Med School Insiders - Pomodoro Technique