Developing an action plan to manage your time more effectively

  This chapter began by outlining the two case studies of John and Peter. John was constantly running around trying to catch up with himself but Peter was a well-organized individual who managed his time effectively. A number of strategies that can be employed to help you manage your time more effectively were outlined. If you identified that you are more like John than Peter, you definitely need to learn some time management strategies. It is more likely that you are not like the two extremes of Peter and John but somewhere in between the two. If this is the case, there is still room for you to learn to manage your time effectively. However, even if you are aware that you are not managing your time effectively, you may not be clear about what changes you need to make. The starting point is to do a time log of everything that you do over a given period of time such as a typical day or week. You will need to break the whole of your working day down into blocks of time as small as 5 or 10 minute periods and record exactly what you were doing at this time. This might seem like a very laborious and time consuming activity in itself for someone who is already busy. However, the pay-off in terms of the valuable information it gives you about the way in which you use your time is well worth it in the longer term. Once you have this baseline of activity, you can identify the things you do well and things you do not do so well in terms of managing your time. The questions below will assist you in identifying those areas which need addressing. Ask yourself:

1  Am I wasting some time?

2  Do I have difficulties planning ahead?

3  Am I a procrastinator?

4  Am I finding it difficult to delegate tasks?

5  Do I find it difficult to stay focused on tasks?

6  Do I have problems prioritizing effectively?

7  Am I untidy and disorganized in my work?

  If the answer to any of the questions above is yes, you need to identify the specific unhelpful behaviours or attitudes that need to be changed and make a list of them in order of priority (1 = top priority). Select a date when you are going to start implementing these changes and stick to it. Review your progress on a regular basis, for example on a weekly basis. The example in Table 5.2 refers to the changes that John in the case study at the beginning of this chapter included in his own action plan.

Table 5.2 John’s action plan for managing his time more effectively

 

  If like John you have identified that unassertiveness is one of the causes of your taking on too much work, you are encouraged to pay particular attention to Chapter 6 on developing assertiveness skills. Before you finish the present chapter, however, have a go at making your own action plan to identify the range of interventions that can help you manage your time more effectively.

Chapter 6 Developing assertiveness skills What is assertiveness?

  Unassertive people have difficulty in standing up for their rights and can be an easy target for bullies, or alternatively they can come across as being overly forceful and aggressive. Submissive individuals readily relinquish responsibility and tend to assume the role of victim in social interactions with others. Aggressive people get what they want from situations at the expense of others by being intimidating and punishing towards them. On the contrary, assertive individuals are able to get what they want from interactions with others by expressing their needs and preferences in a forthright and confident way without violating the rights of others. Assertiveness lies in the middle ground on the continuum of behaviour between submissiveness and aggressiveness, as illustrated in Figure 6.1.

Figure 6.1 The submissiveness–aggressiveness continuum

 

  It is about expressing one’s needs, wants, opinions, feelings and beliefs in direct, honest and appropriate ways and preferably to create a win-win situation for all those involved.