Keeping all the balls in the air: Managing your time

“Time is the scarcest resource, and, unless it is managed, nothing else can be managed.”

—Dr. Peter Drucker, The Effective Executive.

Time can’t be saved. It is only spent. Although you can’t get any more hours from a day, you can develop habits leading to better prioritization of activities that will make you more productive.

You already may have discovered that your teaching duties demand a great deal of time. If you find yourself trying to squeeze more hours out of the day to attend to your students, family, friends and self, this article is for you.

You may feel that there’s no time left to manage after you schedule all your classes and assigned activities. Whether you begin by learning to manage your planning periods, your after-school hours or your between-class breaks, you’ll discover that being in control is a powerful experience. Once learned, the skills can be used to increase productivity in your classes.

Gaining control begins by discovering how you currently spend your time. You accomplish this by keeping a time log from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep. (Or begin by logging your planning periods.) Design your time log so you can make notations every fifteen minutes. Keep the log for two or three weeks. As you examine the time log, look to see if time is being wasted on low-priority tasks.

Setting a direction to your day starts with prioritizing your TO-DO list. Some people do this the evening before; others work on it each morning.

The system used most often, developed by time-management expert Alan Lakein and described in his book, How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life, assigns the letters A, B or C, each based on the value of the task. Setting aside time to complete lesson plans on Friday may rate an A, making up a test to be used two weeks from now, a B or C.

The daily TO-DO list should be limited to

10 items. Your focus should be on scheduling time for the “A” tasks. Don’t worry about completing the whole list. You’ll make up a new one tomorrow.

Get “absolute musts” accomplished early in the day when you have the most energy, and avoid that frantic feeling throughout the day.

Ask yourself, “How terrible would it be if I didn’t do this low-priority item?”

If the answer is “Not too terrible,” don’t do it.

Use periods of rest and diversion during the day to restore your energy. It is inefficient to work when tired—a few minutes of rest may improve and increase your productivity to higher levels.

What do you do when someone asks you to do “one more thing?” If it won’t result in losing your job, your family or your life, say no. “No” is a responsible answer. To help you say no, you can

• Use nonverbal language. Ninety percent of the message you send to another person is in voice tone and body language.         

• Be direct and honest.

• Avoid defensiveness —- you have the right to your own life and to work out your own plan.        

• Be brief. (The longer you talk, the more likely you’ll end up saying yes.)      

• Hesitate for at least 10 seconds before giving a response that will commit you to an action.            • Use the broken record technique. (Prepare a response ahead of time, and each time you are asked, replay the response.)       

• Suggest alternatives.

If you can determine exactly what goals you have, you are capable of determining how to reach them.

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Procrastination: the number one enemy

Procrastination means performing low-priority activities rather than high-priority activities. Procrastination results in more work, more pressure, the loss of self-esteem and health problems.

Here are some coping strategies for each of the major reasons people procrastinate:

Unpleasant task    

• Decide what to do and do it first.     

• Delegate the task to someone else.  

• Reward yourself after completing the task.    

• Set a deadline.

• Work on it for no less than five minutes.

Difficult or overwhelming task    

• Use positive self-talk (focus on past accomplishments that turned out well).         

• Break the job into smaller tasks, and include those tasks each day.

Indecision (fear of failure)           

• Tell yourself that nothing is perfect and that in the past your best has been pretty good.     

• Set up a schedule and a target date for project conclusion. Do whatever research you can before the target date. Make your decision on that date.

• Flip a coin! Reflect on how you feel about the outcome. If you feel good, the toss came out the way you wanted the decision to go; if you feel disappointed, you wanted it to go the other way. Now follow your decision.

• Do the thing you fear most and you will conquer your fear.